Players found themselves in the money at the end of day 4

We are in the money. What began with 1,203 poker players, ended with under 600 and all of them in the money.  Day 4 is now complete at the Main Event of the World Series of Poker and just after the dinner break, hand for hand play began.  It took 6 hands of hand for hand for hand, which lasted about 1 hour before Tim McDonald was eliminated in 748^th place (hear the audio here) , signifying that the remaining 747 players were all in the money.

From there, the bust outs were amazingly fast.  In fact, in the first 15 minutes of play after hand for hand ended, a quick break needed to be taken in order to accommodate the 41 players that went broke.  The casualties for the day included some big names, including former WSOP Main Event Champion Dan Harrington, who went broke just before the bubble.  Joining Harrington on the bubble, were notables Annie Duke, Barry Greenstein, Dewey Tomko, Barry Shulman, Raymond Rahme, Dave Sands, and Hank Azaria, who would all end there day just short of a main event cash.

** Click Here for Day 4 Photos **

Other notables would finish in the money, but end their World Series altogether including Humberto Brenes (736^th), Gavin Smith (730^th), Eric Mizrachi (718^th), Jay Rosenkrantz (684^th), Paul Magriel (683^rd), Frank Kasela (674^th), and Allen Cunningham.

There are several players over the 1-million chip mark, including Johnny Chan, who continues to roll through this main event field.  Chan ended the day bagging more than 1.1 million chips.  Also near the top of the counts is Phil Galfond with almost 1.4 million.  But everyone looks to be chasing Tony Dunst, who unofficially bagged 1,546,000 in chips.

Chan wasn’t the only former main event winner to have a great day.  Scotty Nguyen began with only 40k, but finished with more than 630k.  Other notables still alive include Adam Levy (951k), Scott Clements (850k), Tristan Wade (720k), Praz Bansi (662k), and Eric Baldwin (540k).

Other players that will return tomorrow at noon, but are short include Bernard Lee (68k), Lauren Kling (70k), and Karina Jett (80k).

Tomorrow will see the field size likely reduced by at least half yet again, as we may very well play either 4 ½ levels or perhaps 5 full levels according to tournament director Jack Effel.  We’ll make that adjustment depending on how the day plays out.  But for now, its goodnight from the Rio, and we’ll see you in the morning.

Related posts:

1. 2010 WSOP Main Event – Day 3 recap
2. 2010 WSOP – Day 2a recap
3. 2010 WSOP – Day 2b Recap
4. WSOP Day 4 Recap
5. The 2010 WSOP Main Event Bubble Has Burst! Hear the Sounds.