2019 WSOP Day 5: Largest Tournament in History?

Written by Jennifer Newell

Last updated on June 3rd, 2019

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The final starting day of the Big 50 celebratory tournament to mark the 50^th anniversary of the World Series of Poker made its mark and claimed a place in poker history. This is assumed by preliminary numbers, however, since no official results have been provided.

Sorry LVRJ friends. We under-estimated. Looks like 26,000 is a better estimate. The BIG 50 indeed. https://t.co/8QJxAfN7fx

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 2, 2019

We will have that information when the WSOP staff completes and verifies the registration for Event 3.

Meanwhile, there were many other events that made progress or finished play yesterday.

On Sunday, June 2, this is what happened.

Event 3:  $500 Big 50 NLHE – Day 1D

Entries:  more than 25,000

Prize pool:  TBD ($5 million guaranteed)

Players paid:  TBD

Day 2A players remaining:  unclear

Day 2B players remaining:  521

Day 2A chip leader:  Mikhail Vilkov (Russian Federation) – 3,475,000 chips

Day 2B chip leader:  Jerald Willilamson (USA) – 4,105,000 chips

Day 2C starting time:  10am today

Day 2D starting time:  10am on Tuesday, June 4

Day 3 starting time:  11am on Wednesday, June 5

Event 4:  $1,500 Omaha-8 Hi-Lo – Final

Total entries:  853

Prize pool:  $1,151,550

Players paid:  128

Final table payouts:

1^st place:  Derek McMaster (USA) – $228,228

2^nd place:  Jason Berilgen (USA) – $141,007

3^rd place:  John Esposito (USA) – $98,807

4^th place:  David Halpern (USA) – $70,231

5^th place:  Joe Aronesty (USA) – $50,646

6^th place:  Tom McCormick (USA) – $37,063

7^th place:  Ben Yu (USA) – $27,530

8^th place:  Shannon Shorr (USA) – $20,760

9^th place:  Patrick Leonard (UK) – $15,897

Event 5:  $50K 50^th Annual NLHE High Roller – Day 3 of 4

Total entries:  110

Prize pool: $5,280,000

Players paid:  17

Minimum payout:  $75,789

Winner payout:  $1,484,085

Day 3 players remaining:  6

Final table chip counts:

Ben Heath (UK) – 7,630,000 chips

Sam Soverel (USA) – 7,540,000 chips

Andrew Lichtenberger (USA) – 5,615,000 chips

Chance Kornuth (USA) – 5,000,000 chips

Nick Petrangelo (USA) – 4,100,000 chips

Dmitry Yurasov (Russia) – 3,660,000 chips

Final table payouts thus far:

7^th place:  Elio Fox (USA) – $192,794

8^th place:  Cary Katz (USA) – $151,755

9^th place:  David Einhorn (USA) – $122,551

Day 4 starting time:  12noon

Event 6:  $2,500 Limit Mixed Triple Draw – Day 2 of 3

Total entries:  296

Prize pool:  $666,000

Players paid:  45

Minimum payout:  $3,737

Winner payout:  $160,447

Day 2 players remaining:  13

Chip leader:  Jake Schwartz (USA) – 789,000 chips

Day 3 starting time:  2pm

Event 7:  $400 Online NLHE – Final

Total entries:  2,825

Prize pool:  $1,017,002

Players paid:  333

Minimum payout:  $814

Winner payout:  $165,263

Final table payouts:

1^st place:  Yong “LuckySpewy1” Kwon – $165,263

2^nd place:  MeatIsMurder – $99,361

3^rd place:  merrick – $73,021

4^th place:  LeakStain – $53,494

5^th place:  Phil “lumestackin” Hellmuth – $39,460

6^th place:  DjPhiLWiLL – $29,493

7^th place:  MeatJustice – $22,374

8^th place:  FlatcallSPC – $17,086

9^th place:  Roopert – $13,119

Event 8:  $10K Short Deck NLHE – Day 1 of 4

Tonight at 6 is the debut of No-Limit Holdem – Short Deck, held in the Amazon Room. The $10,000 buyin event gives players 30,000 chips and a 30,000-chip add-on with a single re-entry option through the start of Level 11: 5:15pm Monday. pic.twitter.com/npUdp7qLrN

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 3, 2019

Total entries:  61 (late registration remains open)

Prize pool:  $573,400 (not final)

Players paid:  TBD

Minimum payout:  TBD

Winner payout:  TBD

Day 1 players remaining: 18

Chip leader:  Gabe Patgorski (USA) – 388,800 chips

Day 2 starting time:  3pm

Notable Information

The fourth and final starting day of the Big 50 anniversary tournament offered only seats for late registrants and those willing to wait for seats. The field had become bigger than anyone anticipated, complete with monstrous registration lines, daily tournaments cancelled due to a lack of space, and tables scattered throughout the casino.

When all was said and done, and even throughout the night after the last of the tournament competitors left the Rio, there were no final numbers for Event 3. WSOP officials predicted on Twitter that entries would exceed 26,000, but the official numbers will tell the full story at some time today.

Meanwhile, two people won WSOP gold bracelets. The first was Derek McMaster of Minnesota, a mostly local poker player who was looking for his second lifetime WSOP cash. Instead, he picked up the Omaha-8 bracelet and victory. “I try to just have fun when I’m playing,” he told WSOP. “The more fun I have, it seems like stuff goes my way.”

Congratulations to another first-time WSOP gold bracelet winner on just his second-ever cash and first final table! Derek McMaster is your $1,500 Omaha Eight or Better champion: https://t.co/T5veMecSfC pic.twitter.com/3eAL1OB9Wf

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 3, 2019

The other winner was Yong Kwon, who took down the first online poker bracelet of 2019. All the real-life names of players at the final table have yet to be revealed, but Phil Hellmuth was one of them.