Here we go. One more day until we know the identities of the November Nine. Day 7 of the 2011 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event is history and with 35 eliminations on Monday, just 22 players – less than three tables – remain. And as has been the case for the last week, a new day brings a new chip leader, 21-year old Ukranian Anton Makievskyi.
Makievskyi, a professional poker player, has made his deep run in relative obscurity, not being featured too often on the ESPN “semi-live” broadcasts. He forced everyone to pay him mind, however, late in the day when he made a gigantic leap to the top of the standings. Starting the hand with about 10,000,000 chips, Makievskyi led out pre-flop for 400,000 in early position and Christopher Moore, who had about 12,000,000 chips, called. On the K-J-J flop, Makievskyi threw out another 400,000 chip bet, only to be raised by Moore to 1,100,000. Makievskyi re-popped it up to 2,800,000, Moore shoved, and Makievskyi insta-called. The pot that had now grown to 20,370,000 chips was officially the largest of this year’s WSOP.
And it’s no wonder it got that big. Moore flipped over A-J, giving him trip Jacks, while Makievskyi had K-J. He may have been dominated pre-flop, but the Ukranian had flopped a boat, leaving Moore in a bad situation. Moore wasn’t able to find an Ace on the turn or river, giving the cornucopia of chips to Makievskyi, whose stack grew to 20,370,000. Moore was down to 1,700,000, but still managed to double-up later, and while he currently has the shortest stack in the field, he’s still in the field, so he still has a chance.
Several well-known players were unable to keep a hold on their chips and are no longer in the hunt for the Main Event bracelet. Those hitting the rail include J.P. Kelly, Steve Brecher, John Esposito, Tony Hachem, Erick Lindgren, David Bach, and Sebastian Ruthenberg.
Day 7 also saw the break-up of the Main Event’s favorite poker couple. Well, not literally, but arguably the coolest Main Event story of the last few years is over, as David “Doc” Sands and Erika Moutinho, who have been dating for five years and were sitting next to each other at the table on Monday, were eliminated in 30th and 29th place, respectively. The almost half-million dollars in combined winnings should make a nice little nest egg.
Here’s a look at the remaining players and their chip counts:
1. Anton Makievskyi – 21,045,000
2. Eoghan O’Dea – 19,050,000
3. Khoa Nguyen – 16,435,000
4. Andrey Pateychuk – 16,245,000
5. Ben Lamb – 14,690,000
6. Phil Collins – 13,805,000
7. John Hewitt – 13,265,000
8. Ryan Lenaghan – 10,415,000
9. Matt Giannetti – 8,920,000
10. Konstantinos Mamaliadis – 8,195,000
11. Pius Heinz – 7,510,000
12. Aleksandr Mozhnyakov – 7,075,000
13. Scott Schwalich – 6,920,000
14. Martin Staszko – 6,380,000
15. Bryan Devonshire – 6,190,000
16. Sam Barnhart – 4,935,000
17. Samuel Holden – 4,740,000
18. Gionni Demers – 4,655,000
19. Kenny Shih – 4,530,000
20. Lars Bonding – 4,140,000
21. Bounahra Badih – 3,385,000
22. Christopher Moore – 3,040,000
Play will pick up at noon Vegas time and will continue until the November Nine have been determined.