Poker pro Jerry Wong tops WSOP Main Event chip counts
Professional poker player Jerry Wong of Brooklyn, New York, leads entering Day 6 on Sunday at the World Series of Poker’s $10,000 buy-in No-limit Texas Hold ’em World Championship.
Wong knocked out Day 5 chip leader Bryan Piccioli late Saturday and bagged up 11.555 million chips when play completed shortly after midnight at the Rio Convention Center.
Wong briefly spoke with the crew producing the ESPN broadcast then declined any further comment before fleeing the Amazon Ballroom. Wong has $118,156 in career WSOP earnings from 19 cashes, and he was third in the 2013 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event for a lifetime-best $725,000.
The remaining 80 players return to the Rio at noon Sunday and are guaranteed a minimum $80,721 payout. The Main Event continues Monday for Day 7 and plays down to its final nine players. The final table begins Oct. 30 with the winner set to receive $8 million.
New Zealand’s Jan Suchanek is in second place (10.305 million) thanks in large part to his elimination of 2015 WSOP Player of the Year Mike Gorodinsky in 87th place.
Belgium’s Kenny Hallaert, who was down to approximately 20 big blinds at one point on Day 5, is in third place with 10.05 million chips. Hallaert eliminated 2004 Main Event champion Greg Raymer in 122nd place after the dinner break and continued to climb the chip counts Saturday night.
Professional poker player Griffin Benger of Toronto is fourth (9.86 million) after taking the chip lead during the afternoon sessions. Top pro Daniel Colman, who led at the Day 5 dinner break, faded during the final two levels and sits in 18th place with 6.345 million chips.
Also in contention are poker pros Paul Volpe (7.29 million) and Max Silver (3.545 million), the only players who can catch Jason Mercier in the Player of the Year standings. Volpe needs at least a third-place finish to overtake Mercier, while Silver would need to win the Main Event.
Antoine Saout’s bid to become the second player to reach two “November Nine” final tables is alive. The Frenchman finished third in 2009 and has 6.705 million chips, which is good for 15th place.
Saout would join Mark Newhouse (2013, 2014) as the only players to make two final tables since the “November Nine” format was introduced in 2008.
In addition to Raymer, two-time Main Event champion Johnny Chan was busted in 180th place.
LAST WOMAN STANDING — France’s Gaelle Baumann, the final woman remaining in the Main Event field, was eliminated in 102nd place ($49,108) late Saturday.
Baumann also was the last woman standing in the 2012 Main Event when she finished 10th. She joins Marsha Waggoner (1993, 1997), Annie Duke (2000, 2003) and Maria Ho (2007, 2014) as the only players to twice outlast the rest of the women in the field.
Baumann’s exit was the earliest by the final woman since 2010 when Breeze Zuckerman hit the rail in 121st place.
CHIP COUNTS
1, Jerry Wong (Brooklyn, New York) 11,555,000
2, Jan Suchanek (Nelson, New Zealand) 10,305,000
3, Kenny Hallaert (Hansbeke, Belgium) 10,050,000
4, Griffin Benger (Toronto) 9,860,000
5, Joshua Weiss (Los Angeles) 8,330,000
6, William Kassouf (Rickmansworth, England) 8,300,000
7, David L’Honore (Great Britain) 8,265,000
8, Chang Luo (Seattle) 8,090,000
9, Jared Bleznick (New York) 7,955,000
10, Fernando Pons (Caldwell, New Jersey) 7,930,000