68 Left In the Main Event, Sami Rustom Is The New Chip Leader

Timoshenko is still in the mix

Carlos Mortensen is going deep again

Event 62 – $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event

Things are starting to get serious in the main event now, with every player left in it guaranteed a minimum of $102,102. Day 5 reduced the field to just 68 players, all of whom are now getting very close to the $8,359,531 at the end of it all. 2012 champion Greg Merson is no longer part of the pack having struggled to gain ground for a while, finally shoving his into Brett Richey's .

Also departing on day 5 we had Marvin Rettenmaier whose tournament  came to an end when he shoved his into Carlos Mortensen's . Mortensen is now the only past champion still alive in this event and his 2,665,000 stack is just a little below average.

Ronnie Bardah's record equalling performance with a fourth consecutive cash in the WSOP main event was also ended when he got his aces cracked for a 124th place finish. It was a harsh end for the Iveypoker pro but he will surely be back for a shot at five in a row next year.

Of the 68 we still have left the headline names would be Mortensen, Yevgeniy Timoshenko (4,065,000) David Benefield (3,675,000) and JC Tran who has 3,280,000. Mortensen, Tran and Timoshenko will all be seated together for day 6 on what will likely be the feature table.

It’s fairly tight at the top with chip leader Sami Rustom on 7,005,000, followed by Marc McLaughlin (6,695,000) and Jason Mann (6,850,000.) The one lady still left in the tournament is another Iveypoker member – Jackie Glazier, and she is doing pretty well with a 4,045,000 stack worth 101 BBs.

Another ten hours of play is scheduled for day 6 as we close in on a November Nine, and it’s sure to be a tense day. We’ll have more updates from the Rio once that play is complete.