The final table of the 2017 WSOP Main Event kicked off on Thursday at the Rio Casino in Las Vegas. Only two players busted in the first day of action. Short-stacked Ben Lamb busted in ninth place and Jack Sinclair got eliminated in eighth place. John Hesp snagged the lead early, but the two big stacks rumbled and Scott Blumstein doubled through Hesp in a heck of a cooler with a set vs. top two in a 151M pot. With a big stack with over 178M, Blumstein holds nearly 50% of all chips in play. The final seven resume play on Friday at 5:30pm Vegas time.

And then there were seven! The November Nine is nevermore. The 2017 Main Event played out after a minimal two-day delay. Lots of action on the first day in which only two players busted. Seven players are still alive with two more days of action on the docket. Scott Blumstein amassed a monstrous lead after dragging a monster with pocket Aces. Along the way, a couple of the short stacks bowed out.
On the first hand of the final table, the token old guy John Hesp took center stage. Hesp won a pot and showed the bluff, much to the delight of the crowd. That set the tone for the night... a slightly unusual yet entertaining night which had lots of peaks and valleys, but the peaks were friggin' nuts.
A jovial and loose Hesp would eventually build up a stack in excess of 130M.
Ben Lamb busted on the fourth hand. The American pro was short going into the final table and attempted an early double up. Lamb whiffed and he was dunzo in ninth place. Lamb previously final tabled the Main Event, but he could not improve on a third-place finish.
Sixty hands after Lamb's elimination, Jack Sinclair from the U.K. was picked off in eighth place. Unfortunately, Sinclair ran into Bryan Piccioli's pocket rockets. The Aces held up and Sinclair hit the rail.
The hand everyone is still talking about occurred on Hand #47. The 151M pot! According to our stats department, 42% of all the chips in the Main Event were in this particular pot.
How did it happen?
It was a story we've all been a part of before... top set versus top-two pair. How many times did we drag big-ass pots with this exact scenario? How many times were we coolered in that spot? It's one of the ugliest situations to occur in poker. In this instance, the set versus two pair erupted into a monsterpotten.

Blumstein woke up with pocket Aces and big-stack John Hesp held A-10 suited in the big blind. Hesp defended and then shit got crazy. Blumstein flopped a set on a dry board. The turn was a 10, which game Hesp top-two pair. That's when shit got really really crazy. Hesp check-raised, Blumstein re-popped, Hesp shoved, and Blumstein could not have insta-called fast enough. 151M pot. Hesp held a wide margin going into the hand, so he was still left with a stack...but Blumstein surged to over 151M.
When the night was done, Blumstein had chipped up to 178M, which was more than half the chips in play. He holds a 100M-chip lead over Benjamin Pollak in second place with 77.5M.
Bryan Piccioli bagged up 35.7M for third overall. John Hesp lost the monster pot, but he finished fourth with 22.5M or smack in the middle.
The three shorties have between 14.5M and 16.3M: Dan Ott, Damian Salas, and Antoine Saout.
Saout is the only player remaining with final table experience. He finished in third place at the 2009 WSOP Main Event. He's super short with seven to go and will need some help if he wants to be one of the final three.
The final seven return to action at 5:30pm Vegas time. The final table will be aired (with a delay) on ESPN starting at 9pm ET or 6pm PT. Check local listings. For international viewers not in the UK or Canada, you can stream the final table via PokerGo (with subscription).
2017 WSOP - Event #73 $10,000 NL MAIN EVENT CHAMPIONSHIP
Entrants: 7,221
Prize Pool: $67,877,400
Payouts: 1,084
Players Remaining: 7
Main Event - Final Table Chip Counts:
Scott Blumstein 178,300,000
Benjamin Pollak 77,525,000
Bryan Piccioli 35,750,000
John Hesp 22,475,000
Dan Ott16,350,000
Damian Salas 15,625,000
Antoine Saout 14,550,000
Main Event Payouts:
1. $8,150,000
2. $4,700,000
3. $3,500,000
4. $2,600,000
5. $2,000,000
6. $1,675,000
7. $1,425,000
8. Jack Sinclair (United Kingdom) $1,200,000
9. Ben Lamb (USA) $1,000,000
Watch the first day of the final table below...