Day 5 of the 2023 World Series of Poker Main Event has come to a close at Horseshoe, Las Vegas, with the field whittled down to its last 149 players.
Holding the top spot heading into Day 6 is Zachary Hall, who ended the session with a stack of 16,310,000. Interestingly, Hall was once the poker coach of Ethan “Rampage” Yau, who is rooting for his former mentor from various Las Vegas card rooms.
Yau explained on Twitter that it was Hall who showed him the ropes when he was grinding $1/$3 cash games.
Hot on Hall’s heels is Bryan Obregon and Liran Betito, who bagged and tagged an impressive 12,295,000 and 11,140,000 respectively.
Notable names still in contention for the poker’s most sought-after accolade are Nate Silver (2,130,000), Masato Yokosawa (6,740,000) and British grinder Andrew Hulme (11,065,000).
WSOP Main Event Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Name | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zachary Hall | United States | 16,310,000 | 204 |
| 2 | Bryan Obregon | United States | 12,295,000 | 154 |
| 3 | Liran Betito | Israel | 11,140,000 | 139 |
| 4 | Andrew Hulme | United Kingdom | 11,065,000 | 138 |
| 5 | Joshua Payne | United States | 9,850,000 | 123 |
| 6 | Anirban Das | India | 9,230,000 | 115 |
| 7 | Tony Dunst | United States | 8,285,000 | 104 |
| 8 | Glenn Fishbein | United States | 8,265,000 | 103 |
| 9 | Jonathan Therme | France | 7,900,000 | 99 |
| 10 | Jack O’Neill | United Kingdom | 7,735,000 | 97 |
Action From Day 5
Day 5 of the Main Event began with 441 players, and the eliminations came thick and fast, with some of poker’s biggest stars finding themselves on the wrong side of the rail.
High stakes crushers Jason Koon and Chris Brewer were ousted in the opening level with the former suffering a particularly bad beat. Koon was all in and at risk with pocket kings and was the favorite against his opponent’s pocket tens. Koon flopped a set but was removed from the table after his adversary rivered Broadway.
Brewer, who has finally experienced a dose of run good this summer with two bracelet wins under his belt, lost a flip with jacks to a tablemate’s ace-king.
It was also confirmed that there would be no repeat Main Event winner as the last remaining champions exited in the first half of the day. Chris Moneymaker jammed into kings while Joe Hachem was stacked by a rivered flush.
Nicholas Rigby, who has made the headlines again following another Main Event deep run, won one of the largest pots of the day against Chance Kornuth.
The “Dirty Diaper” lover picked up a real hand and dragged in a 200-big blind pot after his aces remained best against Kornuth’s suited ace-king.
Last year’s third-place finisher Michael Duek headed to payout desk in the penultimate level of Day 5 while pro football Hall of Famer Richard Seymour was another famous face to fall short of making Day 6.
Hands of the Day
There were plenty of hands on Day 5 that would be fitting in any tournament highlight reel. At the top of the list today was a three-way all in between Stuart Taylor, Ryan Brown and the beloved Bill Klein.
Taylor got it in with ace-queen, only to run into Klein’s kings and Brown’s aces.
Klein flopped a set of kings to be the huge favorite, but Taylor went runner-runner to make Broadway and survived in the unlikeliest of circumstances.
Will Kassouf’s nine-high like a boss hand may have been eclipsed by Daniel Vampan. The American got Toby Lewis to fold the nut flush on a paired board with just eight-high!
Another corker was when Tony Dunst and Joey Spanne played a ten million chip pot. The action was tense during the hand, but it ended up in a chop as both players had aces.
Dunst is also among those returning for Day 6, as he bagged 8,250,000.
Plan for Day 6
The next step of the Main Event begins on Wednesday, July 12, at 12 p.m. local time, where the 149 players will play another five two-hour levels.
Play resumes on Level 26, where the blinds will be 40,000/80,000/80,000.
The players will have a 20-minute break after each of the first two levels. They will then go on a 75-minute dinner break after Level 23 (approx. 6:45 p.m.). There will be another short break after Level 24, and anyone with chips in front of them by the end of Level 25 will book their seat for Day 7.
Those still in the Main Event have locked up $67,700, but of course, all eyes will be on the $12,100,000 that awaits the winner in a few days’ time.
As always, stick with PokerNews to keep up with all the action from the record-breaking 2023 WSOP Main Event.
Editor & Live Reporter
Calum has been a part of the PokerNews team since September 2021 after working in the UK energy sector. He played his first hand of poker in 2017 and immediately fell in love with the game. Calum’s proudest poker achievement is winning the only tournament he has ever played in Las Vegas, the prestigious $60 Flamingo evening event.