You'd send your nickel-dime playing granny against this lineup, right? No WSOP bracelets among them. None! Total WSOP earnings for the group: under $450,000.

They have a whopping seven Final Tables in all WSOP events with one second as the best result. Three of them had never made a penny in the Series before today.

Those who like to complain, "tournaments are always won by the same people" will have to be still for a while.

How's this for formidable credentials? These are the final nine's prior WSOP earnings.

Our chip leader, John Shipley: $37,270

Russ Rosenblum: $0

Rafael Perry (aka Perovskin) $58,340

Rob Varkonyi: $0

Minh Ly: $62,155

Scott Gray: $12,200

Julian Gardner: $0

Tony D: $228,532

Harley Hall: $25,260

Only Shipley (42nd, 2000) and Tony D (13th, 2001) have ever cashed in any WSOP No-Limit event. They were both in the $10,000 Championship.

What do all these statistics mean? Absolutely Nothing! Trust me, your dear granny would get crushed by this group. They all can play.

The Final Table was setup when Don Barton couldn't get off a hand when he was raised by John Shipley. On second button, Barton bet out on the flop of J 10 9. Shipley on the button raised $100k. Don had A Q that gave him an up and down straight draw. Barton went all-in. Shipley called with trip Jacks. With two short stacks, Barton might have picked a better spot to make a stand.

But Don might have still been steaming from the beat the other Brit at the table had just given him. Julian Gardner could have been out of this tournament a couple of times. His wizardry is still working. Don Barton had Julian dominated all-in just prior to Barton's exit in 10th to John Shipley. Don had A K, Julian was all-in with A 10. No worries! When a 10 rips right off the deck, you know you can do magic.

There are dozens of great stories on Day Three. I don't have the space to tell them all. It was an exciting day. If you'd like to really experience what happened you should watch the Internet feed on www.binions.com.

Anyway, two of the best stories of the day involve the chip leader for tomorrow's Final Table, John Shipley, and the guy second in chips, Russ Rosenblum.

They say you have to get lucky to win a poker tournament, but this is ridiculous! John Shipley, by rights, should have been history on Day Two. John had A K and was all-in. Phil Ivey had flopped a set of threes with his pocket pair. Phil made a full house when another Ace came on the turn. John had three Aces. Oops! Make that Quad Aces on the river. John had caught runner runner Quads. Shipley is still alive and goes on a two day rush. Phil Ivey never fully recovers and finishes 23rd. Fate? Karma? Who knows?

Russ Rosenblum had made one of the great recoveries of WSOP history to have $927,000 in chips. Rosenblum made one of the worst mistakes of his life to nearly put himself out of the tournament.

Early in Day Three, Russ bets $18,000 on a 10 3 10 flop. Julian Gardner comes over the top for $50k to go. Russ has a pair of Jacks and reraises it to $100,000. Instantly and dramatically, Julian Gardner knocks his stacks over into the pot, all-in. Rosenblum is so shocked by this move that he gets up and walks into a service area behind his table. Co-Tournament Director, Matt Savage, comes looking for him to find out what he wants to do. While still standing away from the table Russ says, "I fold."

Even though Russ isn't in his seat, Savage says that the verbal bet in turn is binding. Now Russ realizes his error and wants Gardner's stack counted down to see what it would take to call the reraise. Too late, the fold stands. Gardner slams a pair of 6's down on the table. Rosenblum would have had Julian drawing to a 6 and probably out of the tournament. Instead of nearly $400,000 in chips if he'd called the small Gardner reraise, Russ Rosenblum now has $32,000. "I play better with only a few chips," was Rosenblum's answer to how he came back.

Lastly, the performance of Harley Hall has to be mentioned. Hall started the day in 40th position out of 45. He passed 31 players to get to the Final Table. A couple of those players had hundreds of thousands of dollars more in chips than he did.

It's easy to have fun with the WSOP histories of our last nine. They can take it; they will be making a fortune on Friday. But make no mistake. These guys beat a world-class field that included 13 former World Champions and nearly all of the WSOP millionaires. That they aren't famous poker players is only temporary.

No bracelets? No money? No Problem!

THE FINAL TABLE
1 hr 42 mins left of 2 hours. $3,000 ante. The blinds are $8,000/$16,000

Player	Hometown	Chip Count
Seat 1 - Tony D (Tam Duong)	Los Angeles CA	$231,000
Seat 2 - Julian Gardner	Manchester, UK	$394,000
Seat 3 - Scott Gray	Dublin, Ireland	$545,000
Seat 4 - Rafael Perry	Las Vegas NV	$766,000
Seat 5 - Minh Ly	Las Vegas NV	$614,000
Seat 6 - Rob Varkonyi	Brooklyn NY	$640,000
Seat 7 - John Shipley	Solihull, UK	$2,033,000
Seat 8 - Russ Rosenblum	Bethesda MD	$927,000
Seat 9 - Harley Hall	San Juan Capistrano CA	$161,000

Official Money Winners
1.	$2,000,000
2.	$1,100,000
3.	$550,000
4.	$281,480
5.	$195,000
6.	$150,000
7.	$120,000
8.	$100,000
9.	$85,000

10th-12th received $70,000
Don Barton (Pahrump NV), Amir Nasseri (Henderson NV), Owen Mullan (Ireland)

13th-15th received $60,000
Martin de Knijff (Sweden), Yosh Nankano (Las Vegas NV), James Neely (Land O' Lakes FL)

16th-18th received $50,000
Bernard Ko (Sunnyvale CA), Sigi Stockington (Austria), David Rubin (Mill Valley CA)

19th-27th received $40,000
Mike Fetter (Long Beach CA), Stephen Wilsdon (England), Jack Fox (Reno NV), Dave Crunkleton, (Las Vegas NV), Phil Ivey (Atlantic City NJ), Minh Nguyen (Bell Gardens CA), Lamar Wilkinson (Pacheco CA), Kurt Paseka (Bayside NY), Ray January (Vancouver WA)

28th-36th received $30,000
Luan Phu (San Jose CA), Sam Whitt (Lima OH), Rameen Sai (Ireland), Scott Amos (Carrollton OH), Steve Melton (Noble OK), Eric Holum (Las Vegas NV), Ross Boatman (England), Randy Holland (Orange CA), Tom Schneider (Phoenix AZ)