21-Year-Old Nicholas Marchington Leads Final 35 Players In World Series Of Poker Main EventMarchington Could Become Youngest Winner In History |
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With 35 players remaining in the 2019 World Series of Poker main event is led by a 21-year-old. Nicholas Marchington takes the chip lead into Day 7 of the main event and the Brit has a chance at becoming the youngest main event winner in history.
The record was previously held by Joe Cada, who won the event in 2019. But the final table was pushed back four months for the first installment of the November Nine. Cada was just a few days shy of 22 years old when he won. Since the November Nine was disposed of, Marchington has a shot at beating Cada’s by just a few months.
Marchington finished the day with 39.8 million in chips. He is joined by Hossein Ensan (34.5 million), Timothy Su (34.35 million), Milos Skrbic (31.45 million) and Henry Lu (25.252 million) at the top of the chip counts.
Su, who came into Day 6 as one of the chip leaders, generated the day’s top story when he eliminated Sam Greenwood in 45th place in what will go down as one of poker’s most memorable hands.
With the board reading Q-J-4-J, Greenwood and Su got all the chips into the middle. It was a pot worth 38.6 million, which at that point would put the winner in the chip lead. Su showed 10-9 and was behind Greenwood’s pocket aces. A king came on the river and Su won the biggest pot of the tournament so far to put him in the chip lead for the time being.
Greenwood, a regular in high roller events with nearly $19 million in tournament earnings, picked up $211,945 for his main event cash. The hand was reminiscent of the 2010 main event when Matt Affleck lost with pocket aces against Jonathan Duhamel’s pocket jacks for a chip-leading pot. It leaves Greenwood, and the rest of the poker world, wondering what could’ve been if Greenwood’s 82 percent favorite held up.
“I guess my thought process was… there wasn’t much thought that honestly went into it,” said Su about the hand after Day 6 was complete. “It was near a pay jump and I thought he could have a lot of hands that he would probably bet-fold…. When he flipped it over, I think he had one of the best hands to call it off with. So, kudos to him. And then the cards just determined where the money went.”
When cards get in the air at noon Friday for the start of Day 8, where they will play down to the final table, Su will be guaranteed at least $261,430 and from a chip count perspective, is one of the favorites to make the final table and be playing for the $10 million first-place money.
Before this event, Su only had $2,467 in total career earnings. His biggest cash was for $1,080. The astronomical figures he’s playing for aren’t on his mind. He’s just focused on the process.
“I’m just coming here to play the best poker I can,” said Su. “I’m not really thinking about the money. It’s just we are out here to play poker.”
Outside the top stacks, there are still plenty of talented poker players still in the hunt. PokerStars’ Senior Consultant of Player Affairs Garry Gates, Duey Duong, who final tabled the CPPT main event last October, Warwick Mirzikinian and high-stakes Italian pro Dario Sammartino round out the top nine stacks.
Yuri Dzivielevski, who won his first bracelet earlier this summer, is still in the hunt, as well as CPPT Choctaw champion Austin Lewis and Florida pro Corey Burbick.
Day 6 started at noon with 106 players remaining and guaranteed at least $59,295. Over the course of 5.5 levels, 71 players hit the rail.
Antonio Esfandiari busted early in the second level of the day when he was short stacked an all in with pocket fives against Chris Hunichen’s pocket eights. Esfandiari was eliminated in 82nd place for $82,365, which was his second-best result in the main event outside of finishing 24th in 2009. Hunichen, a top pro in his own right, was eliminated several hours later in 54th place.
Jeff Madsen, Mukul Pahuja, Alan Goehring, Chad Power, Joe Hachem’s son Daniel Hachem, Jake Schindler, Andy Hwang and Alex Foxen were other notable pros to hit the rail on Day 6. Foxen busted just before the end of the day, finishing 40th for $211,945.
The final 35 players return on Friday to play down to the final table, which is expected to take until early Saturday morning. The final nine players will have a day off on Saturday before the final table starts on Sunday.
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