Good afternoon, and welcome back to the 44th annual World Series of Poker. With 68 players remaining, Day 6 of the WSOP Main Event is set to kickoff at high noon, and the chip leader is Diamond Bar, California's Sami Rustom. Rustom is the only player with over seven million chips (7,005,000), but he is closely followed by Marc McLaughlin (6,695,000), Jason Mann (6,580,000), and Maxx Coleman (6,260,000).
Rustom is a cash game player with only $43,957 in career tournament earnings. He has already more than doubled that figure thus far, but his eyes are certainly on the more than $8.3 million first-place prize and not the 68th-place payout of $102,102.
The only former champion in the field is 2001 Main Event winner Carlos Mortensen. The Matador bagged 2,665,000 chips after Day 5, and is looking to become the first Main Event winner to return to the final table since Dan Harrington (1995 winner), who final tabled back-to-back Main Events in 2003 and 2004. Mortensen is the last Main Event winner to earn a bracelet after taking down the big one, winning a $5,000 limit hold'em event in 2003.
Like Harrington, 2012 Octo-Niner Steve Gee is looking to make a return trip to the final table. Gee, who finished ninth in the 2012 Main Event, enters the day with 1,360,000 chips - half of an average stack - but the 2010 bracelet winner knows what it takes to make a deep run.
Only one female remains in the 2013 Main Event, and it's Australia's own Jackie Glazier. Glazier, who finished runner up in a bracelet event in 2012 and has nearly one million dollars in career tournament earnings, enters the day 12th in chips with just over four million, and is looking to become the second female to make a Main Event final table. In 1995, Barbara Enright became the first and only female to make a Main Event final table, finishing fifth for $114,180.
The cards will be in the air at noon, and the plan is to play five 120-minute levels. Once the production crew and the WSOP staff make an official decision, we will let you know.
Tags:
Sami Rustom