It took a miracle one-outer, but by the end of Day 3 Viktor “Isildur1” Blom was the chip-leader in the $50k Poker Players Championship, headlining a star-studded field of 26 players that remain in the hunt for one of poker’s most prestigious titles.

The hand in question came during a round of Pot Limit Omaha and saw Blom and Joe Cassidy tangling in a mammoth pot that would decide the chip-leader of the tournament. After heavy action on a board of 9-10-5-A the two had all of their chips in the middle, with Blom’s tournament life looking very, very, bleak. Cassidy turned over A-Q-10-10 for a flopped set-of-10’s, while Blom held the A-9-9-2, giving him a set-of-9’s. BUT, the poker gods came through for Blom, as the dealer peeped off the final 9 in the deck to give the 21-year-old quads and the chip-lead in the tournament. Cassidy was crippled but managed to stay composed and made it through to Day 4 with 141,000 chips.

Both Phils are still alive in the tournament, with Ivey in fair shape with almost 400k in chips, while Hellmuth is all but busted, sitting on a stack of just 28k. You may also remember that in 2010 both Mike and Robert Mizrachi made the final table of this event (Mike won it) and history may repeat itself, as once again both players are in the final 26.

The money bubble has yet to burst in the tournament, as 8 more players will go home empty-handed before the 16th place finisher pockets over $91,000. The winner of the event will be rewarded with $1,451,527 after the grueling five-day tournament. The question is: Will it be Viktor Blom’s first WSOP bracelet? Or, will one of the more seasoned players like David Baker, John Monnette, Jeff Lisandro, Andy Bloch, Mike Mizrachi, or Lyle Berman win yet another gold bracelet?

Here is a look at the complete end-of-day chip-counts for the $50k Players Championship:

1. Viktor Blom — 1,262,000

2. David Oppenheim — 1,165,000

3. Daniel Alaei — 1,058,000

4. David “ODB” Baker — 1,025,000

5. John Hennigan — 992,000

6. Bill Chen — 984,000

7. Stephen Chidwick — 874,000

8. Mike Wattel — 870,000

9. Bruno Fitoussi — 861,000

10. Chris Klodnicki — 858,000

11. Andy Bloch — 667,000

12. Lyle Berman — 660,000

13. Ben Yu — 653,000

14. Michael Mizrachi — 632,000

15. John Monnette — 586,000

16. Roland Israelashvili — 570,000

17. Luke Schwartz — 500,000

18. Antony Lellouche — 447,000

19. Phil Ivey — 397,000

20. Brett Richey — 256,000

21. Robert Mizrachi — 252,000

22. Jeff Lisandro — 204,000

23. David Chiu — 160,000

24. Joe Cassidy — 141,000

25. Michael Glick — 71,000

26. Phil Hellmuth — 28,000

Tags: Andy Bloch, Baker John, Blom, David Baker, David Oppenheim, Gold Bracelet, Heavy Action, Hellmuth, Jeff Lisandro, Joe Cassidy, Lyle Berman, Mike Mizrachi, Monnette, Odb, Place Finisher, Players Championship, poker players, Pot Limit Omaha, Prestigious Titles, robert mizrachi

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