Both tables are full, which means nine-handed action; as such, the players can play a little more patently, which is exactly what they're doing. Aside from a few flops here and there, action has slowed to a crawl. As usual, it's only a matter of time before two big hands run into one another or the blinds catch up.
We found Dan Blakeman and Chris Conrad heads up at the flop with a board of . Blakeman led out with 62,000 and Conrad called. The came on the turn and Blakeman moved all in. Conrad called with little delay and the hands were tabled.
Conrad:
Blakeman:
The river bricked for Blakeman when it came and his day was done. With his elimination the clock has been paused for the final 18 player redraw. We'll have their new seats shortly.
The winner of today's event will automatically qualify for the National Championship this summer in Las Vegas. They'll join a laundry list of notables including:
Alexandru Masek started the action by opening to 32,000, Dave Schwartz called behind and Brian Davis made it an even 100,000 to go from the small blind. Masek took just a few seconds to move his stack in the middle, Schwartz got out of the way and Davis called.
We had an elimination right off the bat here at Harrah's St. Louis, one that happened so fast that we didn't catch it as we were making our way to the tournament floor. What we do know is Michael McKuin is at the payout desk to collect $8,021 for his 21st-place finish.
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Chris Conrad leads the field with 1.5 million chips.
It's Day 3 here at the World Series of Poker Circuit Harrah's St. Louis Main Event. Just 21 players remain of the 625 that entered and leading them all is Chris Conrad with 1.512 million chips. Conrad looks to lock up his seat in the WSOP National Championsip, his first WSOPC gold ring and $190,961. His lead isn't safe though with Tripp Kirk (1.326m) and Gannesh Letchumanan (1.235m) hot on his heels.
Looking to add to their WSOPC trophy case is Charles "Woody" Moore (417,000) and Alexandru Masek (364,000). Moore is fresh off a runner up finish from the WSOPC Council Bluffs Main Event and Masek looks to add a Main Event title to his resume.
Accomplished circuit players Tripp Kirk and Ryan Tepen remain in the field, hoping to land the near $200,000 score.
They played deep into night on Sunday, bagging up their chips at 2:30 in the morning. Hopefully the remaining players got plenty of sleep last night because we're playing down to a winner tonight, no matter how long it takes.
The Missouri Gaming Commission has elected to not allow a live stream of the final table. So follow all the action until we crown a winner on PokerNews.com.