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There’s an argument that says we shouldn’t even talk about the Main Event, in case we ruin it. By talking about it we run the risk of ruining what could potentially be the best final table in EPT history, a Grand Final. And we don’t mean this in one of those exaggerated ways we’ve been guilty of using before to cover up mediocrity. We mean properly brilliant. But then we’ve probably ruined it now, haven’t we.

The reason is obvious. The quality of players in the last 16 is outrageously good. It was good at the start of the day with 34 players and it’s still so, led by Andrew Pantling at the close tonight, with 2,248,000 chips, a lead of nearly one million.

Andrew PantlingPantling took the lead in a hand that was largely missed by everyone as the TV people switched from the main to the high roller event.

Johnny LoddenIf it hadn’t taken place the story of the day would have been Johnny Lodden, but for his tweet:

Bad last level.. Did a really, really bad call that was soooooooo bad! 1.352 for tomorrow. #EPTGrandFinal #eptnor

— Johnny Lodden (@johnnylodden) May 10, 2013

 

The result of that was a drop to 1,352,000, but all things considered it was a good day for the Norwegian, one of five Team PokerStars Pros who survived the day, along with the top draw of those in the red spade livery, Daniel Negreanu, Jason Mercier, Victor Ramdin and Jake Cody.

Daniel Negreanu
Jason MercierHere’s how things closed today.

Andrew Pantling, Canada, 2,248,000
John Juanda, Indonesia, 1,395,000
Jonny Lodden, Norway, 1,352,000
Daniel Negreanu, Canada, 1,257,000
Freddy Deeb, United States, 1,207,000
Victor Ramdin, United States, 1,090,000
Noah Schwartz, United States, 1,087,000
Jason Mercier, United States, 1,008,000
Goran Mandic, Croatia, 995,000
Steve O’Dwyer, United States, 942,000
Grany Levy, Australia, 712,000
Andrew Lichtenberger, United States, 699,000
Clyde Tjauw Foe, Netherlands, 647,000
Mateusz Moolhuizen, Netherlands, 596,000
Vasili Firsau, Belarus, 358,000
Jake Cody, United Kingdom, 266,000

It’s some list, with only the likes of Goran Mandic, Vasili Firsau and the two Dutch players Clyde Tjauw Foe and Mateusz Moolhuizen able to claim any degree of anonymity.

Behind Pantling is John Juanda, a former EPT runner-up, who leads the chase pack, alongside Lodden, Negreanu and Freddy Deeb, who guarantees his best EPT finish. Victor Ramdin remains well and truly in the zone while Noah Schwartz and Jason Mercier also have more than a million chips.

John JuandaEPT anoraks will also have noticed that the presence of Mercier, and the short stack Jake Cody, keep alive the chances of a first double winner. With a superlative line-up almost guaranteed it seems almost greedy to wish for such an historic dénouement, but it’s simply too delicious to ignore.

Jake CodyIt could have been four former champs but for the departure of Noah Boeken and Team Online’s Mickey Petersen in the closing stages of the day. Former Snowfest runner-up Kevin Vandersmissen also fell short, while Ville Wahlbeck made his long overdue debut in the pay-out list, a first EPT main event cash for the tour veteran.

Mickey Petersen (left) with Johnny LoddenA full list of pay-outs can be found on the live coverage page, which after a day like today is well worth poring through for all the small print of the day. You can also find the stories of the day at the links below.

With the high roller event starting today, as well as a low key charity event, there was plenty of background scenery to the main event. There were also side events galore, two of which were won by Team PokerStars Pros Chris Moneymaker and Marcin Horecki.
We featured the rubber-faced Patrick Naxache and looked at the latest technology from the poker app world.

So taken were we with the deep runs by various Team PokerStars Pros that we looked deeper into their progress this week, while we also examined another of poker’s breeds, the German high roller, all of which seemed to be seated around one table, while Antonio Esfandiari transcended all of them, almost literally.

You can find continued coverage from the first day of the high roller event on our live coverage page. The main event meanwhile will resume tomorrow at 12 noon (CET) when 16 players will become eight.

You can also follow the action on EPT Live tomorrow, which should be a memorable day, the type that gets people hooked on poker in the first place. Don’t miss it.

Main Event Passport satellites are live today. They’re your versatile way to playing the biggest events in the world, whether it’s the WSOP in Las Vegas, the PCA in the Caribbean or an EPT, APPT or LAPT Main Event. Want to get a starting stack in the Big One for a fraction of the cost? Then start shooting for a Main Event Passport now.

If – or should we say when? – you win your Main Event Passport you’ll win a prize package worth $ 13,000, which covers you for your tournament buy-in, hotel accommodation (excluding WSOP and PCA) and cash. Then, all you have to do is select which event you want to play, crush and win.

It opens doors (and seats) into the biggest tournamentsThe next question to ask is which route you’ll take? Step satellites run alongside cash and FPP satellites giving you a full range of options whether you’re a sit-and-go grinder or prefer playing the long game in a tournament.

Find the satellites by clicking ‘Events’ > ‘Passport’ in the PokerStars lobby.

Find out more about the PokerStars Main Event Passports here.

Do you have any questions? Well, the answers are probably here on the PokerStars FAQ page.

The slow down in the main event is significant enough that the High Roller has now caught it up. Almost precisely at the time that they final 16 main event players redrew for the last two tables, they did exactly the same in the High Roller event.

Of course, all things aren’t precisely equal. When the main event started today with 24 players, we were in level 23 and deep into the money. When the High Roller reconvened with 53 today, they were only in level 11 (which are one-hour long) and still a long way off the bubble.

Indeed, only 12 are paid at all, so there might be a slow-down of their own over there pretty soon.

When the redraw took place, the final two tables of the High Roller looked like this…

Table 1

1 – Martin Jacobson

2 – Vicky Coren

3 – Davidi Kitai

4 – Bryn Kenney

5 – Vladimir Troyanovski

6 – Timothy Reilly

7 – Ilan Boujenah

8 – Vojtech Ruzicka

Table 2

1 – Steven Silverman

2 – Adrian Mateos

3 – Jonathan Duhamel

4 – Kevin MacPhee

5 – Alain Goldberg

6 – Andras Nemeth

7 – Janos Nagygyorgy

8 – Alexandre Reard

…but in the early going, both Vladimir Troyanovski and Ilan Boujenah bust.

Ilan Boujenah, in happier times 

With all due respect to Boujenah (who lost with ace-king against Vicky Coren’s aces), the elimination of Troyanovski is the one that will have surprised observers the most.

Not only was Troyanovski second in chips coming back this morning, but he has also of late become something of a big buy-in monster, having made the final table of the High Roller and the Super High Roller at the PCA. Three in a row would have been one hell of an achievement, but one suspects the former World of Warcraft player would have expected even more. He came second in the the second of those PCA events, so was surely expecting to win this time.

Not to be.

Vicky Coren: assassin 

Even after those two left us, the line up here still boasts two former EPT Champions, a former WSOP Main Event champion, a two-time EPT runner-up, the youngest ESPT winner, a WCOOP main event runner up, and a luck sack. Pass the time trying to match player with description. Answers are at the bottom of the page.

Jonathan Duhamel: an answer

The drama having died down a touch following the sequence of eliminations that brought us to heads-up play, Xing Zhou (China) and Ying Kit Chan (Hong Kong) settled in for a period of relative calm, trading small pots and avoiding any major skirmishes for the first several minutes of their duel.

Zhou — enjoying about an 8-to-1 chip advantage to start heads-up play — would lean on Chan, even putting him to the test once with an all-in raise that Chan resisted calling. But the pair continued in relative quiet, perhaps made more conspicuous seeming by the rail having thinned a bit since the elimination of Michael Kanaan in third.

Chan added a bit to his stack as they went, then finally some drama arose when Zhou opened for 45,000 from the button, Chan reraised all in for 915,000, and Zhou called. It was [As][10d] for Chan, and he’d need some help versus the [Ah][Jd] of Zhou.

The flop brought such help, coming [8d][8s][10h] and eliciting a small roar from Chan’s supporters. The cheer was louder following the [10s] turn that sealed the hand for Chan.

Ying Kit Chan on Day 5 of the ACOP Main Event
Suddenly Zhou’s chip edge had shrunk about to 2-to-1. They played on to the end of Level 24 and the dinner break, at which point Chan had chipped up a little further to 1,917,000 to Zhou’s 3,607,000.

It could well be the final chapter of the ACOP Main Event story will be lasting a little longer than the ones leading up to it.

It has been a long tournament already. Looking back through our catalogue of photos from all five days, we’ve found one of Ying Kit Chan — a.k.a. “Andy” — from Day 1 of the Main Event, snapped at a moment of apparent peace (and/or boredom). We just had to share…

Ying Kit Chan on Day 1 of the ACOP Main Event
The players are taking a little extra time — 55 minutes — for dinner, or perhaps even to rest their eyes a bit. Back then for the sure-to-be-exciting conclusion of the ACOP Main Event.

They have reached the end of Level 13 (1,000/2,000/300) and the dinner break. The field has now shrunk to 33 players, meaning that once they return from dinner the money bubble will be looming as only the top 22 finishers in the Asia Championship of Poker will be making the cash.

Among those lost during the last level was Team PokerStars Pro Vivian Im. Im became short-stacked and committed her chips with [7d][5d] against Alan Sass’s ace-jack. The flop brought a five and hope for Im, but a jack fell on the river and Im was out.

Vivian Im
Sass, who had been leader just a while ago, found himself in another big confrontation with Andrew Gaw last level in which both players had big pairs once again, and again Gaw had the better of it preflop with [Kh][Kc] against Sass’s [Qd][Qc].

The better hand held this time to boost Gaw’s stack back up close to 200,000. Meanwhile Sass still sports a lead-challenging stack of 340,000 as the break nears.

Meanwhile, Michael Kanaan of Australia has pushed up to a 350,000-chip stack and second position, while the young Macanese player Yue Hin Lam has once more snuck back into the top spot with about 380,000.

Yue Hin Lam
Among the short stacks is Victorino Torres, the 2010 APPT Macau Main Event champion who hails from tiny Northern Marina Islands, one of the U.S. territories.

Torres’ topped a field of 342 to win the 2010 Macau Main Event, then a $ 40,000 HKD buy-in tourney, and took away a first prize of $ 3,246,200 (HKD) or the equivalent of about $ 418K USD. That marked the biggest score by far in Torres’ career, although he has a few other APPT cashes to his credit.

The Australian Andrew Hinrichsen — part of the $ 1 Million ACOP Challenge — will also be on the edge of the danger zone when players return, as both he and Torres are down below 50,000.

Both players will want to be making a lot of a little in short order. Speaking of, Lynn Gilmartin accompanied Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier to the Mobile Lounge where ElkY — as others of us did earlier in the week — accepted the Zoom Challenge. Take a look:

 

A couple of weeks ago, Ludovic Lacay’s Facebook friends were subject to a polite request. “Until new notice poker is going terrible,” Lacay wrote on his status update. “Please stop asking ” The smiley face could not disguise the fact that here was a poker player running bad.

But those friends should now expect “new notice” from Lacay, and might decide that today is the right time to post a message on his wall along the lines of: “How’s the poker going, Ludo?”

The 27-year-old from Tolouse, France, is EPT9 Sanremo champion and the best part of €750,000 richer. See how he likes the question now.

“It feels pretty good,” Lacay said. “It’s the accomplishment, getting there and beating all the players. When you start a tournament you aim for the first place but you never expect it. Here I am, it’s amazing.”

Ludovic Lacay, EPT Sanremo champion 

Lacay has been a fixture on the European Poker Tour since season four, building a reputation as one of the most feared and respected competitors, playing the tough, aggressive game of which champions are made. But until today a major title had eluded him. Now he is in the vaunted company of EPT champions, and probably among the favourites to be the first to win two.

“The first year I played on the EPT circuit I thought Ludovic Lacay was the best player I played against,” tweeted Kevin MacPhee moments after the end of play. “Very happy to see him join the club.”

Lex Veldhuis added his congratulations too: “Omg I can’t believe Ludovic Lacay won EPT Sanremo. So happy for him, but seriously how did people let that happen . Nice win ~”

Lacay accepts the adulation of the masses 

Lacay beat Jason Lavallee in a relatively brief heads up battle. Lavallee, from Quebec, Canada, was the narrow chip leader coming into today’s final, which took place in the elegant theatre of Casino Sanremo, on the Italian Riviera.

Lavallee identified the Frenchman as the main threat at the final, predicting with exceptional accuracy that he expected either himself or Lacay to be crowned champion. The two of them were the last under the studio lights until Lacay’s [qc][10h] beat Lavallee’s [8c][6c] to bring the house down and this festival to a close.

A Lacay’s eye view of Jason Lavallee 

They got it all in after Lavallee had flopped a flush draw and Lacay top two pair. By the end of the hand, Lacay had a full house and his maiden title.

“In the heads up I hit every board,” Lacay said. “He really had no chance. But I’m really happy.”

Final table players convene (l-r): Micah Raskin, Angelo Recchia, Jason Lavallee, Artem Litvinov, Ismael Bojang, Jason Tompkins, Adrian Piasecki, Ludovic Lacay 

The excellence of the EPT structure had seemed at one point set to keep us here until sunrise. It took more than three and a half hours until the first player bust from the final table: Ismael Bojang losing a race to Lavallee.

Ismael Bojang: first to depart 

But as the day wore on and the blinds increased, the chips gradually started to fly. Poland’s hopes were shattered when Adrian Piasecki pushed [ac][9c] into Lacay’s [ad][kc] and got no help. It was then the end of the road for Micah Raskin, who managed to flop trip eights when Angelo Recchia had top pair of jacks, but then looked in horror when another jack rivered to give Recchia a bigger full house.

Jason Tompkins had been on the receiving end of a couple of tough beats as well, flopping top set against Artem Litvinov but losing to a flush, then moving all in with pocket fives and running into the same opponent’s queens. Litvinov eventually finished off Tompkins when the Russian’s kings held against Tompkins’ rag ace. Ireland remains in search of its first EPT champion.

Jason Tompkins: Ireland’s hopes faded in fifth 

By this point, the Italian poker community had probably dared to dream. Their man Recchia, the least known of the final table players, had come to the final table with a relatively short stack. But now he was in the last four, and with a pretty healthy pile of chips in front of him.

However Lacay seemed to have singled him out for particular unwanted attention, winning three big pots to snuff out Italian dreams. The last of those was a set up: Lavallee opened (as he had been doing a lot) Recchia shoved for three million with [ac][7c]. But then Lacay was sitting behind him with pocket jacks, shoved all in himself, and the pair held up.

Italy is still seeking the successor to Salvatore Bonavena as EPT champion.

Litvinov was next to depart, but not before he had entertained the crowd a bit more with his unique playing style and, in particular, his celebration. After doubling up through Tompkins earlier on, Litvinov had strode to the front of the stage, gave his girlfriend a high five, and then performed a full roundhouse kick on an invisible opponent, followed by some shadow boxing.

Artem Litvinov, clad in lucky shirt 

He has been wearing his “lucky shirt” since day one, a torn and frayed number that could probably stand up and walk by itself after never having been peeled off his body for a week. But now it is at rest, sent there after Litvinov couldn’t hit a monster draw on a low, connected board. Lacay’s pair of sixes held up.

That brought us to the heads up battle, under the dramatic lighting of the theatre. And after the two players agreed a deal – €644,910 to Lacay, €538,089 to Lavallee, with €100,000 and a Slyde watch still to play for – it seemed unlikely to last long.

The heads up players negotiate a deal 

Sure enough, it was only about 40 minutes until Lacay was fulfilling what many, including Lavallee, had considered his destiny.

The full results from today’s EPT9 Sanremo final table are as follows.

1 – Ludovic Lacay, France, €744,910*

2 – Jason Lavallee, Canada, €538,089*

3 – Artem Litvinov, Russia, €283,000

4 – Angelo Recchia, Italy, €225,000

5 – Jason Tompkins, Ireland, €171,000

6 – Micah Raskin, USA, €132,000

7 – Adrian Piasecki, Poland, €96,000

8 – Ismael Bojang, Germany, €65,450

*denotes two-way deal

Click through to the High Roller page for news of Benny Spindler’s victory there. And relive our coverage from the main event with any of the links below. We went Back to the Future, Sanremo style; we looked at Ludovic Lacay’s place in the prospering Gallic poker scene. We allowed Liv Boeree and Jason Mercier reminisce about their wins here, then looked back fondly on the fastest EPT final table of all time. And we went to the bathroom with Joe Stapleton and James Hartigan.

There were also a whole host of side events.

That’s the end of that for Sanremo for another year. Last word from Ludovic Lacay: “It was an amazing tournament. I tried to stay focused, I did my best.”

Can’t ask for more than that. Goodnight.

The EPT champion’s trophy. It’s Ludovic Lacay’s now

Two years ago, the 2010 WSOP Main Event was down to Jonathan Duhamel, Joseph Cheong and John Racener. The latter was pretty short-stacked, making it seem like Duhamel and Cheong would battle heads-up for the title. However, Cheong basically had a meltdown and gifted Racener with a second place finish, which gave way to a fantastic Entourage cameo.

Fast forward to today, and Cheong is once again in a position to take down a Main Event title – only this time it’s in the WSOPE. He’s sitting first in chips (1.38 million) with 24 players remaining, while France’s Paul Tedeschi is a little ways back with 1.07 million chips.

Jason Mercier and Phil Hellmuth are definitely worth mentioning here too because these stars are fifth and sixth heading into the second-to-last day. The Poker Brat has been hovering around the chip lead for most of the Main Event and ended with 741,000 chips. Mercier had a strong run to close out yesterday and has accumulated 824k chips thus far. Some other big-name players who are still alive include Liv Boeree (411k), Scott Seiver (251k), David Benyamine (217k) and Andy Frankenberger (186k).

Some of the notable players who didn’t fare as well yesterday – but still cashed – include Justin Bonomo (48th, 20,150), Daniel Negreanu (43rd, 20,150), Eugene Katchalov (40th, 21,250), JC Alvarado (33rd, 21,250) and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (25th, 22,982).

Action picks up again today with a number of prominent pros eyeing the 1,058,403 top prize. If we were choosing favorites, both Cheong and Hellmuth (1989 WSOP ME winner) would have to be near the top based on their previous Main Event experience. Of course, there are plenty of other seasoned pros still remaining, so it’ll be an interesting last couple of days in the WSOP ME.

The 2012 Macau poker Cup Championship began on Wednesday and saw 270 players pony up HK$ 20,000 over two Day 1 flights, creating a prize pool HK$ 4,818,960.

After four massive days of poker, the field has been whittled down to just nine players, with the below players set to fight it out on Sunday for the HK$ 1,108,500 first-place prize.

Let’s take a closer look at the final table of 2012 MPCC Main Event.

Seat 1: Ryan Hong (Melbourne, Australia) – 425,000 chips

Their are two Australians who have made the final table, one of which is Ryan Hong. The 25-year old university student has been playing poker for eight years, with many accomplishments over that time. In a very successful 2012, Hong finished third in both the Melbourne Championships Main Event, and the APT Manila Main Event, collecting almost US$ 100,000 for those scores alone. Hong started Day 3 as the chip leader with 430,000 in chips and brings just a small less than that into the final table.

Away from poker, Hong enjoys getting away for a holiday and enters the final table in seventh chip position.

Seat 2: Sunny Jung (Seoul, Korea) – 888,000 in chips

Originating from Seoul, Korea, Sunny Jung has been playing poker for 18 years, taking it up professionally in 2005. Normally a cash game player, it was a last minute decision to stay in Macau and play the MPCC Main Event, after originally planning to leave on Thursday.

After a solid third day, Jung was the first man to reach the one million chip mark. He said that a bluff against Ryan Hong early on gave him the momentum to accumulate a big stack. When he’s not playing poker, Jung enjoys eading and traveling to get his mind away from the game. He will come into the final table in second chip position.

Seat 3: Kevin Kung (Los Angeles, USA) – 469,000 in chips

Making the trek from Los Angeles in the Unted States, Kevin Kung has gone by in this tournament fairly unnoticed, but thanks to handy double up in the late stages of Day 3 – where he won a flip holding A-Q vs his opponents pocket eights – he has secured himself a spot on the final table.

With numerous cashes throughout the USA, including multiple WSOP cashes, this 28 year old, is looking to add a major tournament title to his growing poker resume.

Seat 4: Yosuke Sekiya (Matuyama, Japan) – 624,000 chips

Yosuke Sekiya is certainly no stranger to Macau Poker Cup events. Earlier this year Sekiya beat out a field of 236 players in the $ 2,250 Knockout Bounty event on the Macau Poker Cup: Red Dragon schedule. That win was good for HK$ 94,600 – which interestingly enough is slightly less than what he is already guaranteed for making the final table of the 2012 MPCC Main Event. That isn’t the only claim to fame for Sekiya though, with a career spanning four years seeing him earn over $ 100,000 in tournament winnings. It’s a good thing Sekiya says that he got started in poker because he “wanted to make money.”

While Sekiya says that he got “lucky” to make it to the final table, he has certainly shown during this event and in the past that he has what it takes to play tough poker. Interestingly, if Sekiya finishes second or better at the final table, he will move to the top of the Asia Player of the Year leader board, while a third place would see him virtually tied with the current leader, Nicky Tao Jin.

Seat 5: Jessica Ngu (Pennsylvania, USA) – 461,000 in chips

One of two females at the final table, Jessica Ngu has made a name for herself here in Macau, with numerous impressive scores over the last few years. The 28 year old has only been playing poker for three years, but in that time has made two major final tables, placing third in APPT Macau’s HK$ 10,000 No Limit Hold’em event back in 2010, and then seventh in last years HK$ 11,000 No Limit Hold’em Red Dragon Event during the Macau Poker Cup.

With a double up towards the end of Day 3, holding aces against her opponent’s pocket kings, Ngu will be looking to close in on that maiden Macau title.

Seat 6: Lisi Wei (Beijing, China) – 713,000 chips

The second of two ladies in the field, Lisi Wei has played tough poker over the last few days and has proven she deserves a spot in the final nine. Having only played poker for one year, Wei began playing with friends in a Beijing poker club and here she is now at the final table of one of the biggest events in Macau.

A defining moment in Wei’s tournament was perhaps when she held pocket aces and managed to eliminate Victor Chong, who held pocket jacks. Regardless of what happens at the final table, this will become Wei’s largest tournament score to date.

Seat 7: Robert Streatfeild (Perth, Australia) – 159,000 chips

Every year the Western Australia Poker League (WAPL) brings a team of players to Macau to take part in the MPCC. Robert Streatfeild has proudly worn a WAPL shirt throughout the entire tournament and will surely wear it with pride at the final table. Perhaps the best part of the 57-year old’s tournament is the fact that he even got to play at all. After some international banking errors, Streatfeild was having trouble withdrawing the HKD needed to enter the tournament. Scrambling around for an ATM and doing multiple long distance cash transfers, eventually Streatfeild was able to enter the tournament with just 20 minutes left in late registration. Better late than never!

Streatfeild will start the final table as the short stack, but will be looking to use all that he has learned from fellow poker friends Frank Maley and Michaele “The Butcher” Catalano to make his way to a victory.

Seat 8: Rui Chen (Anhui, China) – 1,325,000 chips

Rui Chen became the hero of his remaining eight competitors when he managed to deal a double elimination at the end of Day 3, ushering in the final table. With that massive hand giving Chen the final table chip lead, it’s hard to argue that there could be any bigger turning point for a player in a tournament. However, Chen says that there was no real defining moment in his tournament as he never had to commit more than one third of his chip stack.

The 37-year old from the Anhui province in China will be looking to use his chip lead to catapult himself into the record books as a Macau Poker Cup Championship victor.

Seat 9: Wenlong Jin (Shanghai, China) – 184,000

It’s been a rollercoaster ride for 36 year old Wenlong Jin from China. After building a sizable stack early on Day 3, a table change saw him battle it out with Sunny Jung during the final two levels, to drop him to the second smallest stack.

Not shy of big occasions, Jin has cashed in countless WSOP events over the last 4 years, and also placed second in a PokerStars Sunday Millions. Jin will come into the final table in eighth chip position.

Vanessa Selbst is currently the best female poker player in the world. She is ranked in 8th place on the Global Poker Index (GPI) (after having held the 5th place spot last week). She won a WSOP bracelet this year at Event 52: $ 2,500 10-Game Mix – Six-Handed for a prize of $ 244,259 (the second bracelet of her career). And she is one of 97 players remaining in Event 61: $ 10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event.

At the conclusion of Day 5 of the Main Event, only 97 players remain from a starting field of 6,598 entries. 669 players finish in the money and many big name professionals have already been eliminated from the action including Daniel Negreanu (160th place, $ 52,718 prize); John Juanda (237th place, $ 38,453); Maria Ho (322nd place, $ 32,871); Johnny Chan (353rd place, $ 32,871); Antonio Esfandiari (501st place, $ 24,808); Huck Seed (527th place, $ 21,707); Marvin Rettenmaier (648th place, $ 19,227); and Jason Mercier (659th place, $ 19,227).

The remaining players are led by Kyle Keranen with 6,935,000 chips. Vanessa Selbst is in 59th place with a stack of 1,350,000, but anything could happen when action resumes on Day 6 and players go all out (and all-in) to win the Main Event’s $ 8,527,982 first prize.

Vanessa Selbst won her first bracelet at the 2008 World Series of Poker, when she finished in first place in Event 19 – $ 1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha for a prize of $ 227,965.

Vanessa, from Brooklyn, New York, already has four cashes in this year’s series. According to the Hendon Mob poker database, she has a career total of $ 5,375,182 in winnings. Her best year was 2010, when she took first place in the Partouche Poker Tour Main Event for a prize of €1,300,000 ($ 1,823,430).

On Day 5 play, Vanessa had a stack of 3,000,000 chips going into the final break. But as she tweeted, “Missed every flop that level. Hero called an old dude and was wrong lol. Ended up with 1,650,000 just below avg heading to day 6.”

Her total dropped a little bit more by night’s end, however, she can still turn it all around on Day 6 of the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event.

Seven and a half weeks of exciting poker tournament action have come to an end in Las Vegas. Out of a starting field of 6,598, only nine players remain in contention for the gold bracelet and a $ 8,527,982 first prize in 2012 World Series of Poker Event 61: $ 10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event.

The final table, which will see action in October, includes eight Americans and one player from Hungary. The chipleader is 26-year-old Jesse Sylvia, who has a comfortable lead with his stack of 43,875,000 chips. Following him is 30-year-old Hungarian Andras Koroknai with 29,375,000 chips.

Hopes of seeing one, or two women at the final table faded when Norwegian Elisabeth Hille was eliminated in 11th place and French player Gaelle Baumann was eliminated in 10th place. There hasn’t been a woman sitting at the WSOP Main Event final table since Barbara Enright finished in 5th place in 1995.

Action on Day 7 began with 27 players remaining. Chipleader at the start of the day was Canadian Marc Ladouceur, but he eventually would be eliminated in 13th place.

The October Nine players who will return to contend for the WSOP Main Event title are:

Position	Country	Country	Age	Chips
1	Jesse Sylvia	United States	26	43,875,000
2	Andras Koroknai	Hungary	30	29,375,000
3	Greg Merson	United States	24	28,725,000
4	Russell Thomas	United States	24	24,800,000
5	Steven Gee	United States	56	16,860,000
6	Michael Esposito	United States	43	16,260,000
7	Robert Salaburu	United States	27	15,155,000
8	Jacob Balsiger	United States	21	13,115,000
9	Jeremy Ausmus	United States	32	9,805,000