Second Break of Day Five: Greg Merson Eliminated, Chris Lindh Jumps into Lead
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The big news from the second level of Day 5 is that defending Main Event champion Greg Merson has been eliminated. Brett Richey scored the bustout. He and Merson got their chips in the middle preflop, and Richey’s 
held up against Merson’s 
, and Merson finished in 167th place.
Carlos Mortensen is now the only former Main Event champion left in the field. Mortensen, who won in 2001, started the day with only 302,000 in chips, but he doubled up on the first hand of the day and has kept his stack steady over the past two levels.
Chris Lindh currently has the most chips in the room. He took the lead when his pocket nines held up to bust Ryan Wolfson. Lindh soon became the first player in the tournament with more than four million chips. Several other players are building large stacks. Jason Mann, Jonathan Jaffe, and Annette Obrestad, all climbed the leaderboard during the last level.
In addition to Merson, other eliminations in this level include Kyle Julius, Eddie Blumenthal, Victor Figueroa, and Manig Loeser
There are now 137 players still in the tournament, and everyone left is guaranteed a payout of at least $50,752.
Play resumes in 20 minutes. We’ll keep you updated with chips counts soon, and then with live updates as Level 23 begins.