2013 World Series of Poker

Masayuki Nagata opened for a raise to 35,000 from the cutoff. TJ Cloutier shipped it from the small blind, and Nagata made the call.

Nagata:
Cloutier:

Cloutier was a smidge behind, but not for long.

"Ahhhh," Nagata said, putting his hands on his head as the dealer revealed the door card: . The other cards on the flop were , and the turn and river brought and , doubling the 73-year-old up.

Action folded around to William Cogan's small blind and he put out a raise to an unknown amount. Majid Yahyaei called out of the big blind and the two took a flop of .

Cogan continued out for what looked like 57,000 and Yahyaei called the bet. The turn brought the and Cogan announced 83,000 before putting the chips in the middle. Yahyaei once again called. The river was the and Cogan moved 110,000 into the center of the table. Yahyaei wasted little time calling and Cogan showed for merely queen-high. Yahyaei tabled for a pair of eights and dragged in the pot.

Terik Brown and Tim Stickradt got their nearly-identical stacks all in preflop.

Brown:
Stickradt:

The players were off to the races, and a flop of gave Brown naught but some backdoor draws. A turn narrowed his outs to jacks and aces, but the river was a , and he sent nearly all of his chips to Stickradt.

The next hand, Brown got his final few big blinds all in with against the of Jason Duval. The board came to finish Brown off.

At the other table, Dan Martin raised to under the gun, and James Lee made the call from middle position. Everyone else folded.

Martin checked the flop, and Lee bet 80,000. Martin moved all in, and Lee went into the tank for a good three minutes.

"Let's go," he finally announced, forcefully setting in a stack of chips to indicate a call.

Lee:
Martin:

The turn was a , and Lee took a hammerlock with kings. A came on the river, and Martin was forced to ship away more than half of his stack.

Action folded around to Jason Bloom's small blind and he shipped all in for his last 31,000 total. Jason Duval looked at his hand in the big blind and looked less than pleased. Eventually, however, he called the all in.

Bloom:
Duval:

The flop brought and Bloom hung his head, not wanting to look at the board. He remained in the lead as the struck fourth street, but it all came crashing down when the peeled off on the river, giving Duval eights full of nines and eliminating Bloom in 16th place.

On the very first hand of Day 3, Tommy Townsend got all of his chips in the middle with against the of chipleader Masayuki Nagata.

The flop ended all drama: . A on the turn and a on the river completed the board.

Cards are officially in the air!

Masayuki Nagata leads the final 16 players in the race for the bracelet and a cool $521,202 here at the World Series of Poker Event #28: No-Limit Hold'em. After bagging 1,742,000, he's got nearly 20 percent of the chips in play and is nearly 700,000 clear of his nearest competitor, Dan Martin.

Nagata's only recorded live cash is for $2,895 in a re-entry event at last year's WSOP, so he's surely excited about the forthcoming payday even if he somehow busts 16th, as all the remaining players are guaranteed $19,015.

Relative unknowns make up the majority of the remaining field, and if you're looking at the list of survivors, the name that most certainly jumps out at you is going to be TJ Cloutier. The 73-year-old legend is looking to add yet another final table to a WSOP resume that already includes 39 such accomplishments. With 335,000 chips, he's one of the shorter stacks, but remains a threat due to his experience and skill.

Cards will be in the air at 1 p.m., and we will be following the action closely and bringing you all the pertinent updates until a winner is crowned.