Ben Jacobs Leads WPT World Championship Final 16; Moorman, Lichtenberger & Sepiol Alive

December 19, 2023

Chad Holloway PR & Media Manager

The World Poker Tour (WPT) World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas started with 3,835 entrants, but after Day 5 action on Tuesday, just 16 players remain in contention for the title and $5,678,000 first-place prize.

The man best positioned to make a run at it is Ben Jacobs, who finished as chip leader with 46,400,000 (77 bb). Not too far behind are Maxime Chilaud (38,200,000 – 64 bb) and Artur Martirosian (36,200,000 – 60 bb), while Carl Shaw (29,000,000 – 47 bb) and Daniel Sepiol (27,900,000 – 47 bb) round out the top five.

Others still alive, and guaranteed $291,700 in prize money, are John Richards (26,400,000 – 44 bb), Chris Moorman (21,200,000 – 35 bb), and Andrew Lichtenberger (19,500,000 – 33 bb), just to name a few.

WPT World Championship End-of-Day-5 Chip Counts

Place	Player	Count
1	Ben Jacobs	46,400,000 (77 bb)
2	Maxime Chilaud	38,200,000 (64 bb)
3	Artur Martirosian	36,200,000 (60 bb)
4	Carl Shaw	29,000,000 (48 bb)
5	Daniel Sepiol	27,900,000 (47 bb)
6	John Richards	26,400,000 (44 bb)
7	Georgios Sotiropoulos	24,600,000 (41 bb)
8	Ben Heath	22,300,000 (37 bb)
9	Chris Moorman	21,200,000 (35 bb)
10	Andrew Lichtenberger	19,500,000 (33 bb)
11	Jason Min	19,200,000 (32 bb)
12	Henrique Zanetti	17,300,000 (29 bb)
13	Ade Olonoh	15,500,000 (26 bb)
14	Raphael Blouet	15,400,000 (26 bb)
15	Mark Mounsey	14,000,000 (23 bb)
16	Paulius Vaitiekunas	10,000,000 (17 bb)

Dan Smith Bags Chip Lead w/ 6 Left in WPT Big One for One Drop

Day 5 saw 45 players return to action, but over the day 29 of them hit the rail including Andrei Boghean (17th - $236,300), Ren Lin (20th - $236,300), Alex Jauregui (25th - $159,200), Kristen Foxen (33rd - $132,500), Alex Foxen (39th - $132,500), Princess Love (40th - $132,500), and Jack Salter (46th - $111,300).

According to live updates from the tournament, Alex Foxen was eliminated in Level 26 (100,000/200,000/200,000) before jamming 1.625 million holding the A♠6♠ in middle position and flipping against Chilaud, who called out of the big blind with the 3♣3♥. The 9♠6♣4♦ flop gave Foxen the lead, but the running 5♠ turn and 2♣ river gave Chilaud a runner-runner straight.

Two levels later with the blinds at 150,000/300,000/300,000, Foxen’s wife, Kristen, followed him out the door after she nearly moved all in from the cutoff for 3.7 million with the A♣7♥ and Martirosian jammed from the big blind with the A♠Q♠. Foxen called off the little she had behind and the board ran out A♦10♥6♥8♠K♣ to give Martirosian the win thanks to his superior kicker.

Day 6 of the tournament will take place at Noon local time on Wednesday and play down to the final table of six players. Once again, PokerNews will publish a recap after play concludes for the day.

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