The 2016 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event is down to 251 players. With the money bubble behind them, 800 hopefuls returned to the felt Friday to keep their dream alive. Canadian online legends Griffin Benger and Ami Barer lead the Canadian contingent.
New York resident Bryan Piccioli had to extend his stay at the Rio for another night after bagging the chip lead. Picciolo made his climb late in the day and built a stack of 4,026,000. He is joined at the top by 2014 Big One for One Drop champion Daniel Colman (3,711,000), Thomas Miller (3,684,000), Pierre Merlin (3,396,000), and Farhad Jamasi (3,380,000).
There is still a large team of Canadians left in the field including Chris Back, PokerStars Team Online pro Marc-Andre Ladouceur, Sorel Mizzi, Andrew Chen, and WSOP bracelet winners Scott Montgomery and Tyler Bonkowski. Here is how the remaining Canucks stack up:
| 24th | Griffin Benger | TORONTO, ON | 2,409,000 |
| 31st | Ami Barer | Vancouver, BC | 2,188,000 |
| 107th | Chris Back | VANCOUVER, BC | 1,347,000 |
| 114th | Ronald Giles | Airdrie, AB | 1,300,000 |
| 117th | Jaroslaw Jaskiewicz | Kamloops. BC | 1,256,000 |
| 120th | Marc-Andre Ladouceur | Mont-Saint-Hilaire, QC | 1,245,000 |
| 124th | Michael Niwinski | Burnaby, BC | 1,205,000 |
| 128th | Scott Montgomery | Ottawa, ON | 1,175,000 |
| 135th | Noeung Troeung | Montreal, QC | 1,100,000 |
| 144th | Daniel Cheater | Winnipeg, MB | 1,078,000 |
| 147th | Jason James | MISSISSAUGA, ON | 1,050,000 |
| 152nd | Sorel Mizzi | TORONTO, ON | 1,000,000 |
| 159th | Andrew Chen | MISSISSAUGA, ON | 965,000 |
| 172nd | Jeff Hakim | MONTREAL, QC | 872,000 |
| 181st | Michael Carter | Vancouver, BC | 807,000 |
| 184th | Tyler Bonkowski | REGINA, SK | 791,000 |
| 193rd | Min Huang | Vancouver, BC | 728,000 |
| 232nd | Thomas Archer | London, ON | 428,000 |
Some notables still in the mix include Melanie Weisner (3,078,000), Tom Middleton (3,025,000), James Obst (3,003,000), Antoine Saout (2,283,000), Tom Marchese (2,108,000), Tony Gregg (2,013,000), Chris Klodnicki (1,877,000), and Gaelle Baumann (1,791,000).
With only 251 runners advancing to Day 5, a number of great players seen their tournament lives get snuffed. Steve O’Dwyer, Ryan Riess, Ashton Griffin, Vinny Pahuja, Ivan Luca, Jason Somerville, Jamie Kerstetter, Liv Boeree, and Matthew Ashton are just a few to hit the rail. Canadian stars Marc-Etienne McLaughlin, Justin Oliver, and Jean-Philippe Piquette also seen their runs come to an end. Here are the Canadians who were eliminated on Day 4:
| Nikolaos Alafogiannis | 299th – $32,130 | North York, ON |
| Mark David | 340th – $32,130 | Canada |
| Jason Bigelow | 374th – $28,356 | St. John’s, NL |
| Marc-Etienne McLaughlin | 420th – $25,235 | Brossard, QC |
| Jordan Knackstedt | 451st – $25,235 | Saskatoon, SK |
| Buck Ramsay | 459th – $25,235 | Hamilton, ON |
| Samuel Roussy- Majeau | 462nd – $25,235 | Montreal, QC |
| James Boettcher | 473rd – $25,235 | Calgary, AB |
| Kevin Morris | 496th – $22,648 | Victoria, BC |
| Justin Oliver | 515th – $22,648 | Toronto, ON |
| Joe Lu | 560th – $20,499 | Edmonton, AB |
| Jean-Philippe Piquette | 574th – $20,499 | Laval, QC |
| Alpheus Chan | 655th – $18,714 | Richmond, BC |
| Ratharam Sivagnanam | 663rd – $18,714 | Toronto, ON |
| Homan Mohmmadi | 704th – $17,232 | North Vancouver, BC |
| Timothy Vukson | 718th – $17,232 | Mount Forest, ON |
| Linyang Song | 727th – $17,232 | Richmond, BC |
| Robert Anderson | 728th – $17,232 | Delta, BC |
| David Ormsby | 754th – $17,232 | Ottawa, ON |
| Robert Laurie | 765th – $17,232 | Kelowna, BC |
| Ryan MacKinnon | 774th – $16,007 | Fredericton, NB |
| Elliot Smith | 778th – $16,007 | Richmond, BC |
| Rene Siegrist | 783rd – $16,007 | Rocky Mountain House, AB |
| Max Greenwood | 796th – $16,007 | Toronto, ON |
The remaining players will return to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino at noon local time in Las Vegas on Saturday. Another five two-hour levels are scheduled for play.
The WSOP is now quickly coming to an end, but there is still hope for another Canadian bracelet. Good luck to all Canadians on their Main Event adventure in Las Vegas. Stay tuned to Canada Poker for up-to-date WSOP news and events and follow your favorite Canadian poker players throughout the series. Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for live updates over the series.
