WSOP: Barry Hutter Leading into Day 5, Phil Ivey Gone
In what felt like a flash, the 2018 World Series of Poker Main Event suddenly just has 310 players left with Barry Hutter standing on top of the entire field.
Sunday’s play started with 1,182 players all still hoping to become World Champ, but over 5.5 two-hour levels of play, 872 players were shown the door. Hutter managed to do some damage on Day 4 and ended up bagging nearly six million and the chip lead.
Four former #1-ranked PocketFivers managed to advance to Day 5 with Shaun Deeb ending with the highest chip count at 2,175,000. Cliff Josephy (1,985,000), Paul Volpe (1,070,000) and Chris Moorman (907,000) are also still alive.
Kelly Minkin Makes a Big Call For Top 10 Stack
A key moment for Kelly Minkin came late in Level 19. Faced with a decision for roughly 60% of her stack, Minkin eventually managed to call her opponent’s all in river bet and tabled a paired king for second pair – good enough to beat Ivan Galinec‘s flopped third pair.
Minkin finished Day 4 with 3,459,000, good enough for the sixth-largest stack.
The Demise of Phil Ivey
All eyes, including those of the viewers watching at home on ESPN, were on Phil Ivey on Sunday. The 10-time bracelet winner started the day with a decent size stack and was at one of the ESPN secondary feature tables. Ultimately, Ivey was unable to navigate his way through Sunday’s landmines.
Ivey raised to 22,000 from middle position before Brian Altman made it 75,000 to go from late position. After the blinds folded, Ivey called. The flop came [qc][js][2s] and Ivey checked. Altman bet 60,000 and Ivey called. The [8s] turn got both players to check. The river was the [3d] and Ivey checked to Altman who bet 195,000. Ivey moved all in for 629,000 total and Altman tank-called and showed [qs][jc] for top two pair while Ivey flashed pocket nines before exiting the Amazon Room.
More Than Just Ivey Though
Scattered throughout the bustouts on Sunday were a number of prominent players including former World Champions, the start-of-day chip leader, European Poker Tour champion and a number of other familiar faces.
357. Mustapha Kanit – $33,305
367. Darren Elias – $33,305
379. Liv Boeree – $33,305
400. In Sun Geoum – $33,305
409. Jonathan Duhamel – $33,305
424. Frank Flowers – $29,625
428. Dominik Panka – $29,625
492. Kristen Bicknell – $26,535
541. Todd Brunson – $23,940
543. Jessica Dawley – $23,940
547. Phil Ivey – $23,940
612. Johnny Chan – $21,750
685. Eugene Katchalov – $19,900
814. Patrik Antonius – $18,340
910. Maria Konnikova – $17,025
982. Jamie Kerstetter – $15,920
Top 10 Chip Counts
- Barry Hutter – 5,597,000
- Alexander Haro – 5,031,000
- Brian Altman – 4,861,000
- Andres Jeckeln – 4,506,000
- Hari Bercovici – 3,510,000
- Kelly Minkin – 3,459,000
- Franklin Azevedo – 3,410,000
- Ubaid Habib – 3,300,000
- Nicholas Newport – 3,269,000
- Krasimir Yankov – 3,264,000
Action resumes at 11 am PT with players expected to play another 5.5 levels.
