WSOP Day 37: Galen Hall Looks for 888 Title, Big Names Return in Main Event
As Day 2a and 2b in the Main Event kick off on Thursday, two other events will also play out with Galen Hall in good position looking for his first bracelet. Hall leads the final three players remaining in the $888 Crazy Eights and is hoping to close out the event for the coveted gold ornamental.
The first event running concurrently with the Main Event also begins, with Event #66: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em getting underway.
Returning to the Main Event field Thursday, are big names like John Hesp, Alex Foxen, Michael Mizrachi, Johnny Chan, Joe Hachem, Scotty Nguyen, Joe McKeehen, and Erik Seidel.
Event #62: $888 Crazy Eights No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed - $888,888 Guaranteed 1st Place
| Players remaining | 3/8,598 |
| Prize guaranteed | $355,888 |
After a one-day delay to give the players the option to play the final starting flight in the Main Event, an extra fourth day will be played out on Thursday with only three players returning.
Galen Hall returns as chip leader with 30,100,000 after also leading after Day 2. Originally from San Francisco, Hall has $4.2 million in live tournament winnings and he's looking for his first bracelet. Hall played in the third starting flight of the Main Event on Wednesday but didn't survive the day"
Busted the Main. Took some unfortunate beats to go from 100 to ~30 and then just played stupid trying by convince m… https://t.co/DUhT3p8p0m
— Galen Hall (@galenhall)
Looking to overtake Hall are Niels Herregodts (24,750,000) and Eduards Kudrjavcevs (16,400,000). Herregodts hails from the Ukraine and has a bit over $12,000 in live tournament winnings. Kudrjavcevs is from Latvia and has live tournament winnings of $582,000. Both will be looking for the biggest scores of their career by far. The winner will take home a hefty first-place prize of $888,8888.
The PokerNews team will have all your 888 action covered until someone takes home the bracelet. Click here to follow along.
Final Table Results So Far
| Position | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $888,888 | ||
| 2 | $476,888 | ||
| 3 | $355,888 | ||
| 4 | Andrey Zaichenko | Russia | $266,888 |
| 5 | Alexander Kuzmin | Russia | $201,888 |
| 6 | Jeremiah Miesen | United States | $153,888 |
| 7 | Martin Stausholm | Denmark | $117,888 |
| 8 | Philip Tom | United States | $90,888 |
Event #65: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT - World Championship
| Players remaining | 5,940/7,874 |
The final starting flight in the Main Event produced the second biggest field in event history with 4,571 runners. Combined with those from Day 1a (925) and Day 1b (2,378), the total entries climbed to 7,874, making it the second-biggest Main Event behind only the turnout of 8,773 in 2006. That total is also almost a 10 percent increase over the 7,221 in 2017.
The turnout creates a prize pool of $74,015,600 with this year's champion earning a first-place prize of $8.8 million. 3,480 players made it through to Day 2c from this flight. Samuel Touil bagged the unofficial chip lead after five two-hour levels of play, turning his 50,000 starting stack into 352,800.
In the first two flights, 659 players return for to the Rio on Thursday from Flight 2a and 1,794 from Flight 2b. Both will play out separately beginning at 11 a.m. Advancing players from 1c will return for Day 2c on Friday at 11 a.m. All those remaining will then return for Day 3 on Saturday.
The player sin action on Day 2ab today will play five two-hour levels again, starting with 300/600 (100 ante). Check back to PokerNews then for continuous coverage of the Main Event and to follow all the live updates.
Event #66: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em
Maybe the Main Event didn’t quite go your way. If you’re one of those who took a bad beat or just couldn't get anything going, don’t pack it in just yet. This year there are 12 more events being played out concurrently with the WSOP, offering more opportunities for a big score.
This event kicks off at 3 p.m. Players begin with 7,500 starting chips. Levels last 60 minutes and late registration is available for eight levels. Chris Klodnicki, from Camden, N.J., took home the bracelet last year, along with $428,423. The event attracted 1,956 players for a prize pool of $2.6 million.
The Main Event may be the main attraction, but PokerNews will still have all your live updates.
Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer in Crandall, Texas. His work appears in numerous websites and publications. Follow him on Twitter @PokerTraditions. He is also the host of the True Gambling Stories podcast, available on iTunes, Google Play, TuneIn Radio, Spotify, Stitcher, PokerNews.com, HoldemRadio.com, and TrueGamblingStories.com.
