Valentin Vornicu maintains lead at dinner break on Day 3 of WSOP Main Event

Valentin Vornicu was the unofficial chip leader at the dinner break Thursday on Day 3 of the World Series of Poker’s $10,000 buy-in No-limit Texas Hold ’em World Championship.

Vornicu, who entered the day with the overall lead, had approximately 1.189 million chips when play at the Rio Convention Center was halted just short of 6 p.m. The San Diego resident has won eight WSOP Circuit rings and will be a formidable foe as the tournament moves forward.

Mark Zullo of Seville, Ohio, was second with approximately 1.05 million, and England’s Tom Middleton is the only other player in the seven figures with around 1.01 million.

Adam Krach (925,000) and Ramin Hajiyev (875,000) round out the top five.

The Main Event started with 6,737 entrants and 1,393 players remain in the running for the $8 million first prize. The top 1,011 finishers are paid.

Cord Garcia, the winner of last year’s “Colossus” No-limit Hold’em tournament, was the only WSOP bracelet winner in the top 10. Professional poker players Michael Mizrachi and Shaun Deeb were in the top 50 of the chip counts.

The afternoon’s sessions were marked by the elimination of Phil Hellmuth. The 14-time bracelet winner made his usual declaration of war on his table during the early levels and tossed his phone 15 feet in the air after losing one hand to 2011 Main Event runner-up Martin Staszko.

CHIP COUNTS (unofficial)

1, Valentin Vornicu 1,189,000

2, Mark Zullo 1,050,500

3, Tom Middleton 1,010,000

4, Adam Krach 925,000

5, Ramin Hajiyev 875,000

6, Jean Houle 865,000

7, Dylan Thomassie 820,000

8, Jasthi Kumar 819,000

9, Marc-Andre Ladouceur 818,000

10, Cord Garcia 810,000