Ben Jacobs Leads Final 16 in WPT World Championship; Moorman, Lichtenberger & Sepiol Still Alive
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The World Poker Tour (WPT) World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas started with 3,835 entrants, but after Day 5 action on Tuesday, just 16 players remain in contention for the title and $5,678,000 first-place prize.
The man best positioned to make a run at it is Ben Jacobs, who finished as chip leader with 46,400,000 (77 bb). Not too far behind are Maxime Chilaud (38,200,000 – 64 bb) and Artur Martirosian (36,200,000 – 60 bb), while Carl Shaw (29,000,000 – 47 bb) and Daniel Sepiol (27,900,000 – 47 bb) round out the top five.
Others still alive, and guaranteed $291,700 in prize money, are John Richards (26,400,000 – 44 bb), Chris Moorman (21,200,000 – 35 bb), and Andrew Lichtenberger (19,500,000 – 33 bb), just to name a few.
WPT World Championship End-of-Day-5 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ben Jacobs | 46,400,000 (77 bb) |
| 2 | Maxime Chilaud | 38,200,000 (64 bb) |
| 3 | Artur Martirosian | 36,200,000 (60 bb) |
| 4 | Carl Shaw | 29,000,000 (48 bb) |
| 5 | Daniel Sepiol | 27,900,000 (47 bb) |
| 6 | John Richards | 26,400,000 (44 bb) |
| 7 | Georgios Sotiropoulos | 24,600,000 (41 bb) |
| 8 | Ben Heath | 22,300,000 (37 bb) |
| 9 | Chris Moorman | 21,200,000 (35 bb) |
| 10 | Andrew Lichtenberger | 19,500,000 (33 bb) |
| 11 | Jason Min | 19,200,000 (32 bb) |
| 12 | Henrique Zanetti | 17,300,000 (29 bb) |
| 13 | Ade Olonoh | 15,500,000 (26 bb) |
| 14 | Raphael Blouet | 15,400,000 (26 bb) |
| 15 | Mark Mounsey | 14,000,000 (23 bb) |
| 16 | Paulius Vaitiekunas | 10,000,000 (17 bb) |
Day 5 saw 45 players return to action, but over the day 29 of them hit the rail including Andrei Boghean (17th - $236,300), Ren Lin (20th - $236,300), Alex Jauregui (25th - $159,200), Kristen Foxen (33rd - $132,500), Alex Foxen (39th - $132,500), Princess Love (40th - $132,500), and Jack Salter (46th - $111,300).
According to live updates from the tournament, Alex Foxen was eliminated in Level 26 (100,000/200,000/200,000) before jamming 1.625 million holding the A♠6♠ in middle position and flipping against Chilaud, who called out of the big blind with the 3♣3♥. The 9♠6♣4♦ flop gave Foxen the lead, but the running 5♠ turn and 2♣ river gave Chilaud a runner-runner straight.
Two levels later with the blinds at 150,000/300,000/300,000, Foxen’s wife, Kristen, followed him out the door after she nearly moved all in from the cutoff for 3.7 million with the A♣7♥ and Martirosian jammed from the big blind with the A♠Q♠. Foxen called off the little she had behind and the board ran out A♦10♥6♥8♠K♣ to give Martirosian the win thanks to his superior kicker.
Day 6 of the tournament will take place at Noon local time on Wednesday and play down to the final table of six players. Once again, PokerNews will publish a recap after play concludes for the day.