Chris Moneymaker, Johnny Chan still alive in WSOP Main Event
After three full days of play in the 50th annual World Series of Poker Main Event, the tournament’s second-largest field of 8,569 was whittled down to 1,286 at 1 a.m. Tuesday at the Rio Convention Center.
All 1,286 remaining players are guaranteed a minimum payday of $15,000 in the $10,000 buy-in No-limit Texas Hold’em World Championship entering Day 4, which starts at noon Tuesday. The winner will earn $10 million.
Three former Main Event champions are still alive: 2013 winner Chris Moneymaker (681,000 chips), 2016 champion Qui Nguyen (669,000) and two-time winner (1987, 1988) Johnny Chan (498,000).
Defending Main Event champ John Cynn was eliminated Monday, along with former champs Scotty Nguyen, Jim Bechtel and Joe Hachem.
Preben Stokkan is the chip leader with 2,184,000. Here are the rest of the top 10 stacks: Andrew Brokos (1,906,000), Ryan Dodge (1,800,000), WSOP bracelet winner Galen Hall (1,658,000), Cassio Pisapia (1,640,000), Chris Hunichen (1,618,000), Pavlo Veksler (1,594,000), Duytue Duong (1,576,000), Jacob Daniels (1,560,000) and John Patgorski (1,524,000).
Other notables in the money include two-time bracelet winner Eric Baldwin (916,000), three-time bracelet winner Antonio Esfandiari (740,000) and two-time Main Event last woman standing Kelly Minkin (456,000).
Former NFL star Richard Seymour (275,000) and actor Kevin Pollak (77,000) also remain in contention entering Day 4, which is expected to run until approximately 12:45 a.m. Wednesday.
The field will be pared down to the final nine players on Friday. After an off day Saturday, the field will be cut to six players on Sunday and to three on Monday. Play on July 16 will start with three players and continue until there’s a winner.
Cynn outlasted Tony Miles for last year’s title in what is believed to be the longest heads-up showdown in WSOP Main Event history. The epic back-and-forth battle lasted a little more than 10 hours and 199 hands, starting at 6:45 p.m. on a Saturday night and ending at 4:50 a.m. Sunday.
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.
