Ben Jacobs Leads WPT World Championship Final 16; Moorman, Lichtenberger & Sepiol Alive
The World Poker Tour (WPT) World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas started with 3,835 entrants, but after Day 5 action on Tuesday, just 16 players remain in contention for the title and $5,678,000 first-place prize.
The man best positioned to make a run at it is Ben Jacobs, who finished as chip leader with 46,400,000 (77 bb). Not too far behind are Maxime Chilaud (38,200,000 64 bb) and Artur Martirosian (36,200,000 60 bb), while Carl Shaw (29,000,000 47 bb) and Daniel Sepiol (27,900,000 47 bb) round out the top five.
Others still alive, and guaranteed $291,700 in prize money, are John Richards (26,400,000 44 bb), Chris Moorman (21,200,000 35 bb), and Andrew Lichtenberger (19,500,000 33 bb), just to name a few.
WPT World Championship End-of-Day-5 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ben Jacobs | 46,400,000 (77 bb) |
| 2 | Maxime Chilaud | 38,200,000 (64 bb) |
| 3 | Artur Martirosian | 36,200,000 (60 bb) |
| 4 | Carl Shaw | 29,000,000 (48 bb) |
| 5 | Daniel Sepiol | 27,900,000 (47 bb) |
| 6 | John Richards | 26,400,000 (44 bb) |
| 7 | Georgios Sotiropoulos | 24,600,000 (41 bb) |
| 8 | Ben Heath | 22,300,000 (37 bb) |
| 9 | Chris Moorman | 21,200,000 (35 bb) |
| 10 | Andrew Lichtenberger | 19,500,000 (33 bb) |
| 11 | Jason Min | 19,200,000 (32 bb) |
| 12 | Henrique Zanetti | 17,300,000 (29 bb) |
| 13 | Ade Olonoh | 15,500,000 (26 bb) |
| 14 | Raphael Blouet | 15,400,000 (26 bb) |
| 15 | Mark Mounsey | 14,000,000 (23 bb) |
| 16 | Paulius Vaitiekunas | 10,000,000 (17 bb) |
Dan Smith Bags Chip Lead w/ 6 Left in WPT Big One for One Drop
Day 5 saw 45 players return to action, but over the day 29 of them hit the rail including Andrei Boghean (17th - $236,300), Ren Lin (20th - $236,300), Alex Jauregui (25th - $159,200), Kristen Foxen (33rd - $132,500), Alex Foxen (39th - $132,500), Princess Love (40th - $132,500), and Jack Salter (46th - $111,300).
According to live updates from the tournament, Ale Foxen was eliminated in Level 26 (100,000/200,000/200,000) before jamming 1.625 million holding the A6 in middle position and flipping against Chilaud, who called out of the big blind with the 33. The 964 flop gave Foxen the lead, but the running 5 turn and 2 river gave Chilaud a runner-runner straight.
Two levels later with the blinds at 150,000/300,000/300,000, Foxens wife, Kristen, followed him out the door after she nearly moved all in from the cutoff for 3.7 million with the A7 and Martirosian jammed from the big blind with the AQ. Foxen called off the little she had behind and the board ran out A1068K to give Martirosian the win thanks to his superior kicker.
Day 6 of the tournament will take place at Noon local time on Wednesday and play down to the final table of six players. Once again, PokerNews will publish a recap after play concludes for the day.