The quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals of Event #3 of the 2012 World Series of Poker (WSOP) a $3,000 Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha tournament, panned out at the Rio in Las Vegas on Thursday. Leif Force, who finished 11th in the Main Event in 2006 for $1.1 million, took home the gold bracelet in Event #3 this year and collected another $207,000. He’s now up to nearly $1.6 million in career WSOP earnings after beating Jason JAKoon1985 Koon (pictured) heads-up.

Koon’s second place finish was worth $128,000. He outlasted Simeon Naydenov in the semifinals to make it to the finals of the tournament, which were played as single-elimination. Each player received two rebuy chips they could use at any point in between hands. Force built an early lead and was up nearly 4:1 in chips within 40 minutes.

Koon didn’t lie down and die, though, and doubled up at the hour mark during No Limit Hold’em play right after using one of his rebuys. After a 4bet all-in from Force, Koon called all-in for his tournament life and tabled pocket jacks. Force flipped up Q-9 offsuit and the flop came 10-J-6, giving Koon a set of jacks. It turns out the set was needed, as running nines were not enough to save Force. Just like that, the stacks were even.

Force then doubled through after shoving with Q-3 offsuit against Koon’s 5-4. Neither player improved and Force doubled his stack with queen-high. He ultimately went busto shortly thereafter, used a rebuy, and then doubled up during PLO by hitting a flush on the river against Koon to draw the match back to even.

Koon was forced to use his last rebuy after he flopped a straight during PLO, but watched as Force (pictured) hit a runner-runner flush. In the final hand of the action-packed tournament, on a 7-8-5 rainbow flop in PLO, Koon called all-in and showed 5-9-8-10 for two pair, eights and fives. Force revealed J-A-K-8 for a pair of eights and was behind until running clubs gave him a flush.

In a pair of Twitter posts after Event #3 had wrapped up, Koon shared, “Well, I gave it my all. Was lucky enough to run this deep. Cards didn’t fall my way this time. No bracelet this time. I may not have won the tourney, but looking back and seeing the folks on my rail was one of the happiest moments of my life. #crewlove.”

Here’s how the top eight cashed out in Event #3, each of whom made it to at least the quarterfinals:

1. Leif Force – $207,708
2. Jason JAKoon1985Koon – $128,660
3. Simeon Naydenov – $73,655
4. Julian Powell – $73,655
5. Greg Merkow – $28,409
6. Andrew Frankenberger – $28,409
7. David RaptorBenefield – $28,409
8. Annette Annette_15 Obrestad – $28,409

Also at the Rio on Thursday, Cory Zeidman edged out two-time bracelet winner Chris Bjorin in Event #4, a $1,500 Seven Card Stud High-Low Eight or Better tournament. Zeidman recorded his second six-figure live cash according to the Hendon Mob and walked away with $201,000. His only other $100,000+ score came in 2009 in the Main Event of the Wynn Classic.

The final table was oozing with poker talent, including bracelet winners Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi and Todd Brunson:

1. Cory Zeidman – $201,559
2. Chris Bjorin – $124,838
3. Brandon Shack-Harris – $84,415
4. Yarron Bendor – $58,518
5. Michael Mizrachi – $41,447
6. Xuan Liu – $29,985
7. Todd Brunson – $22,142
8. Bonnie Rossi – $16,684

On Friday at the Rio, on National Doughnut Day, a winner in Event #5 ($1,500 PLO) will be crowned. We’ll be at Krispy Kreme getting our sugar on for the finale of this one, which features BuzzDraft‘s Bryan PrimordialAAPellegrino (pictured) at the top of the leaderboard with 790,000 in chips. The daily fantasy sports guru is well ahead of Jonathan FatalError Aguiar, who has a second place stack of 552,000.

A top prize of $189,000 is on the line in Event #5 and we’d wager that a decent chunk of fans that turn out will be behind PokerStarspro Daniel Negreanu, who is in search of his fifth gold bracelet:

1. Bryan PrimordialAAPellegrino – 790,000
2. Jonathan FatalErrorAguiar – 552,000
3. Keanu Tabali – 309,000
4. Nick Stacked121 Jivkov – 281,000
5. Tommy Vedes – 247,000
6. Daniel Negreanu – 212,000
7. Brant OURounder Hale – 211,000
8. John johne147 Eames – 181,000
9. Mike Allis – 86,000

Stay tuned to PocketFives for the latest WSOP news.