Benjamin Ector Leads Final Table of Event #50: Monster Stack - $1,500 No-Limit Hold 'em; Igor Yaroshevskyy the Short Stack
Welcome back to the fifth and final day of Event #50: Monster Stack - $1,500 No-Limit Hold 'em. By the end of Day 5, one of the remaining six players will walk away with over $1 million dollars in cash and a shiny new piece of gold jewelry - the WSOP winner's bracelet.
Day 4 started with 49 returning players, and by the dinner break that number was down to the nine that would make up the final table. Once play resumed Javier Zarco would be the first to fall in 9th place ($88,417) after he ran queens into Benjamin Ector's kings. He was then followed by Andre Haneberg in 8th place ($114,694) after his ace-jack suited ran head-first into Bart Hanson's aces. On the final hand of play on Day 4 Bryan Kim was eliminated in 7th place ($149,247), one spot shy of the live-streamed final table after his king-queen suited didn't improve against Kainalu McCue-Unciano's pocket eights, which reduced the field down to the final six players.
Although they will all be chasing the biggest cash of their poker careers, and are guaranteed a cash of $195,687 today, the final six players have combined tournament earnings of almost $6 million dollars, including three who have at least one six-figure score to his name, so an action-packed final table is to be expected, with no quarter given in the pursuit of the title.
Leading the way is Benjamin Ector (84,300,000), who has career tournament earnings of $829,745 and who steadily built his stack throughout Day 4. Ector is followed by Kainalu McCue-Unciano (68,300,000), who was the chipleader at the start of action on Day 3. McCue-Unciano had a very up-and-down Day 3, but recovered nicely on Day 4 and has put himself in a very good spot going into Day 5. Sitting in third chip position is Gregory Katayama (55,100,000), who has already more than tripled his best live cash. Bart Hanson (40,600,000), poker coach and commentator, sits in fourth position and is followed in fifth by Vincent Chauve (36,700,000). Chauve won the WPTDeepstacks Main Event at WPT Vietnam in March 2019. Rounding out the final six, and arguably the most accomplished player at the table, is Igor Yaroshevskyy (17,000,000), who has over $3.6 million in lifetime earnings. Yaroshevskyy, who nursed a short stack throughout most of Day 4 and is still the shortest stack going into the final still cannot be counted out.
When play resumes at 12 noon local time, the clock will restart in level 40 with 31 minutes and 47 seconds remaining in the level. Play will continue with hour-long levels and a 15-minute break every two levels, with a dinner break time to be determined, and by the end of play on Day 5 there will be another new 2019 WSOP champion.
The Pokernews team will be covering the action from when the first is dealt until the last card hits the felt and someone walks away with $1,008,850 in cash and the highly-coveted WSOP gold bracelet. This final table will also be live-streamed on CBS starting around 1 p.m. local time.