There are now only 27 survivors remaining in the 2014 World Series of Poker Championship Event. After another bruising day of battle on the felt, Sweden’s Martin Jacobson has emerged as the leader with a massive stack that dwarfs his nearest rivals.
79 players would return on Sunday, all still with the hope that they would be “The One” who would lay claim to the title of World Champion. 2013 November Niner Mark Newhouse was at the helm at the start of the day with his 7.4 million chips, but there were a host of powerful opponents who were looking to take him down. Kyle Keranen (6.67 million chips) was close behind Newhouse and such notable pros as Dan Smith (5.36 million), Tony Ruberto (5.235 million) and Leif Force (4.745 million) were all in the Top Ten.
The day got off to a quick start as the final lady in the field, professional Maria Ho, ended her run in the tournament. Pushing from under the gun with her 435K stack before the blinds reached her, Ho was looked up by Zachary Hirst pre-flop. His pocket Queens only got better against Ho’s J♦ 8♦ when the Q♦ came on the flop, but a second diamond on the turn gave Ho some hope. Those hopes were quickly dashed when the A♥ came on the river, sending Ho to the rail in 77th place.
Keranen would soon top Newhouse for the chip lead after Ho’s elimination. He would hit runner-runner trip Aces to defeat Jorryt van Hoof to top the eight million chip mark as Newhouse lost some chips to Vitaly Lunkin at the same moment. Newhouse would continue to have difficulties in the early going as he lost a set-versus-set situation to Matthew Haugen to drop under the six million chip mark as the “price of poker” went up.
Keranen would keep up the assault, eliminating Gabe Paul in 74th place to burst over the 10 million chip plateau. He would maintain that stack as the players looked to scramble to catch up with him. Newhouse was yo-yoing his way through the afternoon action, but Dan Sindelar would prove to be a contender as the day wore on. In knocking out Nathan Goldstein in 60th place after Goldstein flopped two pair and Sindelar a set, Sindelar would join Keranen as the only two players over 10 million chips.
As Keranen and Sindelar ruled the roost in the late afternoon, another contender would emerge. Jacobson would put out a bet from the hijack position and was called down by Jason Johnson and Adam Lamphere to see a 10-6-Q flop. Only Johnson would call Jacobson’s continuation bet and, after a seven appeared on the turn, Jacobson fired again with Johnson making the call. A seemingly innocent four hit the river and Jacobson fired a third bullet for 1.4 million chips, which Johnson called immediately and almost as immediately mucked his cards after seeing Jacobson’s pocket sixes for the flopped set (Johnson’s pocket Kings were worthless).
With the hand, Jacobson broke the 8 million chip mark and would set off on a Day 6 run that proved to be dominating. By the time of the dinner break, he had passed both Keranen and Sindelar and continued to mow down the field as play moved into the evening hours. Using the monster stack, Jacobson would either force players off their hands, top them by actually beating them on the river (as he did against Peter Placey on a K-J-2-3-8 board in holding K-Q against Placey’s J-9) or eliminate them from the tournament (as he did against Placey as the clock struck midnight). Once Jacobson eliminated Luis Assuncao in 34th place, Jacobson had 23 million chips in front of him, which he would ride through the last hour of the night to hold a strong lead and establish him as a prohibitive favorite to make the 2014 WSOP Championship Event’s November Nine.
1. Martin Jacobson, 22.335 million
2. Luis Velador, 16.6 million
3. Dan Sindelar, 16.345 million
4. Andoni Larrabe, 15.28 million
5. William Pappaconstantinou, 14.64 million
6. Bruno Politano, 11.625 million
7. Dan Smith, 10.335 million
8. Craig McCorkell, 8.765 million
9. Felix Stephenson, 7.74 million
10. Andrey Zaichenko, 7.335 million
Newhouse would finish Day 6 with fewer chips (6.82 million) than he started with, but that stack is good for 11th place entering Day 7. Bryan Devonshire (14th place, 5.765 million chips), Eddy Sabat (16th, 4.67 million), Keranen (17th, 4.465 million) and Force (18th, 4.035 million) all have their work cut out if they are to get back in the race from the 27 players that remain.
Monday is the “big day” for the 2014 WSOP Championship Event. The 27 men could have a long day ahead of them as they will play down to the “November Nine” that will return this fall to decide the World Champion. Although everyone is now guaranteed a nice six figure payday ($286,900, to be exact), there are still the dreams that everyone has of being crowned the next champion of the WSOP and that $10 million prize that will await the winner come November.
