The WSOP Main Event came to an abrupt end with mother nature storming in Las Vegas to briefly cut the lights at the Rio All Suite Casino & Hotel. According to player reports, the rare sudden blackout led to hands being completed through the use of camera lights and cell phone flashlights.
Play is temporarily halted due to a power outage at the Rio.
— WSOP (@WSOP) July 10, 2018
After several minutes, the lights were partially restored however the game was called to a halt and the 109 remaining players bagged up an hour ahead of regulation time.
Day 5 leader and notable survivors
With Day 5 wrapped up, what once began as the second largest field in WSOP Main Event history of 7,874 players trimmed down further to just 109 runners. At the end of every elimination day, a different face claimed the chip lead and this time it was Michael Dyer who built himself a hefty stack of 12,180,000. This was quite a substantial lead with second position Brian Yoon with 8,395,000. Rounding out the top three was Jeffrey Trudeau with 8,305,000. Checking on the previous day’s leader, Barry Hutter, he bagged up 5,695,000 placing him in the top 20 of the chip counts.
Other notable players surviving the day were triple bracelet winner Shaun Deeb, previous November Niner Benjamin Pollak, and Joe Cada, the last remaining WSOP Main Event champion.
Asia – Pacific players ins and outs
Keeping tabs on the Asian force… the small pool that advanced to Day 5 got even smaller with the number of survivors less than those sent to the rail. Leading the last of the Asian hopefuls was Hong Kong’s Daniel Tang with 3,475,000. Tang’s presence was felt in Day 4 after he closed it out within the top 20. Yueqi Zhu and Ming Xi hold the flag for China, and Vivek Rughani as India’s last runner. For Israel, Hari Bercovici is in fine shape with 7,650,000 putting him fourth in chips.
Looking at the Australian contingent, only two remain. Alexander Lynskey sits with 3,655,000 and bracelet winner James Obst with 1,730,000.
Among the fallen in Day 5 was Malaysia’s last hope, Natalie Teh. At every stage of the tournament, Teh closed well above average stack and though it ended short in 120th place, she earned $57,010 for the largest payout of her live tournament career.
Other Asians joining that unfortunate list were India’s Kartik Ved (128th), Chinese players Xi Yang (152nd) and Yang Zhang (231st), Japanese players Shigeho Yoshioka (183rd) and Takashi Ogura (222nd), and Hong Kong’s Park Yu Cheung (285th).
Main Event prize pool recap
Since it is getting closer and closer to the end, let’s have a look at the numbers once again. The Main Event drew in 7,874 players for a huge US$74,015,600 prize pool. Day 4 saw small slices of that pie distributed starting at 1,182nd place. The top nine places will earn the biggest chunks, each one guaranteed a sweet $1 Million. The eventual winner will ship in the grandest top prize of $8,800,000, the prestigious world title, and the highly coveted WSOP championship bracelet. As of now, Day 6 kicks off with the 109 remaining players guaranteed a minimum of $57,010.
Somuchpoker will keep track of the action so stay with us as we update you on the Day 6 results and the progress of the Asian players.
Article by Tricia David
Louis Hartwell
Graduated in Media Communication at the University of Lausanne, Louis Hartman is a co-founder of somuchpoker.com. He began his career in Cambodia as freelance journalist. In same time he was making his living by playing poker every night at that time. Intense learner, he read dozens of poker strategy books to improve his skills during many years. With a strong interest about poker "behind the scene" in Asia and his communication skills, Louis launched Somuchpoker in 2014.
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