Day 4 of the 2018 World Series of Poker $10,000 buy-in main event is in the books, and after 41 total hours of poker action so far in this event, the field of 7,874 entries has now been narrowed down to just 310 remaining with a shot at the championship bracelet and the first-place prize of $8,800,000.
2015 WSOP $1,500 no-limit hold’em shootout event winner Barry Hutter (pictured above) bagged up the chip lead heading into day 5 with 5,597,000. The 31-year-old poker pro from Sarasota, Florida has over $4.2 million in lifetime live earnings and is in great shape to add quite a bit to that total with a deep run in this event.
Other notables who bagged up huge stacks include 2015 World Poker Tour Lucky Hearts Poker Open main event winner Brian Altman (4,861,000), 2015 WSOP main event 29th place finisher Kelly Minkin (3,459,000), three-time bracelet winner Brian Yoon (3,228,000), 2017 main event third-place finisher Benjamin Pollak (2,765,000), James Obst (2,560,000), 2009 main event ninth-place finisher James Akenhead (2,187,000), three-time bracelet winner Shaun Deeb (2,175,000) and 2016 main event third-place finisher, two-time bracelet winner Cliff Josephy (1,985,000) and three-time WPT main event winner Chino Rheem (1,900,000).
Joe Cada is the only main event champion still left with a shot at becoming a two-time main event champion. The 2009 world champ and three-time bracelet winner bagged up 550,000 at the end of day 4. A number of other main event champions made it to day 4 but failed to advance, including Johnny Chan, Tom McEvoy and Jonathan Duhamel.
Day 4 began with 1,182 players, and over the course of the five and a half levels of action 872 players were eliminated, with all of them having at least locked up $15,000 after the money bubble burst to end play on day 3. Some of the notable players that failed to survive day 4 include Scott Clements, Jamie Kerstetter, Barry Greenstein, Patrik Antonius, Kristen Bicknell, Liv Boeree, Davidi Kitai, Ian Johns, Brent Hanks, Todd Brunson, Jessica Dawley, Darren Elias and ten-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Ivey.
Ivey hit the rail in 547th place, having turned his pocket pair of nines into a bluff on a scary board. Ivey had raised to 22,000 and Brian Altman three-bet to 75,000 from late position holding QJ. Ivey called with the 99 and the flop brought the QJ2. Ivey checked and Altman bet 60,000. Ivey called and the 8 hit the turn. Both players checked and the 3completed the board. Ivey checked again and Altman bet 195,000. Ivey raised all-in for just under 700,000 total and Altman went into the tank. After a minute he decided to call with top two pair, earning him the pot and the knockout. Ivey took home $23,940.
The final 310 players will return for day 5 at 11:00 a.m. local time on Monday, July 9. Players will pick up the action with one hour remaining in level 21, with blinds of 10,000-20,000 and an ante of 3,000. Read More