Wild Hand Ends Day 3 at EPL Mix-Max

Day Three saw the field at the Epic Poker League’s Mix-Max event reduced from 25 to 12 players, but not without a dramatic finish that ended the day and the money bubble in one fell swoop.

The chip leader at the end of the 3^rd day of play is Joe Tehan, a World Poker Tour champion who has over $3.3 million in lifetime earnings. Tehan probably isn’t the first name that comes to mind when you think of poker’s greats, but it’s also far from a shock to see him at the top of any tournament. However, the manner in which he finished building his stack was quite extraordinary.

Although most players expected the day to be relatively short, it took several hours to reduce the field to 14 players, and it was then expected that the final two eliminations before the money – only the top 12 players from the original field of 100 would cash – would take a while.

As it happened, both eliminations instead happened in the same incredible hand. Faraz Jaka moved all-in from under the gun with a short stack. Vanessa Rousso reacted by raising to 120,000 chips, presumably trying to isolate Jaka. Tehan then took a long think, then asked Rousso how many chips she had left. Tehan eventually decided to push all of his chips in the middle, putting Rousso at risk if she planned to call.

It was a move that showed a lot of strength, especially with Jaka already all-in. However, Rousso eventually decided to make the call. Rousso’s hand of pocket queens was no surprise, and Jaka’s hand was extraordinarily strong, as he held pocket aces.

But Tehan’s holding was, to say the least, slightly weaker. He held 4-2 offsuit, putting him well behind the other two players with only about a 12% chance to win the hand. Not only did Jaka look like a huge favorite to triple up, but Rousso was likely to win a large side-pot herself.

But the deck had other plans. A four hit the flop, giving Tehan a chance, as he now held a pair. Another four on the turn gave him miracle trips, putting both Rousso and Jaka on the verse of elimination. When a ten hit on the river, that ended the day for both of them, putting Jaka out in 14^th place and Rousso out in 13^th.

Day Four will see the 12 remaining players battle down to five, with the starting format featuring three tables of four players each. The remaining players and their chip counts are as follows:

Joe Tehan - 1,142,000

Michael Mizrachi - 627,500

Scott Clements - 496,000

Amit Makhija - 424,000

Hafiz Khan - 417,000

Jason Mercier - 394,500

Chris Klodnicki - 371,500

Andrew Lichtenberger - 298,500

David Williams - 242,500

Noah Schwartz - 225,000

Sorel Mizzi - 185,000

Amnon Filippi - 162,000