Ivey comes back to the pack, Liporace leads WSOP Main Event

The most popular question during Day 3 of the World Series of Poker Main Event was: “Where’s Phil Ivey playing?”

Ivey had a steady flow of foot traffic passing by table No. 388 in the Amazon Orange section, and spectators from all over craned their necks to get a glimpse of the 10-time WSOP bracelet winner in action.

Ivey, who was the talk of the tournament after entering play as the chip leader (and fan favorite, too), was stuck in reverse for most of the action Thursday at the Rio Convention Center but bagged up 522,500 tournament chips when play in the $10,000 buy-in No-limit Texas Hold ’em World Championship was halted early by officials.

Ivey started Day 3 with 505,000 chips and dipped to as low as 370,000 before recovering in the final level.

According to WSOP.com, Andrew Liporace of New Orleans was in first place with 1,128,000 chips, followed closely by Mehrdad Yousefzadeh (1,124,000) of Astoria, N.Y.

Stephen Graner of Henderson was in seventh place with 911,000. Las Vegas residents Michael Finstein (820,000) and Dan Smith (817,000) were in 14th and 15th place, respectively.

“For the past nine years, most of the guys I’ve seen as chip leader Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, they don’t make the final table,” Yousefzadeh said. “I’m just trying not to be that guy. I’m trying to manage the pots.”

Liporace has one career WSOP .cash, a 293rd-place finish in the $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold ’em event in 2010.

Yousefzadeh won a WSOP Circuit ring in 2007 at Caesars Atlantic City, and finished 181st in the 2005 Main Event. He played at the same table as Ivey for most of the day and was the first player to surpass 1 million chips.

“We were staying away from each other,” Yousefzadeh said.

FROZEN IN TIME: The final level of play was halted late Thursday with 53 minutes remaining on the clock so all the players can be placed in one room and ESPN can capture the reaction when the bubble burts.

After starting the day with 1,871 players, there are 746 left in the Main Event, and the top 693 get paid.

“I would have rather played,” Yousefzadeh said. “There’s a lot of short stacks now that don’t want to deal with it and they want to ship it in. … It’s an advantage to a big stack to play.”

DRIVE FOR FIVE: Ronnie Bardah’s quest for a record-setting fifth straight Main Event cash is alive. Barely.

Bardah, who won a WSOP bracelet in the $2,500 buy-in Six-Handed Limit Hold ‘em event in 2012, scored a late double-up and bagged up 108,500 chips when play was stopped. That puts the native of Brockton, Mass., in 593rd place unofficially.

Bardah finished 24th in the Main Event in 2010 despite suffering from an undetermined neurological disorder that caused numbness in his face and extremities. He was 453rd in 2011, followed by a 540th-place finish in 2012. Last year, Bardah was knocked out in 124th place for $50,752.

Bardah shares the record for most consecutive Main Event cashes with Robert Turner (1991-1994), Bo Sehlstedt (2004-2007), Theodore Park (2005-2008), Chris Overgard (2007-2010), Chris Bjorin (2008-2011), and Christian Harder (2010-2013).

ODDS AND ENDS: Huck Seed, the 1996 Main Event champion, is the only former winner of the event left in the field after the eliminations of defending champ Ryan Riess, Johnny Chan (1987, 1988), Robert Varkonyi (2002) and Chris Moneymaker (2003). Seed had 249,000 chips at the end of the day. … NBA all-star Paul Pierce was eliminated during the final level when his two-pair was topped by Christopher Smith’s better two-pair.

Contact reporter David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidSchoenLVRJ.