Four Opponents Stand Between Dan Cates and Repeat Victory in $50,000 Poker Players Championship
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Five WSOP gold bracelet winners aim to add another major title to their resume and claim the highly sought-after prize in Event #56: $50,000 Poker Players Championship. None other than the defending champion Dan Cates leads the pack and has the chance to become the third player to earn multiple victories in the Main Event of the mixed game players.
The poker icon enters the final day as the chip leader after securing the double knockout of Koray Aldemir and Taylor Paur in the final hand of Day Four in Pot-Limit Omaha. That boosted his stack to 9,075,000 and he leapfrogged four-time WSOP bracelet winner Benny Glaser (8,260,000) as well as two-time champion Yuri Dzivielevski (7,535,000) on the leaderboard.
The five-handed final table includes another two international contenders in the 2017 PPC runner-up Johannes Becker (5,470,000) and Japan's mixed game specialist Naoya Kihara (3,265,000) in what shapes up to be an epic showdown on the Thunderdome feature table in the Bally's Event Center.
Event #56: $50,000 Poker Players Championship Seat Assignments Day 5
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Bets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Naoya Kihara | Japan | 3,265,000 | 11 |
| 2 | Benny Glaser | United Kingdom | 8,260,000 | 28 |
| 3 | Johannes Becker | Germany | 5,470,000 | 18 |
| 4 | Yuri Dzivielevski | Brazil | 7,535,000 | 25 |
| 5 | Dan Cates | United States | 9,075,000 | 30 |
All finalists out of an 112-entry strong field have secured a payday of $343,531 so far but all eyes are on the illustrious WSOP gold bracelet and the top prize worth $1,449,103 as the lion's share of the $5,362,000 will be distributed today.
So far, only players from the United States and United Kingdom have seen their names engraved in the Chip Reese Memorial trophy thus far but the odds are high that a third country may be added to the list.
It is expected that Cates will make a big entrance for this final table. In 2021, he came with a special costume and also did so for Day 1 of the current edition as well. Furthermore, he also kept his 2021 PPC bracelet at the table at all times so far and has certainly shown a lot of confidence ahead of the grand finale.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,449,103 | ||
| 2 | $895,614 | ||
| 3 | $639,257 | ||
| 4 | $464,420 | ||
| 5 | $343,531 | ||
| 6 | Koray Aldemir | Germany | $258,812 |
There are five hands remaining in the great game of Pot-Limit Omaha with 47:46 left in Level 26 and the dead button will be on Dan Cates with Naoya Kihara in the single big blind. The action will recommence at approximately 4 p.m. local time and the PokerGO broadcast will be on a security delay of around one hour.
All PokerNews updates will be provided in sync with the streaming delay so as not to spoil any of the action.