The 2022 World Series of Poker Main Event finished off Day 5 and only 123 players remain in the hunt for the $10 million first-place prize. James Hobbs bagged the chip lead with 12.5M and Efthymia Litsou is second with 11.7M. Aaron Mermelstein and Alejandro Lococo both have at least 10M and round out the Top 5. Defending champion Koray Aldemir is still alive with 3.8M, meanwhile Damian Salas has a small stack with 2.4M.
After five official playing days of action, the 2022 WSOP Main Event trimmed the field from 8,663 to 123 runners. More than 8,500 pros and aspiring cardslingers saw their dreams crushed when they failed to stay alive in the most prestigious poker tournament in the world. Day 5 at Bally's on the infamous Las Vegas Strip began with 380 returning players, but two-thirds of the field were wiped out on a manic Monday in Sin City and only 123 fortunate souls bagged chips on Monday evening.
Taylor von Kriegenbergh began Day 5 with the big stack of 5.3M, followed by Dan Colpoys (4.83M), Johan Schumacher (4.6M), Aaron Mermelstein (4.28M), and Victor Li (4.2M). Unfortunately for Kriegenbergh and Colpoys, the two big stacks failed to stay alive when they busted on Day 5. Colpoys met his fate in 185th place, while Kriegenbergh bounced late on Monday evening in 137th place.
Other notable players who busted on Day 5 of the Main Event yet cashed included... Brian Rast, Ari Engel, Alexandre Girardin, Mathieu His, Christophe de Meulder, Ali Imsirovic, Joey Weissman, Alex Keating, Maxime Chilaud, Justin Liberto, Jake Schindler, John Juanda, Florian Guimond, Gaelle Baumann, Martin Finger, Talal Shakerchi, Theo Tran, Jimmy Tran, Victor Paredes, Loni Harwood, Fabrice Bigot, Quentin Guivarch, Jacqui Burkhart, Robert James, Satah Herzali, Lois Dufouleur, Matt Bond, Will Reynolds, Victor Ramdin, Max Pescatori, Vuong Do, Ray Ho, Van Nguyen, James Rodriguez, Pat Clarke, and Matas Cimbolas.
At the conclusion of Day 5, James Hobbs was the big stack and one of four stacks north of 10M. The top four included three Americans -- Hobbs, Efthymia Litsou, Aaron Mermelstein -- and Argentina's Alejandro Lococo. Efthymia Litsou is one of two remaining women in the field along with Shelby Wells. Rounding out the top nine in chips on Day 5 are Gerald Morrell, Jorge Jou, Dingxiang Ong, Philippe Souki, and Robert Minor.
After another long and arduous Monday, two former champs are still alive. Koray Aldemir sits in 58th place with 3.8M, but he needs to get cracking on Day 6 if he expects to keep defending his crown. Argentina's Damian Salas has 2.4M in chips and he's somewhere in 80th place or so.
So, who else still alive at Bally's?
Some name you might recognize include... Will Smith, Kenny Tran, Jacob Meeks, Andy Taylor, Zilong Zhang, Andrew Yeh, Frank Funaro, Antoine Labat, Asher Connif, Bob Welch, David Rothschild, Espen Jorstad, Pierre De Almeida, Serge Chechin, Marco Johnson, Oliver Weis, Mikiya Kudo, Rudy Cervantes, Dan Smith, Stuart Young, Shelby Wells, Victor Li, Kris Tong, Stan Lee, Eddy Sabat, Ben Moon, Mikael Krentzman, and Mike Rocco.
Action resumes on Tuesday and the field will dip under the century mark for the first time. The money jumps are coming, but right now a bustout is worth $62,500. Players don't see a six-figure payout until 8th place with $101,700.
The final 123 players return to Bally's at 1pm local time for Day 6.
