Sometimes I think its nuts how quickly the field of the World Series of Poker Main Event shrinks in the first few days. Case in point: Day 3 went from 2,786 to 1,182 players and Sunday’s Day 4 saw the field narrow from 1,182 to just 310. I mean, that’s just how tournament poker works, but I often find the process fascinating, especially as it slows down so much in the final days. While the Main Event still has a long way to go, they are at the point where the flicker of the final table might be faintly visible on the horizon to some of the players. One such player is Barry Hutter, the first player to hit the 5 million chip mark and the chip leader going into Day 5 with 5.597 million chips.
There are four players who have separated themselves from the pack, but of course, this being poker, fortunes can change in one hand, so nobody is about to get comfortable. After Hutter, Alexander Haro is the only other player above 5 million with 5.031 million chips. Two other players have more than 4 million: Brian Altman with 4.861 million and Andres Jeckeln with 4.506 million. The next closest players are a million behind.
Hutter has only cashed once at this year’s WSOP, but he made one of them count, as he finished second in the $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em Event #54 for $323,019. He does have one WSOP gold bracelet to his credit, earned in 2015 in a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout event. All told, Hutter has more than $4.3 million in live tournament earnings, placing him in the top 150 on the all-time money list. He is also ranked 73rd on the Global Poker Index.
There are still many “big names” alive in the tournament, even some who have made the Main Event final table before, so it would be silly to list them all, but one notable player of interest is Barbara Enright, who is languishing at the bottom of the chip counts with just 275,000 going into Monday’s action.
Enright was the first woman to make the final table in the Main Event when she finished fifth in 1995; she is still the only woman to have made the final table. Enright was also the first woman to win an open event at the WSOP, the first to win three bracelets, and the first woman to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. She and Phil Hellmuth were given the honor in 2007. It is highly unlikely she will also be the second woman to make the Main Event final table, but you never know!
Day 5 has been underway for a short time today at the Rio as the players try to move up the money ladder and get closer to the final table. Everyone entering the day is guaranteed at least $37,705.
2018 World Series of Poker Main Event – Day 4 Chip Leaders
1. Barry Hutter – 5,597,000
2. Alexander Haro – 5,031,000
3. Brian Altman – 4,861,000
4. Andres Jeckeln – 4,506,000
5. Hari Bercovici – 3,510,000
6. Kelly Minkin – 3,459,000
7. Franklin Azevedo – 3,410,000
8. Ubaid Habib – 3,300,000
9. Nicholas Newport – 3,269,000
10. Krasimir Yankov – 3,264,000