WSOP Main Event Day 4 - Jonathan Lane Leads as the Bubble Bursts

With the bubble well and truly burst we head towards the end game at the WSOP Main Event

We're getting down to the business end of the WSOP Main Event now, with the starting field of 6,352 now whittled down to 239. At the close of play, the chip leader is Jonathan Lane, a four time WSOP final tablist, who currently holds 2.839m chips.

The day started with 666 players, all hoping to stay afloat for a least a little while longer, until the bubbles burst with 648 players remaining. The unlucky "bubble boy" was veteran of 3 WSOP bracelets, and nearly $4m in live cashes, Farzad Bonyadi, although he does receive a free entry into next years Main Event as consolation.

There were some high profile cashes, as Doyle Brunson made his first Main Event score for 10 years, although he couldn't last the day, exiting in 409th place for a $28k payday.

Other big names who cashed but didn't progress include; Humberto Brenes, Erik Seidel, Michael Mizrachi, Ike Haxton, Jake Cody, Allen Cunningham, Betrand Grosspellier, Marcel Luske, and Luke "__FullFlush1__" Schwartz.

Schwartz was involved in one of the more interesting incidents of the day as he lost a huge pot with his AA being cruelly bested by his opponents KK in an all in pre-flop hand. Instead of assuming the chip lead (which Schwartz was an 85% favourite to do when the cards were turned over) he lost over half his stack to Josh Pollock. Not known for his even temper, a justifiably tilted Schwartz left the table to unjustifiably knock over chairs, pull down curtains, and let loose with a tirade of "colourful language", for which he received a one orbit penalty.

Big names still in the hunt include; Kristy Gazes, Greg Mueller, Carlos Mortensen, Noah Schwartz, JC Tran, Annette Obrestad, Ashton "theASHMAN103" Griffin, David Benefield, and the defending champion, Greg Merson.

The players will return for five more levels today at 12pm local time.

Top Ten Chip Counts

Jonathan Lane - 2,839,000
Sami Rustom - 2,485,000
Grayson Ramage - 2,438,000
Victor Cianelli - 2,197,000
Seaver Kyaw - 2,060,000
Yann Dion - 2,025,000
Kevin Williams - 2,007,000
Vincent Roberts - 1,976,000
Robert Sichelstiel - 1,910,000
Ami Alibay - 1,890,000

We'll be back tomorrow to report on day 5's action.