2018 WSOP Main Event: Day 5 Winners and Losers

Day 5 of the WSOP Main Event proved to be a stormy one, both on and off the tables. While the players were trying to build their stacks and make runs at the final table, the weather broke outside and sent a thunderstorm Las Vegas’ way, in the process causing a power outage that forced the players to complete the last hour of play under emergency lighting.

Recollecting the moment the lights first went out, Clayton Fletcher, who finished the day on a 1.74 million chip stack, stated:

“I was not involved in the hand, but there were two players at my table doing battle on the flop. There was a bet, and the next player was contemplating his decision when the lights shut off. Instinctively, three of us turned on our phones to light the table. I put my cellphone flashlight on the chips, someone put it on one guy, and someone put it on the other guy. That was surreal. I thought I’d seen it all, and now I know I haven’t.”

Needless to say, nothing was going to stand in the way of the players pursuing their WSOP aspirations, except, of course, being eliminated by their fellow competitors. There were to be plenty of those, too, with just 109 players currently remaining out of the 310 who started the day.

Top Three

Leading the pack overnight is Michael Dyer (12,180,000) shown in the photo, a player with just $95,020 in winnings to his name, $65,905 of which is accounted for by an 8th place finish at the 2009 WSOP $2k No Limit Hold’em event for $65,905. The Houston native said that his chip count really started to skyrocket after being moved to the feature table, and in particular following an AK vs KK hand against Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy which relieved the latter of his remaining 3.8 million chips. As Dyer explained after his Big Slick hand paid off handsomely:

“He has so many chips that he can have whatever he wants to have. He had a really good hand, so I got lucky so that just happens sometimes. I just play hands. Whatever happens, happens.”

Ending Day 5 in second spot overall was Brian Yoon (8,395,000), a three-time bracelet holder from California with $4,396,737 in career winnings to his credit, while not far behind in third place is Jeff Trudeau (8,305,000), who last year picked up a WSOP Circuit ring after taking down the Cherokee High Roller for $63,599.

Winners

Amongst the notable players still in contention is Belgium’s Bart Lybaert (7,530,000), Day 4 leader Barry Hutter (5,695,000), 2-time bracelet winner Eric Froehlich (5,365,000) and Argentinian high stakes pro Ivan Luca (4,580,000). Last year’s Main Event finalist, Benjamin Pollak, is also sitting on a 5,715,000 stack, and is hoping to become the latest player to make back-to-back final tables, following in the footsteps of  players such as Mark Newhouse and Michael Ruane.

Other pros making it through to Day 6 includes the 2009 Main Event champion Joe Cada (2,965,000), Shannon Shorr (2,915,000), Shaun Deeb (2,610,000), Jordan Cristos (2,185,000), and James Obst (1,730,000).

Milkin Last Woman Standing

In 2015, Kelly Minkin became the last woman standing at the Main Event, eventually busting out in 29th place for a $211,821 payday. This year, the former attorney has accomplished the feat once again, and is currently nursing a 1,205,000 stack, with her poker skills even attracting the attention of the dealer. At one stage, Milkin called a 700k river bet holding just second pair, and as she subsequently tweeted:

“Robert the dealer just dubbed me #machinegunkelly bc of that gangster call.”

Losers

Amongst the notable losers on Day 5 was Barbara Enright, a 3-time WSOP bracelet holder who in 1995 became the only woman ever to have made a WSOP Main Event final table. In the end, however, the Poker Hall of Famer was eliminated in 292nd place after running her pocket sevens into her opponent’s pocket aces, but she still collected $37,705 for her deep run, representing her biggest score in two decades.

Joining Enright on the rail was Jake Schindler, Chris Moorman, Brian Yu, Paul Volpe, Antonio Esfandiari, Ivan Demidov, Roland Israelashvili, James Akenhead, Chino Rheem, and Brian Altman.

Day 6

Day 6 of the Main Event is scheduled to get underway at 11am local time, with blinds and ante set at 30k/60k/10k. Just two more days of poker are now left before the final table of nine is reached.