Ladouceur Leads the Remaining 27 Players
Day 6 of the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event is in the books, and after another five-plus levels of play, Marc Ladouceur leads the remaining 27 players with 15.875 million chips.
The day began with 97 players and the chip leader was Kyle Keranen. Gavin Smith was the first notable player to bow out when his ace-queen was unable to best Eric Legoff’s pocket jacks. There were then a flurry of eliminations, including William Hefflefinger, Stephane Bisson, Erik Cajelais, and Isaac Baron.
There were five women who returned to play on Day 5, including Vanessa Selbst, Elisabeth Hille, Gaelle Baumann, Marcia Topp, and Susie Zhao. Selbst had an incredibly rocky day, and it all began when she was crippled by David Balkin, who won a nearly two million-chip race with two red fours against Selbst’s 
. The board ran out 
, and Selbst was left with just 380,000 chips. She then doubled with 
against the 
of Scott Anderson, turning a jack-high straight on a board of 
. A meaningless 
completed the board, and Selbst was back up to 700,000.
Selbst could never stay above the million-chip mark however, and on her final hand, she open-jammed 750,000 on the button with 
. Greg Merson called out of the big blind with 
, and the board ran out 
, eliminating Selbst in 73rd place.
Topp and Zhao were also eliminated today. Topp ran pocket sixes into Robert Corcione’s pocket queens, and Zhao ran king-queen into Baron’s ace-queen.
Today was not a good day to be a former end-of-day chip leader of the 2012 Main Event — Keranen (Day 5), and Dave D’Alesandro (Day 3) were both eliminated. Keranen doubled Scott Abrams, Corcione, and lost a big pot to Jeremy Ausmus before three-bet jamming over a raise and a call with 
. Percy Mahatan snapped it off with 
, and the board ran out 
, eliminating Keranen.
D’Alesandro was eliminated when he ran into the 
of Charles Coultras.
The chip lead changed hands several times today, and at one point, Amit Makhija, who entered the day with 1.4 million chips, vaulted into the lead with over 6 million. In a three-bet pot, he and A.J. Jejelowo took a flop of . Jejelowo led out for 600,000, and Makhija called. The turn as another nine – the – and Jejelowo checked to Makhija, who slid out 500,000. Jejelowo quickly moved all in for 2.045 million, and Makhija called. Makhija was ahead with , and Jejelowo was drawing slim with . The bricked on the river, and Makhija was suddenly the chip leader.
Makhija began sliding however, and after being bluffed by Marc Ladouceur in a massive pot, he three-bet jammed over an open from Abrams. Tristan Clemencon cold-called the all in from the big blind, and Abrams re-jammed. Clemencon tank called, and the hands were opened.
| Abrams | |
| Makhija |  |
| Clemencon |   |
The board ran out 
, and both Makhija and Clemencon were eliminated.
Taylor Paur also ascended to the top of the counts today, but he too was unable to survive the day. Paur crossed the seven million-chip mark after winning big pots off of Steven Gee and Jamie Robbins, but Gee won a massive pot off of Paur holding two aces. Paur had queens on the board of 
, and the completed the board, doubling Gee to over five million chips.
Paur slipped down to around a million, and was eliminated in 33rd palce when he ran into Robbins’ 
. The 
board did not help Paur, and he was eliminated.
At the end of the day when Erik Hellman busted in 28th place, Ladouceur was our leader followed by Daniel Strelitz and Corcione. Strelitz strung together three big pots during the middle of the day, Corcione chipped up steadily, and Ladouceur pounced late…
Join us tomorrow at 1 p.m. local time, where we will play the remaining hour and thirty-seven minutes of Level 30. We will then march forward until there is a 2012 “Novemeber” Nine. Can Gaelle Baumann or Elisabeth Hille become the second woman to make a Main Event final table? Can Greg Merson take another step towards becoming the only double-bracelet winner of 2012? Can Jamie Robbins best his eleventh-place finish in the 2009 Main Event?
All of these questions and more will be answered tomorrow, but for now, good night from Las Vegas!