Chan in 9th place as Main Event field cut to 205

If the nine seats at November’s World Series of Poker’s Main Event final table had been decided Wednesday night, poker legend Johnny Chan would be included.

Chan, a member of the poker Hall of Fame who last won the tournament’s $10,000 buy-in No-limit Hold’em World Championship more than 20 years ago, continued his improbable run at the Rio.

At the conclusion of play Wednesday night, 205 players from last week’s original starting field of 7,319 were left in competition.

By Friday the field will be cut to 27 with final table of nine being determined by late Saturday night or early Sunday morning.

Chan, who began Day 5 in 13th place with almost 1.2 million in tournament chips, will enter Thursday in 9th place with almost 2.6 in chips.

Chan is the last player to win back-to-back World Series of Poker Main Event Championships, taking the title in 1987 and 1988. A year later, Chan was runner-up to Phil Hellmuth Jr., just missing a third straight crown.

The day was a rollercoaster ride for Chan. He fell as low as 53rd at one point.

“I don’t have a big plan, I’m just playing as it goes,” Chan said on Tuesday. “Sometimes you lose and hand or get a little bump. You have to know how to switch gears.”

Canadian Evan Lamprea leads the pack going into play Thursday, which begins at noon, with 3.546 million in chips, slightly ahead of Germany’s Michael Skender, who has 3.527 million in chips.

Joseph Cheong, whose hometown is unknown, is in third with 3.357 million in chips. Duy Le of San Jose, Calif., is in fourth with 3.186 million in chips.

Chan is clearly the biggest name left in the filed. Some well-known players are still alive, including Michael Mizrachi of Miami, who is in contention for the Player of the Year title, and Jean-Robert Bellande of Las Vegas, a one-time contestant on the reality television series, “Survivor.”

In one of the final hands of the night Wednesday, 1998 Main Event Champion Scotty Nguyen's run in the 2010 tournament ended. His pair of jacks couldn’t beat Mads Wissing's pocket kings.

Nguyen finished 209th and won $48,847.