The World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table for 2016 kicked off on Sunday at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino with nine players hitting the felt to begin the final round of game play for the tournament. After only 97 poker hands, five would be eliminated, leaving four left to return yesterday to battle it out for WSOP glory. Qui Nguyen took a big chip lead going into Sunday and remains the chip leader after two more players were eliminated last night.
On Sunday, the first player eliminated was Fernando Pons after he took on Cliff Josephy. It would be some time later that Jerry Wong would exit in 8th place along with Griffin Benger in 7th and Kenny Hallaert in 6th. This would leave five players remaining in the event.
Going in to Day 2, Nguyen would have a huge chip lead, with 128,625,000 in his stack. The closest competitor would be Cliff Josephy who had 63,850,000 as play resumed. Third in chips was Vojtech Ruzicka with 62,250,000 followed by Gordon Vayo with 58,200,000 and Michael Ruane with 23,700,000.
Many thought Ruane would be the first to go due to his short stack but that was not the case. Ruzicka would actually be eliminated in 5th with Ruane going out in 4th. Nguyen remains the chip leader with just over 197,000,000 in chips followed by Gordon Vayo with 89,000,000 and Josephy with 50,000,000.
The three players will return today to battle for the first place prize of $8 million and the gold WSOP bracelet. The field has whittled down considerably from the 6,737 players who began the event and in no time at all, we shall see who the 2016 WSOP Main Event winner is to be. Play resumes at 4 p.m. today in Las Vegas.