2018 WSOP Main Event: Day 4 Winners and Losers

Day 4 of the 2018 WSOP Main Event has wrapped up, and following 13 hours of play just 310 players stil remain from the tournament’s original starting field of 7,874. That means that over the past 41 hours of active play, around 95% of the field has now been eliminated. As a result, the remaining players have guaranteed themselves a minimum payout of $37,705 for their deep runs, although all sights will be focused on the competition’s $8.8 million first place prize.

Top 3 Positions

Sitting in prime position overnight is US pros Barry Hutter (5,597,000), seen in the photo, who already has $4,357,777 in live winnings to his name, including a runner-up finish this year at the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em event for $323,019. Next is Alexander Haro (5,031,000), who has just five live cashes to his name, most noticeably a victory in 2012 at the $2,500 Deep Stack Extravaganza IV for $142,503.

Rounding off the top three is Brian Altman (4,861,000), who in 2015 took down the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open for $723,008, and currently boasts lifetime earnings of $2,647,482. The Massachusetts pro had thus far failed to cash in at this year’s WSOP, but after making it through to the latter stages of the Main Event in a commanding position, stated:

“I was actually 0 for 35 in tournaments. So, it’s kind of nice to have a glimmer of hope in this one, the most meaningful tournament of the year. I’m very happy to be in this spot.”

Other Winners

Other notable players finishing with their Main Events still intact includes Kelly Minkin (3,459,000), who was the last woman standing at the 2015 WSOP Main Event after finishing in 29th place. She is joined by 3-times bracelet winner Brian Yoon (3,228,000), the 2017 Main Event final tablist Benjamin Pollak (2,765,000), high-stakes Aussie pro James Obst (2,560,000), 2009 Main Event finalist James Akenhead (2,187,000), 3-times bracelet winner Shaun Deeb (2,175,000), 2016 Main Event finalist and 2-time bracelet winner Cliff Josephy (1,985,000), and 3-time WPT winner Chino Rheem (1,900,000).

Also still in contention is Sylvain Loosli (1,803,000), Eric Froehlich (1,344,000), Ivan Demidov (1,290,000), Antonio Esfandiari (1,260,000), Paul Volpe (1,070,000), and Chris Moorman (907,000). Just a solitary former Main Event champion remains, though, in the guise of 3-time bracelet winner Joe Cada who ended Day 4 on a 550,000 stack.

Losers

The highest profile player busting out on the day was Phil Ivey, whose 9s-9c ran into trouble against the Qs-Jc of Brian Altman. Ivey opted to raise then call his opponent’s preflop three-bet, before check calling the Qc-Js-2s flop. Both players then checked the 8s turn, but after Ivey checked the 3d river, Altman bet 195,000, leading to an all-in shove of 700,000 by Ivey. A minute or so later, Altman made the call and soon after Ivey was eliminated in 547th place for $23,940.

Joining Ivey on the rail was a number of other recognizable pros, including Scott Clements, Jamie Kerstetter, Barry Greenstein, Patrik Antonius, Kristen Bicknell, Liv Boeree, Davidi Kitai, Ian Johns, Brent Hanks, Todd Brunson, Jessica Dawley, Darren Elias, Johnny Chan, Tom McEvoy and Jonathan Duhamel.

Day 5

The remaining 310 competitors will return to the Rio at 11:00 a.m. local time later today. Day 5 action will pick up with an hour still left to play at level 21, and blinds of 10k/20k, and an ante of 3k.

WSOP Controversy

In the meantime, the disquiet that had been growing since Phil Hellmuth demonstrated a clear lack of etiquette and protocol that probably cost a player his tournament on Day 2c appears to have been resolved amicably. During the hand in question, Hellmuth was involved in a three-way pot, but cussed and signaled the strength of his hand out of turn, thus indicating his intention to fold, and making it easier for one of his opponent’s to call James Campbell’s bet.

It wasn’t long before numerous poker pros talked out about the incident, while Campbell described feeling completely upset about what occurred, and wanting to give Hellmuth a piece of his mind. Following a restless night, Hellmuth subsequently decided to make the situation right as best he could, and later tweeted:

“@JCamby33 I lost some sleep over my outburst. I believe you lose the hand anyway, but maybe I am wrong. You handled yourself well, and played well. As a gesture of goodwill, and because I respect policeman and firefighters: I’m going to buy you into 2019 $10,000 @WSOP Main Event.”

Campbell responded by saying that he enjoyed the table banter up to that point, and would now take Hellmuth up on his offer, stating that he was “already looking forward to 2019 WSOP Main Event!”