WSOP 2019: Nicholas Marchington leads the Main Event; Sam Greenwood eliminated in brutal fashion

After another frenetic day at the WSOP Main Event, just 35 contenders are left vying for a place at the final table. Nicholas Marchington managed to win a flip against a short-stack late in the day to top the counts, with former leader Timothy Su holding steady in 3rd after leading for most of the day.

With $10,000,000 up top, the pressure is growing on the remaining players, with very few notable names still in contention.

Event overview

The sixth day of this year’s Main Event began with 106 hopefuls attempting to play their way into poker history. There were several notable names still in the field, a fact which largely melted away during the day.

Jeff Madsen became an early victim, exiting in 102nd place for $59,295 before Antonio Esfandiari followed him later in the day, taking home $82,365 for his 82nd place.

Jake Schindler fared slightly better, but still could not last beyond 67th for $117,710, before Sam Greenwood failed to dodge an 8-outer on the river after calling a huge shove by Timothy Su. He finished 45th place for $211,945.

Finally, Alex Foxen fell in 40th for the same prize after running pocket tens into jacks, leaving only bracelet winner Yuri Dzivielevski and Dari Sammartino to bring any sort of big name potential to the run in for the final table.

Notable survivors going into day 7

Dario Sammartino has over $8 million in live cashes, has three top ten finishes in this summer’s WSOP alone, and is among the best players to have never won a bracelet. He had an excellent day 6 to rise through the counts and bag up 19,850,000 (79BB). He is arguably the most dangerous player left in the field. The only other name of note is that of Yuri Dzivielevski. Having won his first WSOP bracelet this year, Yuri has just over $900,000 in live cashes and managed a 94th place finish in the Main Event back in 2015. He will bring 13,750,000 (55BB) back to the table tomorrow.

Asian/Australian hopes for day 7

Like the notables, most of the Asian contingent fell during the sixth day and the same can be said of all but one of the Australian players. Asia’s only hope rests on the shoulders of Japan’s Hiroki Nawa. With no recorded cashes to his name, you would be hard-pressed to describe Nawa as an experienced live tournament player.

However, in the Main Event, anything can happen. Nawa has been holding his own up to this point and will bring 10,250,000 (41BB) into the seventh day. Australia’s Warwick Mirzikinian has been the leading hope for Australia for a few days now, having consistently bagged up strong stacks since day 3. Mirzikinian has almost $800,000 in live cashes and came close to a bracelet with a 3rd place finish in event 6 back in 2012. He will bring 20,700,000 (83BB) into tomorrow’s tussle for a final table seat.

In the field

The big story of the day was undoubtedly the pot between Timothy Su and Sam Greenwood which ended Greenwood’s 2019 Main Event. What began as a relatively normal hand suddenly became a life or death moment for the Canadian when he bet the board-pairing turn only for Su to shove and put him to the test for his tournament life.

After a very brief deliberation, Greenwood called with pocket aces, as a crestfallen Su flipped over his open-ended straight draw. With over 36 million chips set to be slid across to dangerous high-stakes pro Greenwood, the crowd watched, then subsequently gasped as Su spiked his straight to bust the Canadian pro from the tournament.

Article by Craig Bradshaw