Poker pro Cliff Josephy on top at WSOP Main Event
Professional poker player Cliff Josephy of Muttontown, New York, held the unofficial lead in the World Series of Poker’s $10,000 buy-in No-limit Texas Hold ’em World Championship at the dinner break Sunday.
Josephy, a two-time WSOP bracelet winner and former top-ranked online poker player, had 19.01 million chips when action stopped shortly before 7 p.m. at the Rio Convention Center with 39 players remaining.
The Main Event continued Sunday night and was expected to stop when the field reached 27 players.
The tournament runs through Monday and pauses until Oct. 30 when the final nine players return to the Penn & Teller Theater to play for the $8 million first prize.
Josephy opened the day 21st out of 80 players but moved up during the afternoon sessions by eliminating Dietrich Fast in 55th place and Sergi Reixach in 46th place.
Josephy has cashed in the Main Event on two other occasions and also was the financial backer for 2009 Main Event winner Joe Cada.
Michael Ruane (18.735 million) of Maywood, New Jersey, and Milwaukee’s Mike Shin (18.185 million) round out the top three of the chip counts.
Among the notable eliminations during the afternoon was Jan Suchanek of New Zealand, who went out in 49th place after opening Day 6 in second place.
