Day 3 of World Series of Poker Event #51, $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em kicked off with 30 players left, all chasing a piece of a total prize pool of $3,796,065.

The early going featured a flurry of eliminations. 14 of the 30 remaining players were shown the door within the first two hours of play, including one on the very first hand.

After a couple more hours it was whittled down to the last 9. Helder was the chip leader at that point, with 2.9 million, followed by Levy with 2.5 million.

Nathan Page was first on his way. He had entered the final table as the second-shortest stack. He had AQo and raised to 110,000. Andrew Chen pushed all in with 99 and Page called. Chen won the race and hit quads! Page was awarded $80,894 for ninth place.

Jason Helder lost the last of his 2.5 million shortly after, about two hours into the final table. He had earlier given most of his chips to Chen when they both got it all-in preflop with AQo and AKs respectively. Then, just after Page’s exit, Helder doubled up Thibault Durand. So at this stage he only had 600k left of his original 2.5 million. With blinds at 25,000/50,000/5000 Helder shoved with AKo but he was called by Owen Crowe with 99. The board bricked and Jason Helder was on his bike in eighth place and with $86,702.

Georgios Kapalas was next out. His stack had dwindled so much that he was all-in on the big blind with J7o  after a raise from Carsten Joh with 77. The board gave no help to Kapalas and he was on his way in seventh place for $97,634.

Thibault Durand was next out, eliminated in sixth place. He had donked off most of his chips in the previous hand with K6o when someone looked him up with 99. On the next hand, Durand was all in before the flop with J7o, facing the dominating Q7o of Steven Levy. Queen-high was the winner and Thibault Durand left with $115,817.

Owen Crowe was next on his bike in fifth place when Andrew Chen raised on the button with pocket 8’s. Crowe reraised from the small blind with ATo and Chen shoved. Crowe thought for a while and made the call. The community cards did not give Crowe any help and he was sent packing.

Steven Levy was out in fourth place with some BvB action. He raised to 220,000 in the SB with A9o and David Walasinski in the big blind with AJo shoved it all-in. Levy called immediately, but no help came for him. He was sent on his way with a check for $192,650 and 4th place.

Joh knocked out Walasinski’s next when the latter moved all in from the button with K7o and Joh called from the big blind with KTo. Both players made a pair, but Joh’s was better. David Walasinski was on his bike in third place, picking up $272,405.

That pot gave Joh a 1.2 million lead over Chen going into heads-up play: 6.9 million to 5.7 million. He steadily increased that lead over the next hour, until he held a 4-to-1 advantage. Then, the deciding hand…

Carsten Joh raised to 410,000 from the button with 66 and Andrew Chen moved all-in for 2.2 million with Td9d. Joh called instantly. The board played out giving no help for Chen and a set on the end for Joh. Chen, who had been the chip leader for most of the final table, had to settle for second place, with $412,632.

Joh took his first WSOP cash, final table, and bracelet!