WSOP $50k Players Championship Nears Money Bubble

With three out of five days completed at the five day WSOP $50k Players Championship, the starting field of 108 has now been reduced to just 26 competitors, all hoping to at least make the 16 player money bubble worth a minimum of $91,549.
However, a first place prize worth an impressive $1,451,527 as well as a prestigious gold bracelet awaits the eventual winner. Amongst those players who have already had their hopes dashed in Event#45, include Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, John Juanda, Gus Hansen, Patrik Antonius, Jonathan Duhamel, Justin Bonomo, Scott Seiver, Bertrand Grospellier and many others.
On the other side of the coin, at the top of the chip count heading into Day 4 is none other than Sweden’s Viktor “Isildur1” Blom with a 1,262,000 stack. What makes the Team PokerStars Pro’s achievement all the more impressive is the fact he wasn’t exactly au fait with all the disciplines featured in the 8 game mixed event going into the competition. As Daniel Negreanu noted on his twitter page:
“A week ago Viktor Blom didn’t know how many cards you get in Razz, and now he is among the chip leaders in the $50k. Sounds about right…I explained to Viktor how stud games are dealt and when I told him the last card is down he says “Oh wow that’s so cool” can’t make this up.”
Not far behind Victor Blom is David Oppenheim (1.165m), Daniel Alaei (1.058m), David Baker (1.025m) and John Hennigan (992k).
Other notable names still remaining in the stellar line-up include Andy Bloch (667k), Michael Mizrachi (632k), Luke Schwartz (500k), Phil Ivey (397k) and Jeff Lisandro (204k).
Finally, right at the very bottom in 26th is Phil Hellmuth with just 28k in chips and facing a quick elimination as play resumes. Commenting after a frustrating Day 3, Hellmuth twittered:
“I played like the 12-time World Champion that I am today. The deck brutalized me, BUT I NEVER lost focus! 26 left, I have 28K, ave 633K…I’m in my car in the Rio parking lot crying. Blessings all around me, BUT all I can see right now is that “I deserved better today…”
Day 4 gets started at 2pm today when it will play down to its final table.