Poker NewsMuch more than just a poker blog...
Hossein Ensan and Garry Gates are leading the field, Dario Sammartino is the shortest stack.
After eight days of world-class poker, the original field of 8,569 the $10,000 Main Event has reduced to the final five. All of the remaining players are now guaranteed $2.2 million, but the huge pay jumps and the $10,000,000 top prize create huge tense at the final table.
Germany's Hossein Ensan is the current chip leader, sitting on a massive 173-strong-stack of 207,700,000 with blinds of 600,000/1,200,000. The other big stack is Garry Gates, who has 171,700,000 which equals to 143 bigs.
[3]
"I'm staring at the chip counts now and to think Hossein and I have what we have, the bottom three guys are kind of strapped in that way." said one of the bigger stacks, Gates.
Kevin Maahs is the middle stack, with 66,500,000, while Alex Livingston has 45,800,000. The shortest stack belongs to high-roller regular, Dario Sammartino, who will return with 23,100,000 which is good for 18 big blinds. After a controversial hand, which included Dario with 11 players left, he managed to pull his act together and latter up and is now guaranteed for a $2.2 million payday at least.
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hossein Ensan | Germany | 207,700,000 | 173 |
| 2 | Dario Sammartino | Italy | 23,100,000 | 19 |
| 3 | Kevin Maahs | United States | 66,500,000 | 55 |
| 4 | Garry Gates | United States | 171,700,000 | 143 |
| 5 | Alex Livingston | Canada | 45,800,000 | 38 |
Milos busted by Garry
The final table already saw four bustouts, with Serbia's Milos Skrbic departing in 9th place for a cool $1,000,000. Skrbic was followed by Timothy Su, who earned $1,250,000 for his 8th place. UK's Nick Marchington busted in 7th place for $1,525,000, while fellow American, Zhen Cai made $1,850,000 with his 6th place.
The play will resume at 6:30 p.m. local time with 28 minutes remaining on the current blud level of 600,000/1,200,000/1,200,000.