Those remaining in the 2023 World Series of Poker Main Event can look at things one of two ways: a) they need to outlast 140 more players to make the final table, or b) survive three more days. Either way, as close as the 149 players are to the promised land, they are still very far away.
Day 5 concluded on Tuesday and we’re finally starting to see a little bit of separation at the top of the chip counts. The chip leader is Zachary Hall, who has 16.310 million chips. Behind him is Bryan Obregon with 12.295 million and then two more – Liran Betito and Andrew Hulme – are neck-and-neck with 11.140 million and 11.065 million, respectively. A couple more players have over 9 million and two more have over 8 million.
Everyone still in the tournament is guaranteed at least $67,700. Six-figure payouts don’t happen until 80th place.
Among the “names” who made it to Day 6 are Tony Dunst, Christian Harder, John Racener, and Nate Silver. Chris Moneymaker and Tony Hachem, the last two remaining former Main Event champs in the field, were eliminated on Tuesday.
One hand that could turn out to be one of the defining hands of the tournament involved the ouster of one of the best players still in the tournament on Day 5. With blinds at 15,000/30,000 and a 30,000-chip big blind ante, Nicholas Rigby, making his second deep Main Event run in the last three years using his loose-aggressive style, picked up Aces on the button and raised to 100,000 pre-flop. Kornuth found A-K of hearts in the big blind and three-bet to 385,000, very likely thinking Rigby was playing garbage.
Rigby, who went into the hand with 3.860 million chips, then moved all-in and Kornuth, who had 3.140 million to start the hand, almost immediately called. He pretty clearly thought he had Rigby nailed and could only smile when Rigby showed his Aces.
The flop produced one heart and a Jack, so Kornuth asked for the Queen of hearts, hoping for straight and flush draws. Rigby countered that request by asking for the 4 of diamonds, and sure enough, that was exactly what the dealer laid down, locking up the hand for Rigby and sending Kornuth to the rail.
Day 6 begins at noon Vegas time, with another five two-hour levels to go before calling it a night.
2023 World Series of Poker Main Event – Day 5 Chip Leaders
- Zachary Hall – 16,310,000
- Bryan Obregon – 12,295,000
- Liran Betito – 11,140,000
- Andrew Hulme – 11,065,000
- Joshua Payne – 9,850,000
- Anirban Das – 9,230,000
- Tony Dunst – 8,285,000
- Glenn Fishbein – 8,265,000
- Jonathan Therme – 7,900,000
- Jack O’Neill – 7,735,000
Image credit: PokerGO.com