The Day 5 of the 2018 WSOP Event #65: $10,000 NLH Main Event that kicked off a few days back at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas has come to an end. There are now only 109 players left in the field out of 7,874 that entered it, making it the second largest Main Event in the WSOP tournament’s history. The remaining runners are now guaranteed at least $57,010 payout, but surely they all will have their eyes on the coveted gold bracelet and the first place prize $8,800,000.
The play began on Day 5 of the Main Event with 310 survivors. 3 Indian players Nishant Sharma, Vivek Rughani and Kartik Ved who survived from Day 4 returned for the play on Day 5. As the day passed by, our Indian challenger Ved, unfortunately, got eliminated in the 128th position earning his best live cash of $57,010 (INR 39.22 Lac) that helped him to quadruple his career live poker earnings. It was the first WSOP cash for the Pune-based Kartik Ved, who finished 4rth in the DPT February 2017 High Roller event for a hefty INR 10,20,000. Indian origin player Taha Maruf also ran deep in this event and cashed out in 119th position bagging the same prize for his efforts.
We have now only two Indians Sharma and Rughani battling it out for the bracelet. Sharma is one of the big stacks holding 5,800,000 in 15th position, while Rughani is sitting in the 93rd position with 1,545,000. We congratulate both players and pray that they win a gold bracelet for India.
Leading the remaining 109 players into Day 6 of the Main Event is Michael Dyer holding 12,180,000 in chips. The American poker player holds over $130,000 in total live tournament earnings. He has a commanding chip lead over the two-time bracelet winner Brian Yoon having 8,395,000.
Notables Remaining
France’s Benjamin Pollak has 5,715,000. The 2017 main event third-place finisher who earned $3,500,000 last year is looking to add to his $8,866,323 in total earnings with another deep run. Other known faces among the final 109 include the bracelet winner Barry Hutter (5,695,000), the two-time bracelet winner Eric Froehlich (5,365,000), Ivan Luca (4,580,000), Shannon Shorr (2,915,000), three-time bracelet winner Shaun Deeb (2,610,000), and Yueqi Zhu (2,210,000). Joe Cada, the 2009 Main Event champ, is the only former winner of the tournament still in contention.
Kelly Minkin Remains the Last Woman Among 109
The US player Minkin, who ran pretty well on Day 4, has moved into Day 6. The lady poker pro is looking to improve his 2015 run in the Main Event when she finished in 29th place. She is in 104th place with 1,205,000. Now it will be interesting to see if she could improve her 2015 Main Event run.
Here is a look at the top 15 stacks at the end of Day 5:
| Rank | Player | Chip Count |
| 1 | Michael Dyer | 12,180,000 |
| 2 | Brian Yoon | 8,395,000 |
| 3 | Jeff Trudeau | 8,305,000 |
| 4 | Hari Bercovici | 7,650,000 |
| 5 | Bart Lybaert | 7,530,000 |
| 6 | Peter Campo | 6,935,000 |
| 7 | Konstantin Beylin | 6,930,000 |
| 8 | Paulo Goncalves | 6,840,000 |
| 9 | Alexander Gross | 6,755,000 |
| 10 | Artem Metalidi | 6,525,000 |
| 11 | Cole Miller | 6,195,000 |
| 12 | Alexander Haro | 6,180,000 |
| 13 | Richard Robinson | 5,950,000 |
| 14 | Samuel Bernabeu | 5,835,000 |
| 15 | Nishant Sharma | 5,800,000 |