A three-way pot for hundreds of big blinds took place during the first level on Day 3 in the 2026 WSOP Main Event, and one player made a wise fold despite having committed a large chunk of his stack to the pot.
The session kicked off at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, with over 3,000 remaining players, all hoping to reach the money bubble, which is expected to burst early on Day 4. One player — Matthew Radcliffe — appeared to be in solid position to work his way towards cashing in poker’s biggest event. He had a decent stack entering the third session, but one cooler sent him home before the first break.
A Crazy Hand of Poker
As reported by PokerNews’ Christian Zetzche, with the blinds at 1,000/2,500, Arnaud Mattern raised from early position with A♠A♦ to 5,500. Delmiro Toledo then three-bet to 20,000 (we’ll reveal his cards in a bit). Radcliffe then came back over the top to 70,000, and Mattern just called with the aces.
Action was then back on Toledo, who went for a five-bet to 150,000. Radcliffe then vaulted out of his chair to put his entire 153,000-chip stack in the middle. Mattern answered by raising to 300,000. Toledo, who had a massive stack, was put in a tough spot, but decided to fold. He showed K♣K♦ before tossing his cards in the muck.
Radcliffe was in even worse shape after seeing those cards because he also held K♠K♥ and could not possibly hit a set. He was drawing dead on the turn as the board ran out 9♠6♥2♣7♠J♦, sending Radcliffe home a day short of the money.
Mattern, a 2007 PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) champion with over $2.5 million in The Hendon Mob results, was up to 877,000 at the time of publishing, making him one of the biggest stacks early on Day 3.
PokerNews will keep you coveraged with live updates of the WSOP Main Event until the tournament ends Aug. 5.
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