Yesterday saw Day 3 of the World Poker Tour Venetian play down to the TV final table of six.
The day started with 39 players. Even so, it took almost 12 hours of hard-fought gameplay to whittle the field down to the half-dozen finalists.
Day 3 saw a lot of top players sent to the rail. The brothers Mizrachi, Robert and Michael, both hit the bricks yesterday. Michael became the final table bubble boy when he busted in 10th. Joining him among the spectators were Kathy Liebert, Scotty Nguyen, Jason Koon, and Nick Pupillo, all of who started the day with healthy stacks.
This tournament has seen a great deal of action since it kicked off over the weekend. We witnessed everything from Hellmuth busting out three days in a row to dodgy dealings from Michael Mizrachi.
Ari Oxman, who led the field at the end of Day 2, went out in seventh to become the TV bubble boy. His elimination ended the day's play.
After the players drew their seats, the final table setup for tomorrow will be as follows:
| Seat | Player | Chip count |
| # 1. | Chad Eveslage | 17,725,000 (142 big blinds) |
| # 2. | Tim McDermott | 4,500,000 (36 big blinds) |
| # 3. | Kitty Kuo | 2,700,000 (22 big blinds) |
| # 4. | Mike Liang | 18,225,000 (146 big blinds) |
| # 5. | Daniela Rodriguez | 2,250,000 (18 big blinds) |
| # 6. | Kyna England | 2,575,000 (21 big blinds) |
Ladies' night at the Venetian
The big story of the WPT Venetian final table is that half the players are women.
Day 3 started with 39 players. Five of these were women — two of the top pros. This was already a pretty good ratio of men-to-women in the boys' club that is poker. Only two women have ever won WPT events.
By the end of the day, the ratio had tightened up. Kitty Kuo, Kyna England, and Daniela Rodruigez remain in play against a male contingent made up of Chad Eveslage, Tim McDermott, and chip leader Mike Liang.
The Independent Chip Model doesn't give any of the women great odds of taking the thing down today. They are the three small stacks and together only have about 1/6th of the chips in play.
However, with the average stack starting at about 60 big blinds tomorrow, there should still be plenty of room to make their skill count.
This table just so happened to crystallize on the same day that feminist activist Vanessa Kade busted Bilzerian apologist Daniel Negreanu on the bubble at a PokerGO $10k. Things seem to be coming up pink this week.
Here come the girls
Poker players across the internet have been celebrating the performance of women in this event. Xian Liu of Poker Powher tweeted about her friend and colleague Kyna England before the final table bubble broke:
"3/10 left in the $5,000 @WPT with the most entries EVER are women. The current chip leader is @pokerpowher instructor and ACTUAL PILOT @Kyna_CooL. She was already a part of the company when I first joined, one of the many reasons I felt like I found my people. Is this real life?!"
England's chip stack has dwindled since, but she remains very much in play with six remaining.
Kitty Kuo in particular is coming in hot after a deep run, after winning the APT Taiwan Main Event earlier this year. She has a little over $2.3 million in live tourney cashes over her career. That isn't keeping her from taking the day seriously.
She tweeted her plan for the day. It starts with studying hard.
"Day 4 schedule: study ICM, no gym today, hair salon, today’s dress code is pink for 3 women at @WPT final table, and nice dinner and long sleep after finish."
The third woman at this final table is Daniela Rodriguez. She is an unknown quantity in the poker world. The Hendon Mob lists just one "Daniela Rodriguez" who has a single cash — 1,317th in the $400 WSOP Online COLLOSUS from last year.
Will one of these three ladies become the third woman ever to win a WPT event? We'll find out later today. Play restarts at 13:00 PDT.
Featured image source: Flickr by WPT
