The main event in the World Series of Poker continued to ace out big names as the field was narrowed down over the weekend.
By Saturday night there were only 135 players left, and by Sunday night that was down to the last 45 with famous players like last year’s champion Joseph Hachem, Daniel Negreanu, Josh Arieh and Phil Ivey all busted out.
They were all in the money though, and the size of this year’s prize pool can be gauged by the rewards reaped by the last player to go out on Sunday, Sean Johnson who collected a cheque for $164 932 for his trouble.
Play resumes at noon Vegas time today (Monday) and by the time that round has finished the field will be down to just 27 from a starting point of 8 773 players.
Jamie Gold is holding a comfortable lead in the chip counts on $7 330 000 with the nearest competitor, Eric Friberg some way behind but still dangerous on $5 905 000.
Everyone now left will collect handsome cheques as they are eliminated, but they will all have ambitions on the final table, where payouts for each of the finalists will exceed a million dollars….and the champion will take away $12 million.