There was a massive pot brewing between Timur Margolin and Taylor von Kriegenbergh with around 950,000 in the middle. The board read and Von Kriegenbergh had a bet of 550,000 in front of him. Margolin check-called and they were off to the on the river.
Margolin quickly checked and Von Kriegenbergh took his time but admittedly made a "nitty" check. Margolin flipped over for a missed straight flush draw while Von Kriegenbergh held for two pair.
Mitchell Halverson raised it up from under the gun and was flat-called by the player on his left. Ranganath Kanchi also called from the small blind and Rafael Moraes shoved all in for 590,000 in the big blind. Halverson stuck in the last of his chips for around 400,000, the player on his left also called having everyone covered, and Kanchi put in the last of his 205,000 chips as well. A crowd gathered as the players rose to their feet for this four-way all in.
Ranganath Kanchi:
Mitchell Halverson:
Rafael Moraes:
Opponent:
The flop came as Moraes flopped a set of kings to take a huge lead. The turn was the as now three players made a set. The river happened to be the and Kanchi emerged as the winner with the only straight.
"What a stupid f***ing hand," one player noted as the rest of the table laughed.
A player under the gun opened to 40,000 and Jeremy Wien three-bet to 130,000 from the button. The original raiser called.
The flop came and Wien continued for 105,000. The under-the-gun player called.
On the turn, Wien bet once again, this time for 180,000. His opponent called a second time.
The river brought the and after his opponent checked, Wien bet for 260,000, leaving 500,000 behind. His opponent, who had Wien covered, deliberated for a few seconds before announcing all in.
Wien stood up immediately and muttered "This is so sick" and questioned whether or not his opponent had the same hand or queen-jack of diamonds.
Finally, after a few minutes and apologizing to the table for taking his time, Wien announced "If this is the way I go out, then this is the way I go out" and made the call, turning over .
His opponent tapped the table and said "Nice call", showing to double Wien up.
On the board with a little less than 200,000 in the pot, Cedrric Trevino checked over to his opponent in the cutoff, who overbet the pot for 250,000 after about 90 seconds of deliberation.
Trevino, in the big blind, thought about his decision for about a minute before making the call with for second pair.
His opponent shrugged and said "Nice hand", showing . Trevino is now at exactly 2,000,000.
As recounted by Joe Altman, four players went to a flop, including an early position player, Toby Lewis in the cutoff, a button player, and Altman in the big blind.
The flop was checked to the turn. The early position player bet 55,000, Lewis called, the button called, and Altman raised to 200,000. Only Lewis continued to the river.
The completed the board and Altman bet 350,000. Lewis moved all in for around 1,000,000, and Altman called.
Lewis had , but it was no good against Altman's flopped quads, and Lewis' Main Event run came to an end as a result of the massive cooler.
Stuart Ruff opened to 50,000 from early position with . Dan Smith, also had a premium as he was holding the . The 2020 $25K Heads-Up bracelet winner made it 175,000 from the hijack.
Ruff wasted little time before four-betting to 525,000. Smith put in the call to build the pot to 1,100,000.
The flop prompted Ruff to jam for 955,000 and Smith was in an uncomfortable position with his overpair. He asked for a count before calling.
Ruff would catapult up the leaderboard as the turn and river confirmed his double up. Smith on the other hand was left with less than 20 big blinds.
The player in the under-the-gun position raised to 40,000 and Alejandro Lococo three-bet to 140,000 from the early position. Farah Galfond immediately four-bet shoved from the hijack when it was her turn. The action folded back to the initial raiser who folded. Lococo asked for a count and the dealer confirmed Galfond had 630,000 behind. Lococo took some time and then made the call with the bigger stack.
Farah Galfond:
Alejandro Lococo:
The flop came for Lococo to hit a set immediately but Galfond picked up the gutshot to a straight.
The turn was the which didn't help her and neither did the on the river as she busted just before the remaining players could bag up their chips for Day 5 of the Main Event.
The day began with 1,299 players guaranteed at least $15,000 and after ten hours of fast-paced play, just 380 remain to continue to Day 5 of the 2022 World Series of Poker Main Event.
Taylor von Kriegenbergh is the player to catch on Monday as he finished the day with 5,305,000 chips. Not far behind him is Dan Colpoys with 4,835,000 and Day 3 chip leader Aaron Mermelstein with 4,285,000.
Event #70: $10,000 Main Event Top 10 Chip Counts
Place
Player
Country
Chips
Big Blinds
1
Taylor von Kriegenbergh
United States
5,305,000
212
2
Dan Colpoys
United States
4,835,000
193
3
Johan Schumacher
Belgium
4,600,000
184
4
Aaron Mermelstein
United States
4,285,000
171
5
Victor Li
Canada
4,200,000
168
6
Rafael Mota
Brazil
4,050,000
162
7
Carlos Leiva
Australia
3,860,000
154
8
Shelby Wells
United States
3,840,000
154
9
Jorge Hou
Paraguay
3,800,000
152
10
Dingxiang Ong
Singapore
3,630,000
145
While six former Main Event champions started the day, only 2020 champ Damian Salas (2,355,000) and defending champion Koray Aldemir (1,285,000) survived, as Ryan Riess, Chris Moneymaker, Greg Merson, and John Cynn fell at various points of the day.
Main Event Champions Moving on to Day 5
Rank
Player
Country
Year Won
Chip Count
Big Blinds
51
Damian Salas
Argentina
2020
2,355,000
94
168
Koray Aldemir
Germany
2021
1,285,000
51
Plenty of other big names navigated their way through the day to bag healthy stacks for Day 5 including two-time bracelet winner Yuliyan Kolev (3,500,000), Alex Keating (3,000,000), and PokerStars Ambassador and 2021 seventh place Main Event finisher Alejandro Lococo.
Asked about how he felt at the end of an impressive day, the man known as "Papo MC" said, “I feel amazing. Last year, I made Day 5 with 100,000. I just bagged 3,200,000 so I am really happy, really excited about that, still dreaming.”
Table of the Day
While plenty of tables provided an abundance of high-quality play and entertainment, one stood out the entire day and was moved to the mothership by day’s end. That table featured Ali Imsirovic and the chatty Zilong Zhang, who provided several big pots with his wild and aggressive play. Zhang held the chip lead for much of the day and finished with 2,970,000 after using his big stack mostly to his advantage.
“With over 400 big blinds, I think that means I need to see flops as much as I can. Even if I miss the board, I’ll give as much pressure as I can to the other players.”
Along with Imsirovic, Zhang had Dan Smith to his immediate left for the last few hours of the day, but Zhang said that didn’t really impact how he played.
“I was just enjoying my Day 4. I didn’t really care who I played with. I just wanted to make Day 5 with a deep stack. Right now I’m near three million, still a good stack.”
Smith initially made the most of his time at Zhang’s table, growing his stack significantly to more than 2,500,000, thanks to a triple up versus Zhang and Imsirovic, but a hand late in the day where he ran his queens into aces preflop nullified his progress and left him with just 390,000 to end the day.
Stars Hui, Baumann Among Remaining Women in the Field
Several notable women are also advancing to Day 5 with healthy to large stacks including Loni Hui (1,900,000) and Gaelle Baumann (665,000), who was pleased with how her day turned out despite a dip from her high point in chips.
"I'm feeling pretty good, obviously. I had an amazing day. I started with 370,000 and went up to 1,700,000. I got moved to a new table and went all the way down. I have less than I would have liked, but it's good. Tomorrow, I'll have around 30 big blinds. I'll try to fight, play well. Eat some good breakfast tomorrow, and have a good night's sleep tonight."
Several qualifiers from GGPoker also finished the day with strong stacks, including Espen Jorstad, who finished the day with 1,335,000 after a steady day at the table.
“My day wasn't super eventful, to be honest, I started with 800,000, and then I went up a million and been hovering around that all day. I think the biggest pot I played was worth around 20 big blinds. A lot of small pots, I am bagging around 1,300,000.”
With so many players eliminated throughout the day there were plenty of big names that weren’t immune to an early exit, including multi-time bracelet winners Adrian Mateos, David Peters, Upeshka De Silva, Benny Glaser, Phillip Hui, Robert Mizrachi, and Mike Matusow who went home after an old-school “Mike Matusow blowup".
Day 5 Monday
The Main Event is getting to the meat of the tournament and each elimination will mean that much more on Day 5 as the field is thinned to roughly 100 players. The final 380 will return at noon local time Monday to try to earn their way to that final group, who will have the final table, the champions bracelet, and the $10,000,000 top prize in their sights.
PokerNews will be there for all the action as the march toward history continues from the 53rd World Series of Poker in its new home at Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas.