WSOP Day 49: Hellmuth Aiming for 16th Bracelet in $5,000 Event

July 16, 2019

The end is near for the 2019 World Series of Poker with today's Day 49 scheduled to be the final day. The last four tournaments will all play down to a winner.

The biggest news of the day is who will become the 2019 WSOP Main Event champion. Hossein Ensan is the odds-on favorite as he enters the final day of the Main Event with more than both his opponents Alex Livingston and Dario Sammartino have combined.

The $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed Championship will also play out its final table today with bracelet winner Gal Yifrach in the lead.

Two other events that have yet to reach their respective final tables will play down to completion today too. Phil Hellmuth is in the hunt for his record 16th bracelet in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em with Liran Twito entering the second and final day with the chip lead. Also, Konstantin Puchkov leads the last 14 in the $3,000 H.O.R.S.E.

Here's what's on tap today, in the daily What to Watch For on PokerNews, sponsored by 888poker.

Event #73: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT - World Championship

Yesterday went according to plan with the final five opponents out of the original field of 8,569 playing down to just three players. The action resumes today at 5:30 p.m. PDT with blinds at 1,000,000/2,000,000 and a big blind ante of 2,000,000.

Hossein Ensan (326,800,000) has led the final table the entire way. He's looking to go coast-to-coast today to become the 2009 WSOP Main Event champion with nearly two-thirds of the chips in play.

This doesn't mean the title is in the bag for Ensan as he still has two opponents to beat: Alex Livingston (120,400,000), who is just one double-up against Ensan away from taking the chip lead himself, and Dario Sammartino (67,400,000), who needs a little more help.

Read our dedicated WSOP Main Event Day 9 recap

2019 WSOP Main Day 10 Seat Draw

2019 WSOP Main Final Table Payouts

After the final table eliminations over the past two days of Milos Skrbic (ninth - $1,000,000), Timothy Su (eighth - $1,250,000), Nick Marchington (seventh - $1,525,000), Zhen Cai (sixth - $1,850,000), Kevin Maahs (fifth - $2,200,000), and Garry Gates (fourth - $3,000,000), the remaining three players are each guaranteed a $4,000,000 payout. The winner will go home with a cool $10,000,000 and the coveted WSOP Main Event gold bracelet.

Event #86: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed Championship

The Main Event isn't the only $10,000 buy-in bracelet event down to a final table. This four-day event is down to just six players from the original field of 272 entrants as well. The final table plays down to a winner today starting at noon PDT with blinds at 25,000/50,000 and a big blind ante of 50,000. CBS All Access will be broadcasting the action starting at 1 p.m. PDT in the United States, Canada, and Australia. PokerGO will be doing the same to the rest of the world.

Gal Yifrach enters today's action with a chip leading stack of 5,385,000 in chips. This is relatively familiar territory as Yifrach won his only bracelet in a six-max event last year besting a field of 868 entrants to win the $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed for $461,798.

On the other end of the spectrum is Ben Heath entering today's last WSOP day with the shortest chip stack (710,000.) Heath made waves early in this year's festival when he won his first bracelet in the WSOP 50th Annual High Roller - $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em for $1,484,085.

In between these two players and hunting for their first career bracelet are Day 2 chip lead Anuj Agarwal (4,350,000), Dong Chen (2,540,000), Kahle Burns (1,855,000), and Leonard Maue (1,495,000).

Event #86: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed Championship Final Table Seat Draw

Event #86: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed Championship Final Table Payouts

After yesterday's elimination of Eric Kurtzman in seventh place for $62,684, the remaining six players are each guaranteed $85,915 with the winner going home with a bracelet and the $630,747 top prize.

Event #87: $3,000 H.O.R.S.E.

This event is down to 14 players out of the original field of 301 entrants with all players guaranteed at least an $8,098 payout with their eyes on the bracelet and the $206,173 top prize.

The tournament will continue to rotate games within the one hour blind levels between the following.

• Limit Hold'em
• Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better
• Razz
• Stud
• Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better

WSOP bracelet winner Konstantin Puchkov (938,000) will enter the final day with the chip lead when the action resumes today at 2 p.m. PDT. Also in the top five on the leaderboard are Paul Tedeschi (822,000), four-time bracelet winner Brian Hastings (620,000), bracelet winner Jim Collopy (528,000), and bracelet winner Andrey Zaichenko (505,000).

Meanwhile, Patrick Leonard (293,000) is alive for his first bracelet and two-time bracelet winner Tom Koral (279,000) and three-time bracelet winner Paul Volpe (138,000) are both hoping to add another piece of hardware to their collections.

Event #87: $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. Final Day Seat Draw

Event #89: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em

This two-day event attracted 608 entrants yesterday to create a $2,827,200 prize pool with $606,562 and a gold bracelet going to the winner. This crushes last year's attendance when Phil Hellmuth historically notched his record fifteenth bracelet after finishing on top of 452 entrants to win the $485,082 top prize.

Hellmuth was among the 48 players to bag chips today in hopes for back-to-back titles in this event and to extend his record to sixteen bracelets. Play resumes today at noon PDT.

Hellmuth has his work cut out for him with 23 players ahead of him on the leaderboard including Liran Twito who yesterday bagged the chip leading stack of 1,452,000 in chips. Also in the top five on the leaderboard are Lars Kamphues (960,000), two-time bracelet winner Kristen Bicknell (882,000), Jordan Cristos (748,000), and Tony Dunst (747,000).

Blinds will be 10,000/20,000 and a big blind ante of 20,000 when play resumes at noon PDT and will increase every 30 minutes until a winner is crowned.

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