What started with 102 players in the 2014 World Series of Poker $50,000 Poker Players' Championship is now down to the unofficial final table of eight. Today those players will return to the Rio All-Suite Casino in Las Vegas to play down to a winner, who will walk away with $1,517,767, a gold bracelet, and have their name inscribed on the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy.
The man best positioned to make a run at the top prize is 2014 WSOP bracelet winner and Player of the Year contender Brandon Shack-Harris, who begins the day with 4,101,000 chips. Another player to keep an eye on is Melissa Burr, who became the first woman to ever cash in this event.
Joining Shack-Harris and Burr on Day 5 will be Frank Kassela, Abe Mosseri, Allen Kessler, Jesse Martin, Chun Lei "samrostan" Zhou, and John Hennigan. This is Hennigan��s third straight cash in the Poker Players�� Championship, and his second consecutive final table. The only other player at the final table with a previous cash in this event is Mosseri, who finished 11th in 2010 for $129,957.
Officially, Mosseri is only guaranteed $165,435 with seven players remaining, but it is rumored that he has already locked up $600,000 in side bets by reaching the final table. If he wins, he could earn an additional $300,000 on top of the $1,517,767 first-place prize.
Shack-Harris, who already has first, second, and third-place finishes at the 2014 WSOP, is nipping at George Danzer��s heels in the Player of the Year race, Martin is looked to capture his second gold bracelet in as many years, and Kessler and Zhou are both looking to win their first and only.
Who will walk away as the 2014 WSOP $50,000 Poker Players' Champion? All we know for sure is that it will be one of these eight players:
Unofficial Final Table
| Seat | Player | Country | Chips | WSOP Bracelets | Career Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Frank Kassela | USA | 2,507,000 | 2 | $2,425,393 |
| 2 | John Hennigan | USA | 1,878,000 | 2 | $4,750,934 |
| 3 | Allen Kessler | USA | 439,000 | 0 | $2,830,973 |
| 4 | Abe Mosseri | USA | 3,485,000 | 1 | $1,149,000 |
| 5 | Chun Lei Zhou | Macau | 1,389,000 | 0 | $199,137 |
| 6 | Melissa Burr | USA | 661,000 | 0 | $151,368 |
| 7 | Brandon Shack-Harris | USA | 4,101,000 | 1 | $611,679 |
| 8 | Jesse Martin | USA | 840,000 | 1 | $1,396,180 |
The surviving eight players will return at 2 p.m., which is just over an hour from now. Be sure to return to PokerNews for exclusive live updates from this and every event at the 2014 WSOP.