The final days of the World Series of Poker main event have a strange range of effects on the remaining participants in the field. The mixture of excitement, rising payouts, adrenaline, pressure, ESPN cameras, and rowdy railbirds is a potent Molotov cocktail for the human psyche. Some players can handle it because they've been here before; some players can't and act out in a strange array of ways. Some curl into themselves, donning sunglasses, hats, hoods, and sometimes a combination of all three in the poker world's most infamous impression of a turtle. They hope to hide the physiological manifestations of their anxiety, which can surely betray them when a lot of money is on the line. Others become an open book, their emotions and reactions tell the story of every pot they're involved in, at times better than the cards themselves. That was exactly the kind of human drama that was on display during day five the WSOP main event.
The 112 remaining players took their seats at noon and the cards got in the air. Dag Mikkelsen was the chip leader with $3.74 million and he was joined by former world champions Huck Seed and Scotty Nguyen, as well as Humberto Brenes, Lee Watkinson, Kirk Morrison, Chad Brown, Daniel Alaei, Bill Edler, Jared Hamby, and Gus Hansen in the quest to make it to day 6. Mikkelsen increased his chip lead to $4.2 million early, but player after player was joining him in the millionaire club.
Brown hit the rail early in day 5, as did Dario Minieri. This was surprising in both cases, but even more so in the case of Minieri, who not only held a large chip stack, but was also the chip leader at certain points of the tournament. One thing that could also be said about the large stack of the young Italian was its volatile nature. Minieri was not afraid to gamble at any point of the tournament.
As the afternoon of poker continued, Watkinson went on a tear to climb the leader board and nestle himself in second place with $4.6 million. Watkinson is not a player who is going to be affected by the spotlight. First off, his calm demeanor and incognito style usually keep him out of the spotlight. Second, he is no stranger to the pressure situations that tournament poker success can bring. His opponents often learned the hard way about his skills as a poker player during the afternoon. Watkinson eliminated Hamby when he dominated the K-Q of the "Waco Kidd" with A-Q. Jeff Weiss was next on the Watkinson hit list when all he could muster was the A
as he mucked his hand to Watkinson's pocket sixes on a board of K
6
5
5 7.
Brenes was eliminated in 83rd place to a gracious round of applause. His infamous shark card protectors were busy as the outlandish Costa Rican played to the crowd all day long. Brenes is another player who is not affected by the presence of cameras and big tournament pressure. He is just as outgoing when the cameras are not around. He continued to prove his skills as a big-time tournament professional by finishing deep in the money of the main event for the second year in a row. Brenes was joined by other professional players on the rail before the tournament broke for dinner. When the players went to dinner, 60 players remained and Gus Hansen, Huck Seed, Brandon Adams, and Julian Gardner were not among them.
After dinner the players took their seats, and one of them would frequently leave his for the rest of evening. That man was Haved "Rain" Khan, who qualified for the main event in a PokerStars online satellite. Khan was the apple of the ESPN camera's eye as he celebrated each and every pot he won with rabid enthusiasm. Every time the young poker player won a pot, he would get up from the table and start a celebration dance that was part running man, part rain dance, part 'making it rain, and part victory lap as he jumped up and down, and slapped high-fives with railbird supporters. There was also a plethora of sounds that escaped his body, but there may not be enough words in the English language to do justice to their description. The celebrating worked for the "Rain" Khan and he took the chip lead at one point before trading it back and forth with Ray Henson for a long period of time. Khan ended the day with over $7.5 million, which was good for fourth place.
Henson finished the day in third place with $8.25 million. The last of those chips were gained in a pot in which he tangled with the only former world champion remaining in the field at the end of play: On a board of 7 6 3 2, Nguyen bet $500,000 and Henson made the call. The turn brought the 7 and Nguyen fired out $800,000. Henson took a moment and then called after he and Nguyen traded a flurry of statements punctuated by "…Baby!" Nguyen flashed A-8 as he said, "I missed my flush." Henson turned over 6 5 and took down the pot.
Two players who had gained their chips under the radar and snuck into the top of the leader board were Philip Hilm with just shy of $10 million, and David Tran, who held $30,000 north of the $10 million benchmark for the chip lead. Morrison was lost in the late hours of day 5, as was the chip leader at the beginning of the day, Mikkelsen. The last woman standing, Maria Ho, finished in 38th place and she will take home $237,865. Thirty-six players remained at the end of play, including Watkinson, Edler, Alaei, and Nguyen. The final four tables will start play at noon tomorrow and play down to one final table of nine. Monday, July 16 will be an off day and those final nine will then return on Tuesday, July 17 to play for the gold bracelet, $8.25 million, and a place in poker history.
