Dean Morrone Bags Day 4 World Series Of Poker Chip Lead

After bursting the money bubble at the end of Day 3, the 2019 World Series of Poker main event played deep into the money on Day 4. Of the 1,286 players that returned, only 354 players remained at the end of the day with Dean Morrone leading the way.

Coming into the day, everybody was guaranteed a min-cash of at least $15,000. When play resumes at noon on Wednesday, all players remaining will be guaranteed at least $34,845.

Morrone, who qualified through an online satellite and only has $2,559 in live tournament earnings, bagged up 4,980,000 in chips, taking the lead into Day 5. He is joined by Lars Bonding (4,040,000), Michael Messick (3,925,000), Warwick Mirzikinian (3,900,000) and Henrik Hecklen (3,862,000) at the top of the counts. Also bagging a healthy stack is three-time bracelet winner Brian Yoon, who finished with 2,617,000, good for 40th in chips.

“I just kind of immediately won a lot of hands and got up to like a million,” said Yoon about how his Day 4 went. “Every big pot I played, I just kind of seemed to notch the other person, which is always a good feeling. I mean, you got to get lucky to go deep in these things. There’s no way around it. Nobody can tell you that they skilled their way to the end. You have to get lucky.”

Yoon has made several deep runs in this event, including a 41st place finish last year, 58th in 2011 and 60th in 2016. Despite the continued success in the main event, Yoon chalks up the success to random chance.

“I don’t really think there are too many secrets. You just play good poker and you just try and survive every single day,” said Yoon. “There’s got to be somebody out there that does well year after year. That’s just the way variance works. There has to be people that that fits. Luckily for me, that’s me.”

Other top pros to finish with big stacks include Andy Hwang (3,471,000), Corey Burbick (2,820,000), Chad Power (2,780,000), Chris Hunichen (2,617,000), Antonio Esfandiari (2,583,000), Craig McCorkell (2,500,000) and Dario Sammartino (2,302,000).

Joseph Cheong, Mukul Pahuja, Jon Turner, Josh Kay, Sam Greenwood, Matt Stout and Chance Kornuth also survived, but are further down on the leaderboard.

Cary Katz made it through the day with just 200,000, but was one of the busier players in the field, as he was playing in two different tournaments Tuesday. Katz was deep in the $50,000 final fifty no-limit hold’em event and running back-and-forth between his main event seat and his final fifty seat. Katz
fell just short of the final table in the final fifty, finishing 12th for $112,357, but is still alive for a much bigger payday in the main event.

Not everybody was lucky enough to survive the day, but at least they finished in the money.

Nick Pupillo, Mike McDonald, Ben Zamani, Max Steinberg, Tyler Patterson, Patrick Serda, Mark Gregorich, actor Kevin Pollak, Noah Schwartz, Justin Liberto, Cliff Josephy, Adam Levy, Keith Lehr, Kelly Minkin, Allen Cunningham and Jean Robert Bellande were among the players that were eliminated on Tuesday. They all took home some cash. Bellande had the best finish of the group, busting in the last level of the day in 415th place for $30,780.

Cards will be back in the air at noon Wednesday for Day 5 with blinds starting at 12,000/24,000 with a 24,000 big blind ante. They will play another five, two-hour levels before bagging up for the night.

For a full list of chip counts for players heading into Day 5 CLICK HERE.

Most Viewed Articles