From 27 to the November Nine; Martin Jacobson Leads to Start Day 7
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Welcome back to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino and the 2014 World Series of Poker for Day 7 of the Main Event, the final day until the November Nine return in 119 days to play down until we have a new World Champion!
After nine days of grueling and intense tournament poker, the 6,683-player field — the third largest of all time — has now been reduced to just a final 27 who will all have their eyes on reaching the elusive November Nine and a guaranteed $730,725 payday.
Sweden's Martin Jacobson has been trending his chip count upwards ever since he bagged the Day 1a chip lead. On Day 2a/b he ended in 21st, on Day 3 he sat 29th and Day 4 he rose to 18th before finishing Day 5 in 14th overall. Today will see him return on top after bagging a very impressive 22,335,000 in chips — good for a 47-big-blind lead against the next best. That next best, however, isn't one to ignore as it is two-time WSOP bracelet winner Luis Velador who bagged 16,600,000 in chips to end slightly ahead of Dan Sindelar (16,345,000), Andoni Larrabe (15,280,000), and nine-time World Foosball Champion William Pappaconstantinou (14,640,000).
Several players remaining are very accustomed to the pressure associated with a deep Main Event run, and no one can look past Mark Newhouse who is on the verge of making one of the greatest runs in Main Event history. Newhouse rode a roller coaster of a Day 7 in 2013 after starting the day 15th in chips before reaching the November Nine second-to-last in chips before eventually exiting in 9th. This year he starts the day 11th in chips, and if he can go back-to-back in reaching the November Nine, he will be the first player to do so since Dan Harrington in 2003 and 2004. This basically means that over the past two years, Newhouse has already outlasted 12,999 Main Event players heading into today.
Like Newhouse, several other players still alive know what a deep run in the Main Event feels like. In 2011, Bryan Devonshire finished 12th for $607,882 while Leif Force collected a massive $1,154,527 in 2006 for his 11th-place finish. In total, 10 of the remaining players have reached the money in the Main Event, with Force making the fourth Main Event cash of his career.
Although only a few WSOP bracelet winners remain, the field is still incredibly strong with Dan Smith (10,335,000) looking to add to his plethora of titles that include a win in the Bellagio $100K Summer Super High Roller a few weeks ago, an Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge victory, and WPT and HPT titles. Russian Andrey Zaichenko has a couple of WSOP final tables from his 22 WSOP cashes but the current guaranteed payout of $286,900 is his biggest to date. Dutch players Jorryt van Hoof and Oscar Kemps are hoping to follow in the footsteps of Michiel Brummelhuis who took 7th last year, while perennial nice guy Eddy Sabat will hope his 19th WSOP cash turns into his fourth final table and first WSOP bracelet.
The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be providing hand-for-hand extensive live updates of all the Day 7 action once play resumes at 12:00 p.m. (PDT), so make sure to stay tuned right here to PokerNews.com as we write the next exciting chapter of the 2014 WSOP Main Event story.
While waiting for the action to begin, take a look at yesterday's Chad Brown Memorial & Charity Poker Tournament that took place at Binion's Gambling Hall & Hotel where many from the poker world got together for a good cause and to remember a dear friend: