Two days from now, the “November Nine” will be determined for the 2016 World Series of Poker Championship Event. As for Saturday, the 251 players who came back for Day 5 action had their minds set just on making it through another day. 80 men were able to keep the dream alive after another grinding day in the Amazon Room as a new chip leader emerged in Jerry Wong after he knocked out Day 4 chip leader Bryan Piccioli.
If Friday was the day that the ladies shined on the WSOP felt, Saturday took revenge against those same ladies. Maria Ho, who vied for the lead throughout the action on Day 4 before falling down the leaderboard, was one of the early departures from the Day 5 proceedings. On a J♦ 8♠ 5♦ flop, Ho fired out for 76K and found Day 1 chip leader Valentin Vornicu willing to look her up. Ho’s A♦ 9♦ was in a dominant position over Vornicu’s questionable Q♦ 4♦ as a black Jack paired the board on the turn. Looking for any Queen or four to pull a rabbit out of the hat, Vornicu was gifted a 4♥ on the river, ending Ho’s run in 242nd place for a $36,708 payday.
The news wasn’t good for the other ladies, either. Stacy Matuson would lose a major portion of her stack when she couldn’t make the call against Gordon Vayo’s all-in bet, stating that she was “making the biggest laydown of my poker career” on an 8-8-2-6 flop and turn; she would eventually depart in 169th place ($42,285). Jennifer Shahade could never get the engines started on Saturday, dropping from the tournament in 204th place ($42,285) and Louise Francoeur lasted to 142nd place ($49,108). Melanie Weisner, who started the day with the ninth-place stack, would depart in 127th place ($49,108) and Gaelle Baumann made another deep run at the WSOP Championship Event in finishing in 102nd place ($49,108) to take the “Last Woman Standing” honors.
The ladies weren’t the only ones heading to the rail at a rapid pace. Such notables as Simeon Naydenov, Tyler Bonkowski, Shaun Deeb, Max Altergott, Jordan Cristos, Fernando Brito, Sorel Mizzi, Scott Montgomery, Marc-Andre Ladouceur, Mukul Pahuja, Dan Heimiller and former World Champions Greg Raymer and Johnny Chan were unceremoniously shown the door with another line on their poker resumes but the sting of being out of the Championship Event burning their souls. There were some players who had a good day on the tables, however.
Kenny Hallaert came to the felt on Saturday trying to get the chip lead that he held after Day 3 back and, with about 100 players left to go, would do just that by eliminating Fadi Hamad and Sebastian Dornbracht with pocket Kings in one fell swoop. It wasn’t the normal double elimination as, after the chips went in pre-flop, Hamad’s A-10 off suit outdrew Hallaert’s pocket Kings and Dornbracht’s pocket Queens on an A♣ 5♥ 2♥ flop. Feeling good, Hamad had to have hated the 4♥ that came on the turn, opening up a four-flush opportunity for Hallaert’s K♥ (Dornbracht’s Q♥ was defeated in that case) and, sure enough, the 10♥ came down on the river to give Hallaert the hand. The resulting 8.75 million chip stack was enough for Hallaert to cruise into the Day 6 action on Sunday.
By the end of the night, however, Wong would take over the chip lead at the expense of Piccioli. Getting all the chips in pre-flop, Wong’s Big Slick was dominant over Piccioli’s Big Chick of hearts, but the board threatened to bring out a different outcome. The 7-6-5-8 flop and turn presented a realistic chance at a split pot with a board straight, but another eight on the river ended that and the tournament for Piccioli as Wong rocketed over the 11 million chip mark.
1. Jerry Wong, 11.555 million
2. Jan Suchanek, 10.305 million
3. Kenny Hallaert, 10.05 million
4. Griffin Benger, 9.86 million
5. Joshua Weiss, 8.33 million
6. William Kassouf, 8.3 million
7. David Lhonore, 8.265 million
8. Chang Luo, 8.09 million
9. Jared Bleznick, 7.955 million
10. Fernando Pons, 7.93 million
Much as he has been doing throughout the tournament, Vornicu is stalking the Top Ten with his eleventh place chip stack of 7.785 million. He is joined by Antoine Saout (6.705 million, 15th place), who is looking to become only the second man to make two “November Nine” final tables, former “Big One for One Drop” champion Dan Colman (6.345 million, 18th place) and a “blast from the past” in Cliff ‘JohnnyBax’ Josephy (6.175 million, 21st place). Two men still standing in the final 80, Paul Volpe (7.29 million, 13th place) and Max Silver (3.545 million, 39th) also have the chance to pass Jason Mercier for the WSOP Player of the Year award, but both would need to make the final table and finish in the top three (Silver would have to win) to knock Mercier off that perch (there is no WSOP Asia/Pacific or Europe this year).
The 80 men who will determine poker’s next World Champion will reconvene on the Amazon Room at noon on Sunday, with the dreams of an $8 million first place payday and the WSOP World Champion’s bracelet resplendent in their minds.
