Martin Jacobson takes Main Event lead after Day 6

14 July 2014

By Dan Podheiser

LAS VEGAS -- Day 6 of the 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event ended Sunday night with 27 players still vying for the bracelet and $10 million first-place prize.

The 27 remaining players will reconvene Monday at noon PT and play down to the final nine. Known as the November Nine, the final table will be played live from the Penn & Teller Theater at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino on Nov. 10 and 11.

Swedish pro Martin Jacobson, with 22.45 million chips, will take the lead into Day 7. Jacobson began the day 14th in chips with 3.925 million but consistently chipped up to the top of the leaderboard.

Luis Velador (16.81 million) and Dan Sindelar (16.51 million) are next closest to Jacobson, while Andoni Larrabe (15.7 million) and William Pappaconstantinou (14 million) make up the rest of the top five.

2013 November Niner Mark Newhouse entered play Sunday with 7.4 million chips and the lead. Newhouse struggled on Day 6, though, and will head into play Monday in 11th place with 7.01 million chips.

Kyle Keranen also took a nosedive on Day 6. The Las Vegas native started the day second in chips with 6.67 million, but will begin Day 7 in 17th with just 4.28 million chips.

The final 27 players will re-draw for new seats for Monday. Each of the remaining players will win at least $286,900 in prize money.

Play started fast and furious Sunday. Day 6 began with 79 players remaining, but by the time the dinner break hit (after just five hours of play), only 44 remained.

But the pace slowed down when the field got down to 37 players. The pay jump from 37th ($186,388) to 36th place ($230,487) was a difference of more than $44,000 and players tightened up. Gal Erlichman was finally knocked out in 37th place when his pocket kings were felted by Dan Sindelar's pocket aces -- roughly two hours after the previous elimination.

The tournament was scheduled to play down to 24 players or five and a half levels on Sunday, but when Matthew Haugen busted in 28th place ($230,487) with 44:15 remaining in the final level of the day, WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel announced play would stop and resume Monday.

Haugen, who entered Day 5 with the tournament chip lead, held just 2.1 million chips when he 3-bet shoved all-in from the small blind with pocket tens over Bryan Devonshire's under-the-gun raise. Devonshire called with pocket queens, which held.

Maria Ho was the first notable elimination of the day. The "last woman standing" at the 2007 Main Event clinched the honor again on Saturday, but was eliminated in 77th place ($85,812) when she shoved her short stack with Jd-8d and fell to Zachary Hirst's pocket queens.

Vitaly Lunkin was eliminated on Day 6 for the second consecutive year. The Russian pro finished in 46th place for $151,063 in the 2013 Main Event. This year, Lunkin lost a race to Matthew Haugen early in the day, when his Ah-Kh fell short to Haugen's Jd-Js, crippling Lunkin to just 245,000 chips. Lunkin doubled up a couple of times afterwards, but eventually busted in 57th place ($124,447) when his As-Kd took a bad beat to Felix Stephenson's Kh-Qs.

Bracelet winner and high-stakes pro Brian Hastings fell in 64th place ($103,025). Hastings, who began Day 6 with 2.945 million chips, had fallen to 1.3 million when he chose to 4-bet shove from the button with Ah-Js, only to be called by Andrey Zaichenko with Ks-Kc.

The board ran out 9s-Kh-Jc-Jd-Ad, giving both players a full house but Zaichenko the better boat. Hastings took the loss in stride with a smile.

"Well, I can tell my friends and family I lost with a full house," the 25-year-old joked as he stood up from the table for the final time.

REMAINING CHIP STACKS

Martin Jacobson: 22.33 million
Luis Velador: 16.6 million
Dan Sindelar: 16.34 million
Andoni Larrabe: 15.28 million
William Pappaconstantinou: 14.64 million
Bruno Politano: 11.62 million
Dan Smith: 10.33 million
Craig McCorkell: 8.76 million
Felix Stephensen: 7.74 million
Andrey Zaichenko: 7.33 million
Mark Newhouse; 6.82 million
Thomas Sarra Jr.: 6.51 million
William Tonking: 5.87 million
Bryan Devonshire: 5.765 million
Jorryt van Hoof: 5.395 million
Kyle Keranen: 4.465 million
Eddy Sabat: 4.067 million
Leif Force: 4.035 million
Christopher Greaves: 3.935 million
Maximilian Senft: 3.92 million
Oscar Kemps: 3.91 million
Iaron Lightbourne: 3.875 million
Sean Dempsey: 3.145 million
Yorane Kerignard: 2.885 million
Scott Mahin: 1.46 million
Brian Roberts: 1.365
Scott Palmer: 760,000

NOTABLE ELIMINATIONS

Matthew Haugen (28th: $230,487)
David Tuthill (43rd: $186,388)
Matthew Waxman (45th: $186,388)
Ryan Fair (48th: $152,025)
Isaac Baron (52nd: $152,025)
Vitaly Lunkin (57th: $124,447)
Brian Hastings (64th: $103,025)
Kyle Bowker (71st: $103,025)
Maria Ho (77th: 85,812)