Day 3 of the $3,500 World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship saw 101 players return to action. The field was trimmed down to two, eight-handed tables with Josh Reichard leading the field ending with a mountain of chips – to the tune of 22.2 million.
“It’s a very heavy bag, I got a workout in,” Reichard joked. “I’ve got no complaints.” Reichard returned to Day 2 as the chip leader, took a big hit in the early action but raged back to the chip lead by dinner break.
He found himself back at Table 16, where he started his tear on Day 2. “I played on this table all of Day 2, I started at the first table break today and came straight to here and then at the redraw I’m here again.”
Joining Reichard on Day 4 is a stacked field with Toby Boas, Landon Tice, Dylan Linde and Jesse Lonis all returning with room to play. Alex Queen is a distant second in chips with 14.25 million.
“It feels good and I’m just taking it as it comes,” said Boas. “You can’t really control it.”
Boas has been on a heater since he finished in third place six months ago at the bestbet Scramble for $166,800. Then he ran deep in November’s WSOP Circuit Cherokee Main Event and is fresh off a third place, six-figure finish from a WPT Voyage High Roller.
“Today was a lot of fun,” Tice said. “Sometimes you’re not a part of it but it’s fun to be around if you’re still in the tournament. It feels good to get it (new WPT record cash) but the job’s not done.”
Tice is in fine form for his much-publicized prop bet against Jeremy Becker. He’s secured his best WPT finish to date by $95 and got some table time against his rival on Day 2.
Two days short of the ten-year anniversary of winning the Season XII WPT Player of the Year, Mukul Pahuja was looking to make a fifth final table. He fell short and finished in 19th place for $47,500.
Josh Arieh is parlaying his wedding rungood to the tables after tying the knot a couple of weeks ago. He’s fit, slim and loves the good shit that keeps happening to him.
Although, his day at the felt was mostly downhill after returning near the top of the counts. He made his short-stacked final stand with 
and Dennis Cyr flopped trips and turned a full house to eliminate the newlywed.
Matt Higgins has been wearing a path between Southern casinos for the last three years. He’s been highly successful in mid stakes tournaments and his deep run on Monday could net a new all-time score.
Higgins did, in fact, set a new high water mark by getting eliminated in 23rd place for $39,500. He lost most of his stack in flip holding 
against pocket nines when the board ran queen high.
Pahuja, Arieh, Brad Owens, Fikret Kovac, Chris Moorman, Michael Wang, Aaron Massey and Eric Afriat made Day 3 runs but were eliminated short of the final two tables.
Day 4 has cards hitting the air at noon local time and they’ll play down a TV final table of six players. Then they’ll bag up for the final table to be played in Las Vegas at the HyperX Arena on May 29.
Top Five Chip Counts
- Josh Reichard – 22,200,000
- Alex Queen – 14,250,000
- Wasim Assaf – 6,750,000
- Jackob Datashvili – 6,550,000
- Landon Tice – 5,575,000
All photos courtesy of WPT - shot by Joe Giron
