Kaifan Wang Tops the Counts Going Into Day 4 of $1,500 Millionaire Maker
Day 3 of Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker No-Limit Hold'em started out with 357 players and only 44 get to return Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas, to play Day 4. With an impressive 11,996 entries, a total prize pool of $15,924,690 was created. All remaining players will have their hearts set on the first-place prize of $1,255,180, although second place will also secure just over one million dollars.
Kaifan Wang ended the day at the top of the counts after a successful day on the felt. Wang had a steady day and his momentum built after he eliminated Benjamin Gros in the latter half of play. Brazil's Jacques Ortega follows closely behind with a sizeable stack.
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kaifan Wang | United States | 21,900,000 | 91 |
| 2 | Jacques Ortega | Brazil | 19,225,000 | 80 |
| 3 | Alejandro Ganivet | Spain | 17,675,000 | 74 |
| 4 | Ignacio Moron | Spain | 15,950,000 | 66 |
| 5 | James Carroll | United States | 11,925,000 | 50 |
| 6 | Jeffrey Tanouye | United States | 11,225,000 | 47 |
| 7 | Samuel Taylor | United States | 11,100,000 | 46 |
| 8 | Pablo Melogno | Uruguay | 10,150,000 | 42 |
| 9 | Atanas Kodinov | Bulgaria | 10,000,000 | 42 |
| 10 | Anze Smajd | Slovenia | 9,725,000 | 41 |
Kenny Sung (6,175,000) returns to Day 4 in the middle of the pack and has had an impressive run. Sung started off the day well and secured an early double up, and his counts continued to climb throughout the day. He lost a small stack after doubling up his opponent in the last level of the day, but still returns with around 25 big blinds. He reported to PokerNews on Day 2 that this is his first-ever live tournament, so eyes will be on him as the pressure increases going into Day 4.
Four bracelet winners will come back tomorrow on the hunt for more gold: Jonas Lauck (4,625,000), Leo Margets (4,000,025), Jinho Hong (3,050,000) and Carlos Leiva (1,525,000).
Olga Iermolcheva started off well in Day 3 and spun up a stack in the middle of the day after battling with Jesus Calderon having flopped a set of aces, but her day ended with around an hour left to go after getting in her last remaining big blinds and was eliminated by Mark Wagstaff. She took home $27,610 for finishing 59th.
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,255,180 | 9 | $150,660 |
| 2 | $1,012,320 | 10-11 | $119,160 |
| 3 | $702,360 | 12-13 | $94,840 |
| 4 | $534,590 | 14-17 | $75,970 |
| 5 | $409,870 | 18-26 | $61,240 |
| 6 | $316,190 | 27-35 | $49,690 |
| 7 | $245,430 | 36-44 | $40,580 |
| 8 | $191,690 |
A number of other notables came and fell throughout the day, with many of them just making the money and securing those important 25K Fantasy points including WSOP bracelet holders Nicholas Seward ($33,360) and Aram Zobian ($19,280), as well as other Fantasy players: Didier Guérin ($11,840), Matt Glantz ($10,200), Adam Owen ($10,200), Stephen Song ($7,730) and Uri Reichenstein ($7,730). Josh Reichard (6,300,000) is the only 25K Fantasy draftee remaining in the tournament.
Play will resume at 11 a.m. local time Tuesday, June 24, at Level 32 with 120,000/240,000 blinds and a 240,000 big blind ante.
Stay with PokerNews as we follow all the action throughout all subsequent days of play, until a winner is crowned.