- Daniel Negreanu
When it comes to the World Series of Poker $10,000 Main Event, we are now at the good part; while the tournament is now on Day 3, five days have elapsed since the first players took their seats and the starting field of just under 6,600 players has been whittled down to triple digits.
We aren’t at the money yet though and things will slow down considerably. Those that do remain are some of poker’s finest and barring any cold decks or bad beats, will be carefully protecting their stacks after having come this far.
Only 666 players of roughly 953 will make the first pay-out spot of $19,227 and with some fairly deep stacks on average, that may not even happen today. For those that do however, a minimum of almost $10,000 in profits for the equivalent of a normal weeks work is certainly nothing to shake a stick at.
Of course, all the contenders will be eyeing the big prize; pokers most coveted title and more than $8,500,000 await up top and at least 9 players will find themselves in some seriously life changing spotlight.
Leading the charge for Canada and currently sitting in the top 100 in chips are; Justin Ouimette (26th, ON), Philip MacDonald (27th, MB), Daniel Negreanu (37th, ON), Dylan Shwartz (55th, ON), Roger Lamia (61st, ON), Stephane Blouin (67th, DNR), Justin Shih (72nd, BC) and Alberta “One to Watch”, Joel Bullock in 96th).
Other notable Canadian names still in the mix include; Shawn Buchanan, Matt Marafioti, Madison Bergeron, Guillaume Rivet, Canadian 2012 bracelet winner Timothy Adams, Anh Van Nguyen, Sorel Mizzi, Terrence Chan, “Ones to Watch-Saskatchewan” Michael Smith, Nenad Medic, top Alberta performer Jaspal Brar, Steven Tripp, Vancouver’s Brad Booth and Ontario’s Ashely Cheung.
Be sure to keep a close watch on Terrence Chan, who is also on his last chance to tie the previous all time record of 10 cashes over a single World Series of Poker season. Chan suffered a concussion that ended up in a short hospital stay after a Vegas based fighting competition that earned him a bronze medal; all things considered this has been one epic summer for the well known Vancouver native.
Be sure to stay tuned as we’ll hopefully soon be posting the first of our in the money WSOP No Limit Hold’em Championship finishers; until then good luck to all!
Don’t forget about George Caragiorgas – who was 20th in the 2009 ME.