2016 WSOP ME: Nguyen Leads Final 5 Players

After a break of almost four months, the 2016 November Nine returned to the Rio in Las Vegas on Sunday to resume their quest to find this year’s Main Event champion. The action subsequently got started at 5 pm local time, and by the end of the day’s action just five players remained, all of whom are now guaranteed at least $1,935,288 for their hard-fought efforts.
Eliminations:
6: Kenny Hallaert (Bel) $1,464,258
7: Griffin Benger (Can) $1,250,190
8: Jerry Wong (US) $1,100,076
9: Fernando Pons (SPN) $1,000,000
First to leave the arena was Spanish player Fernando Pons, who was reduced to just 8bb before shoving all-in preflop holding A-6. Cliff Josephy made the call with K-J and after the dealer laid out a K-Q-3-9-K board, Pons exited the competition in 9th place for a $1 million payday.
That happened on hand 16, but it would take a further three hours before he was joined on the rail by US player Jerry Wong, whose pocket jacks pre-flop shove was answered by Vojtech Ružicka holding pocket queens. Wong’s 8th place finish subsequently earned him $1,100,076.
Next, Canadian pro Griffin Benger on 9bb went all-in holding A-9, and was eliminated in 7th ($1,250,190) place by Gordon Vayo with pocket tens.
The last elimination of the day then saw a preflop raising war between Qui Nguyen and Belgium’s Kenny Hallaert, who still had 35bbs left when he got all his chips all-in with A-Q. Unfortunately for him his opponent was holding pocket aces, and with no help from the board Hallaert had to settle for a 6th place finish worth $1,464,258.
That brought an end to the first day of a scheduled three-day Main Event final table, with the remaining five players currently on an overnight break before resuming the action later today at 4:30 pm.
Last 5 Players:
Qui Nguyen (US) 128.625m (129bb)
Cliff Josephy (US) 63.85m (64bb)
Vojtech Ružicka (CZ) 62.25m (62bb)
Gordon Vayo (US) 58.2m (58bb)
Michael Ruane (US) 23.7m (24bb)
Payouts:
1st: $8,000,000
2nd: $4,658,452
3rd: $3,451,175
4th: $2,574,808
5th: $1,934,579