The money bubble at the 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event burst on Day 4 and 693 players were guaranteed at least a $18,406 payday.
Interestingly, there were five simultaneous all-ins on the money bubble, which created plenty of exciting action for the rail and players alike. What ended up eventuating was three players busting out at the same time and they all collected an equal share of the 693rd prize pool.
The first player to bust out on the WSOP Main Event bubble was John Dwyer and quite remarkably he lost with a boat to the quads of Mark Newhouse. As is normally done, one of the bubble players also received entry into next year’s main event allowing them to freeroll to a bigger score in 12 months time. This main event seat went to Zhen Cai who was the second player to bust on the bubble after his queens didn’t improve against the aces of Darren Keyes.
Day 5 began with a bit less than 300 players. TeamIvey pro member Dan Smith is one of several players to have ended Day 5 as one of the chip leaders with 5.3 million in chips. He won a really big pot fairly late in the day when he got paid off after flopping a set of queens and his opponent flopped top two pair.
But it was Mark Newhouse who was the dominant force on Day 5 of the WSOP ME amassing a total of 7.4 million in chips which was good enough for the chip lead as we head into the final days of the main event action before the final table is set.
Considering he has the chip lead, Newhouse is in a much better position to push on in this main event. Last year it was mostly about survival, but this year he can look to really abuse his big stack. If he was to make the final table again for the second year in a row, he will be the first player to do it since Dan Harrington, who did it in 2003 and 2004.
Kyle Keranen is another player still in the field to have made a deep run in a previous Main Event. In 2012 Keranen was the chip leader at the end of Day 5 and finished 38th that year. He sits with 6.7 million in chips and will be looking to improve on that result. Scott Palmer a.k.a. URnotINdanger2 in the online poker world finished Day 5 third in chips with 6.5 million chips.
As it stands right now, there are 79 players left in the Main Event at the 2014 WSOP. Maria Ho, a well-known professional poker player and veteran on the live tournament circuit, took the honors once again for being the last woman standing. She managed the same back in the 2008 World Series and finished Day 5 with 435,000 chips. As one of the short stacks heading into Day 6 she will have a lot to do if she is to make the final table.
When asked by ESPN.com about her progress in the tournament and what it means for women in poker, Ho had this to say; “I think that anything help to bring women into the game is awesome, so having that distinction gives women something to strive for.”
All of the remaining players will return to the Rio tomorrow at 12 p.m. local time for the recommencement of play on Day 6. These players will no doubt have their eyes on the $10 million dollar first place prize pool.