2021 WSOP Main Event Day 4 results: Norbert Koh among the big stacks; 11 Asians remain; Champions Qui Nguyen and Chris Moneymaker advance

The 52nd World Series of Poker $10,000 Main Event NL Hold’em World Championship completed another two days of eliminations at the Rio All Suite Hotel & Casino. Day 3 determined who would advance to the money round while Day 4 wrapped up with 708 paid and 292 players moving on. Among the survivors were 11 Asians led by Singapore’s lone flag bearer Norbert Koh with a big stack ranked 13th. Also making the cut were two past Main Event champions, Qui Nguyen and Chris Moneymaker. Newcomer/ series bracelet winner Cole Ferraro continued to impress as he bagged up a stack ranked 12th, and earning the chip leader’s status was Spain’s Ramon Colillas. Here’s a brief look at what transpired the past two days. 

Day 3 review

Day 3 of the Main Event saw the return of 2,362 players out of a notable 6,650 turnout. Seven past champions were among the crowd, however by midday it downsized to three with Phil Hellmuth, Scott Blumstein, Joe Hachem, and Jerry Yang all finding the rail. As the bubble round approached, action at the featured table drew gasps when Ugur Ozgur Seclimis eliminated Chang Liu in a shocking quad Sixes over quad Fours. The day ended at the unfortunate yet dramatic fall of Kevin Campbell on the bubble with cracked by Chris Alafogiannis’ two pair on a board . As consolation, Campbell was given a seat to the 2022 WSOP Main Event. 

Day 4 review

1,000 players returned on Day 4 with everyone guaranteed a piece of the US$ 62,011,250 prize pool. Out of the 32 returning Asian players, Thailand’s Phachara Wongwichit ranked the highest with a stack just 3 BB less than the chip leader Jessica Cai. Among the remaining champions, Chris Moneymaker, Qui Nguyen, and Martin Jacobson, it was Moneymaker with the biggest stack ranked 12th. By the end of day, the field was sizably cut to just 292 players with Jacobson as one of the casualties. For Asia, 21 players failed to advance which included Kitty Kuo (408th), Steve Yea (542nd), Christian Pham (557th), Vidur Sethi (632nd), Yueqi Zhu (697th), Sejin Park (771st), and Hwany Lee (784th). 

On the bright side, 11 Asian players survived. On his series debut was Singapore’s Norbert Koh who staged a fantastic run, climbing from the middle of the pack into 13th rank. Coming Day 5, Koh will be tabled with champion Qui Nguyen who advanced with a 47 BB stack. Also powering through were bracelet winners Pete Chen and Abhinav Iyer. Chen is currently ranked 2nd in the No Limits Velo leaderboard and 18th in the WSOP Player of Year race. 

Asian players remaining

Norbert Koh – Singapore – 3,004,000 – 125 BB
Chang Luo – China – 2,345,000 – 97 BB
Hogyun Kang – Korea – 1,537,000 – 64 BB
Yuhei Sanada – Japan – 1,157,000 – 48 BB
Mikiya Kudo – Japan – 898,000 – 37 BB
Daewoong Song – Korea – 844,000 – 35 BB
Pete Chen – Taiwan – 798,000 – 33 BB
Takashi Yagura – Japan – 702,000 – 29 BB 
Phachara Wongwichit – Thailand – 658,000 – 27 BB
Abhinav Iyer – India – 608,000 – 25 BB
Punnat Punsri – Thailand – 21 BB

Aside from the Asian force, numerous bracelet winners and notable players bagged up chips. Spain’s Ramon Colillas amassed the largest of 5,000,000 chips equivalent to 208 BB. When action returns, Colillas will be tabled with series bracelet winners Tyler Cornell and Jean-Luc Adam. Another player packing up a big stack was UK bracelet winner Stephen Chidwick with 4,376,000, putting him in fourth position. Champion Moneymaker had a harder time claiming chips in this round, however he still secured himself a spot in Day 5 with a stack of 621,000 equivalent to 25 BB. Other returning notables are Yuri Dzivielevski, Jason Koon, Chance Kornuth, and series bracelet winner Cole Ferraro. Ferraro is a newcomer to the series and has been running extremely hot. His five cashes include a runner up at Event #26: $1,000 Freezeout No Limit Hold’em and a victory at Event #61: $600 Deepstack Championship No Limit Hold’em. He is currently ranked 1st in the No Limits Velo leaderboard and 15th in the WSOP Player of the Year race. 

Among the fallen pros of Day 4 were Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (312th), Renan Bruschi (326th), Ben Yu (327th), Thomas Ward (333rd), Chris Moorman (432nd), and Mustapha Kanit (971st). Two time series winner Josh Arieh met his end in 411th place but went on to finish 4th at the Online Event #7: $3,200 No Limit Hold’em High Roller 8-Max to maintain his top dog status in the WSOP Player of the Year race. 

Main Event prize pool and payouts

Buy in: US$ 10,000
Players: 6,650
Prize pool: US$ 62,011,250
ITM: 1,000 places

Although the final table is still a few days away, each of the finalists will walk away with seven figures. 

Final table payouts

1st US$ 8,000,000
2nd US$ 4,300,000
3rd US$ 3,000,000
4th US$ 2,300,000
5th US$ 1,800,000
6th US$ 1,400,000
7th US$ 1,225,000
8th US$ 1,100,000
9th US$ 1,000,000

Stay tuned to Somuchpoker as we bring you updates and recaps of the ongoing series.