"3 hours in and we are nowhere near the finish line. Over 6 hours is a huge favorite." That quote from PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu sums up what could be tonight at the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event final table during three-way play. Last year, we saw Ben Lamb commit his chips just minutes into three-handed play. This year, play appears much more deliberate and each action is quite calculated.The extra time gave Negreanu and others following the action at the Rio and at home the chance to evaluate each player. "Kid Poker" Tweeted, "I like Merson's 3bet sizing much better than Balsiger. He just made it 3x and a bit with A-4 where Balsiger is 3betting much smaller OOP."
Meanwhile, fans seated in the Penn and Teller Theater are having a hoot chanting "Shaun the Dealer" and "Martha's Vineyard." Commenting on the former from home was Jon Sketchy1 Eaton, who Tweeted, "big ups 2 @ShaunTheDealer & @EggRollSlimTim, two awesome dealers, hope to make it deep more often to have the pleasure of ur card pitching." Martha's Vineyard is the hometown of Jesse Sylvia.
Negeranu added that Greg Merson was facing some adversity and perhaps cracking a bit. He Tweeted, "Crack in Merson's armor. It's slight, but clearly his body language has changed a bit after being pushed around a bit."
One of the biggest pots went to Jesse Sylvia (pictured), who pushed out a bet of 10.2 million on a board of 4-4-3-5-2 with two clubs and two spades, forcing Jake Balsiger to get out of the way. ESPN poker commentator Antonio Esfandiari noted, "I think each of these players knows how far the other is willing to go.The hand appeared on ESPN around 11:30pm ET and included Balsiger checking his cards after a second club hit on the turn. When the cards were revealed on air, Balsiger had pocket kings and Sylvia had 7-6 of spades for a turned straight. The pot was worth 27.1 million, giving Sylvia a big boost heading into a break.
Merson was on the rail during the hand talking to recent WPT Parx winner Tony Gregg and PocketFiver Christian charder Harder. Esfandiari called Merson out for not appearing at the table during the massive eight-figure river bet.
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