The third level of the day started as slowly as the second had been with all the players tightening up as a final table appearance came closer and closer to reality.  With John Juanda holding a large chip lead the shorter stacks started to feel the pressure from the 4k / 8k blinds, with the 1k ante eating away at their stacks every hand.  As the level wound down the two late arrivals from today made an early exit as Justin “Boosted J” Smtih and Brian “sbrugby” Townsend both saw their tournaments come to an end.

On a 7-6-3 rainbow flop Smith had flopped top set with his sevens and when the money went in he was somehow behind, with Negreanu having flopped a straight with his 54.  The board did not pair and Smith was sent to the sidelines with a major cooler story to tell from his time at the World Series of Poker Europe, along with the 16th place pay of £36,200.

After tangling with Chris Elliott the defeated body language of Scott “emptyseat88″ Fischman made it clear he was down in chips without even looking at his stack.  Elliott showed Scott aces after Fischman folded to a river bet leaving himself with less than 200k.  He was able to add to his stack and shorten the field near the end of the level though when Townsend moved all in and Scott called with pocket tens.  The pair held up against Brian’s A-8.  Townsend becomes the 15th place finisher, making a pay jump to £45,250.

By the time the level closed out Philippe Rouas had also been sidelined, finishing in 14th for the same payout as Townsend.  The final 13 players are on dinner break for two hours and will come back to play down to the final 9.

Soren Kongsgaard will be the shortest stack after the break, coming back with only 127k and facing blinds of 5k / 10k with a 1k ante.  Peter “#1Pen” Neff (left) is the next shortest stack with 231k giving him a little more time than Kongsgaard, but still a long way off where the chip leaders are.

At the dinner break here are the table breakdowns with the chip counts for each player.

Feature Table:
Talal Shakerchi - 425k
Bengt Sonnert - 630k
Toni Hiltunen - 288k
Daniel Negreanu - 835k
Soren Kongsgaard - 127k
John Juanda - 1.5 million
Stanislav Alekhin - 590k

Secondary Table:
Ivan Demidov - 725k
Chris Elliott - 710k
Johnny Lodden - 305k
Scott “emptyseat88″ Fischman - 445k
Peter “#1Pen” Neff - 231k
Robin Keston - 387k

• September 30, 2008 -- Juanda, Negreanu, Boosted J Lead The Way into Day 4
• October 1, 2008 -- Slow Level, Matusow Falls Short
• October 1, 2008 -- Neff Busts Lodden, Down To 10
• October 1, 2008 -- Neff Bubbles Final Table, Nine Left