Poker pro Bryan Piccioli out front to start Day 5 of WSOP Main Event
Professional poker player Bryan Piccioli of Allegany, New York, will have the lead when play resumes Saturday afternoon on Day 5 of the World Series of Poker’s $10,000 buy-in No-limit Texas Hold ’em World Championship.
Piccioli, who won a bracelet in a WSOP Asia Pacific event in 2013, made a late move up the chip counts and finished with 4.026 million chips when play ended early Saturday at the Rio Convention Center.
Poker pro Daniel Colman won a massive pot during the final level and bagged up 3.711 million chips. Colman, who collected $15.3 million for winning the Big One for One Drop event in 2014, opens in second place with Thomas Miller of East Hampton, New York, sitting third (3.684 million).
Piccioli is one of the top online poker players of all time and has enjoyed a big 2016 already, with a third-place finish at the World Poker Tour’s Bay 101 Shooting Star Championship ($493,350) and a sixth-place showing in the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Finale ($127,905).
Piccioli clashed often with poker pro Adam Friedman, pushing the bracelet winner off a big pot on one occasion during the final level. Piccioli also scored a late elimination and was able to use his big stack to control the table.
Colman took down the largest pot of the tournament early Saturday when his pocket aces dominated the pocket queens of Brandon Adams, who was one of the top five stacks prior to the hand. Melanie Weisner doubled up on the final hand of the session with pocket aces and opens play in ninth place.
Johnny Chan (968,000) and Greg Raymer (992,000) are the only former Main Event winners still in the field.
Among the notable eliminations on Friday was fan favorite Antonio Esfandiari, who opened play on Day 4 in seventh place.
The remaining players return Saturday at noon with 251 players remaining from the starting field of 6,737 entrants.
DREAM HEADLINE — “Cheater wins Main Event.” Don’t laugh, it could happen.
Daniel Cheater of Winnipeg, Manitoba, spent the evening session at one of the three ESPN featured tables and ended play with 1.078 million, which is good for 144th place.
ISRAELASHVILI TIES MARK — Roland Israelashvili recorded his 13th cash of this summer’s WSOP, tying the single-series record set by Ismael Bojang in 2014.
Israelashvili made the money in the $1,111 buy-in Little One for One Drop event on Friday and went out in 254th place in the Main Event to match Bojang. Israelashvili has cashed in 63 WSOP events during his career, but has never won a bracelet.
CHIP COUNTS
1, Bryan Piccioli (Allegany, New York) 4,026,000
2, Daniel Colman (Holden, Massachusetts) 3,711,000
3, Thomas Miller (East Hampton, New York) 3,684,000
4, Pierre Merlin (Chalon Sur Saone, France) 3,396,000
5, Farhad Jamasi (Ocoee, Florida) 3,380,000
6, Goran Mandic (Zagreb, Croatia) 3,216,000
7, Adi Abugazal (Los Angeles) 3,180,000
8, Daniel Zack (Princeton, New Jersey) 3,085,000
9, Melanie Weisner (Los Angeles) 3,078,000
10, Tom Middleton (Silsden, England) 3,025,000
