2017 World Series of Poker

Event #73: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT - World Championship
Day: 5
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Event Info

2017 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
a♥2♦
Prize
$8,150,000
Event Info
Buy-in
$10,000
Prize Pool
$67,877,400
Entries
7,221
Level Info
Level
43
Blinds
1,500,000 / 3,000,000
Ante
500,000

Ruane, Hallaert on the Verge of Main Event History; Only 85 Return for Day 6

MrCleverFox
MrCleverFox
Level 26 : 30,000/60,000, 10,000 ante
Michael Ruane
Michael Ruane

There’s something about a back-to-back run to the World Series of Poker Main Event final table that is truly amazing. Maybe it’s the big fields. Maybe it’s the multi-day, grueling stretch to get there. Maybe it’s the immense amount of skill along with the extreme amount of luck it takes to make it there. The last to do it was Mark Newhouse, who finished 9th in both 2013 and 2014.

As Day 6 of the Main Event approaches, we have a chance to see something truly amazing that hasn’t been done in the modern day era of the Main Event. Michael Ruane (3,450,000) and Kenny Hallaert (4,370,000) could both return to the final table, just one year after their last appearance. With only 85 players remaining, both Ruane who finished 4th last year for $2,576,003 and Hallaert who finished 6th for $1,464,258 have a chance to do it again.

Ruane said that apart from making a few mistakes at the end of the night, it was an indescribable feeling to be running deep again. “It feels great. I’m just mad right now because I just messed up a few hands at the end of the night. But to be here again is super surreal. The energy you get in the Main Event is like no other tournament you could play. It’s super exciting.”

As the day began it seemed as if it might be the Red Wedding for former November Niners. Chino Rheem and Matt Giannetti dropped in the first level of the day, and they were quickly followed out the door by Tom Cannuli who fell before the dinner break. Hallaert also fell to a short stack early in the day, dropping from 4 million down to just 600,000, but he resurged and was able to finish with 4,370,000 chips, pulling in an average stack for Day 6. Along with Ruane and Hallaert, former November Niners Ben Lamb (2011) and Antoine Saout (2009) are returning for Day 6 as well. Saout, who bagged 8,260,000, also made a deep run last year, coming in 25th place.

“The field is different every year,” Saout said about his competition this year. “But it's the Main Event and there's a lot of amateurs and some pros. I drew some good tables yesterday. But the deeper you go, the tougher it gets.”

Cannuli and Rheem were only a small part of the cast of characters who did not make it through the day. Fan favorite Charlie Carrel made work of the feature table, chipping up to over 5 million chips, but at the end of the night, he ran kings into Alexander Gleenblatt’s aces to be eliminated. Carrel, along with the likes of Max Pescatori, Vitaly Lunkin, Randy Lew, Sam Stein, Dominik Nitsche, Aaron Massey, and Davidi Kitai, did not make it through the day.

Another fan favorite to hit the rail today was Mickey Craft. Craft made quite the impression on the tournament over the last five days, and his last day was no exception. He had a rollercoaster of a day, running up his stack to over 4 million, then dropping down to 900,000, only to double back up. It was on his final hand that Craft called a raise from Ruane with seven-deuce offsuit, and flopped top pair against Ruane’s overpair. Craft did not improve and he was eliminated from the tournament, but that wasn’t the last that he was heard from. Less than an hour later Craft returned bearing shots of tequila for his former tablemates.

"I just want to say thank you to everyone for everything," Craft said. "I just wanted to make a little fun of poker. Whether you go out with king-queen or seven-deuce, it's all for fun. I just wanted to make a little light of these guys day and to say thank you."

“I was just thinking that this would just be like some twisted Divine Comedy situation where this guy’s destined to hit a two on me,” Ruane said about Craft’s bust out. “I mean you just play the game, but this guy is obviously the most crazy fun dude in the tournament and he’s getting a lot of attention and he’s just all in with seven-two off. And I’m like all in essentially and it’s like, ‘Oh my God, this is like written in the stars that this guy is going to hit a two. I’m sure ESPN would love it … And I’m standing there like, this moment just can’t be real, like this is not happening."

Also falling today were the last of the ladies in the Main Event. The day started with Kathy Liebert falling at the feature table. She was followed by Juicy Li, Tracy Nguyen, and Jessica Ngu until Yuan-Yuan Li was the last woman standing. Ironically, Li ran into the queens of Wesley Pantling while holding two tens, and she did not improve. Li’s 105th place finish earned her $53,247.

Robin Hegele
Chip Leader Robin Hegele

Coming back Sunday as the king of the hill is Robin Hegele. He finished the night with 9,990,000 chips, just under the 10-million-chip mark. Hegele had a beast of a day, starting off quick holding pocket aces against ace-king. From there he moved up and down the chip counts, eventually finishing the night as the chip leader. Trailing close on Hegel’s heels is Max Silver (8,665,000), who earned his first World Series of Poker bracelet earlier this year and ran deep in the Main Event last year as well, finishing 33rd.

“I'm surprised that I'm the chip leader,” Hegel said. “I did not expect that. Right now I'm super happy playing poker. It's like 'What is the chip lead?' It's just a number. It's just a ranking on the leaderboard.”

“The confidence is high in both my limit and no limit games,” Silver said when asked about winning a bracelet earlier this year. “But no, I don’t think it changes much. I’d like to finally win a bracelet in no-limit hold’em, so maybe this is the one. It was actually a really smooth day. The start was a bit rough when I was kind of short, but from there it was no pots over two million and a lot of medium pots and I chipped up, which was lucky, no stress.”

Hegele, Ruane, Silver and Hallaert will join the rest of the remaining players at 11 a.m. PDT for Day 6 of Event #73: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event. PokerNews will be here to cover it all, so make sure not to miss a thing as we continue to unfold the story of this year's Main Event.

RoomTableSeatPlayerCountryChip CountBig Blinds
Brasilia7031Joseph MichaelUnited States3,400,00043
Brasilia7032Neil PatelUnited States1,905,00024
Brasilia7033Sean GibsonUnited States5,595,00070
Brasilia7034Andrew OstapchenkoUnited States2,225,00028
Brasilia7035Kevin SongUnited States1,965,00025
Brasilia7036Yin LiuChina2,415,00030
Brasilia7037Michael RuaneUnited States3,450,00043
Brasilia7038Antoine SaoutFrance8,260,000103
       
Brasilia7041Marcel LuskeNetherlands2,290,00029
Brasilia7042Karen SarkisyanRussia8,270,000103
Brasilia7043Randy PisaneUnited States8,105,000101
Brasilia7044Alexander GreenblattUnited States3,865,00048
Brasilia7045Ihar SoikaBelarus2,630,00033
Brasilia7046Bryan PiccioliUnited States5,400,00068
Brasilia7047Martin FingerGermany890,00011
Brasilia7048David GuayCanada3,300,00041
Brasilia7049Matthias De MeulderBelgium3,825,00048
       
Brasilia7061Brandon MeyersUnited States3,905,00049
Brasilia7062Frank CrivelloUnited States8,500,000106
Brasilia7063Christian PhamUnited States2,800,00035
Brasilia7064Matt BondUnited States4,365,00055
Brasilia7065Jingwei ZhangChina2,575,00032
Brasilia7066Jae HwangUnited States2,380,00030
Brasilia7067Shawn DanielsUnited States4,325,00054
Brasilia7069Mario VojvodaCroatia655,0008
       
Brasilia7091Paul Vas NunesUnited Kingdom6,780,00085
Brasilia7092Florian LohnertGermany6,300,00079
Brasilia7093Max SilverUnited Kingdom8,665,000108
Brasilia7094Michael ZelmanUnited States1,785,00022
Brasilia7095Ben LambUnited States4,725,00059
Brasilia7096Benjamin PollakFrance5,690,00071
Brasilia7097Gregory GoldbergUnited States1,355,00017
Brasilia7098Ryan LengUnited States2,970,00037
Brasilia7099Hyon KimSouth Korea3,035,00038
       
Brasilia7101Justas VaiciulionisUnited States3,550,00044
Brasilia7102Richard RobinsonUnited States1,900,00024
Brasilia7103Jonas MackoffCanada1,590,00020
Brasilia7104Sebastien ComelFrance3,740,00047
Brasilia7105Kenny HallaertBelgium4,370,00055
Brasilia7107Jonathan DwekCanada1,910,00024
Brasilia7108Joshua MarvinUnited States4,635,00058
Brasilia7109Chris WallaceUnited States2,675,00033
       
Brasilia7192Valentin MessinaFrance4,995,00062
Brasilia7193Nick GuagentiUnited States3,045,00038
Brasilia7194Dario SammartinoItaly2,585,00032
Brasilia7195Robin HegeleGermany9,990,000125
Brasilia7196Arash GhaneianUnited States2,680,00034
Brasilia7197Alexandre ReardFrance6,100,00076
Brasilia7198Connor DrinanUnited States3,360,00042
Brasilia7199Pedro OliveiraPortugal3,135,00039
       
Brasilia7201Reed HenselUnited States6,355,00079
Brasilia7202Paul DhaliwalCanada2,165,00027
Brasilia7203Cosmin JoldisRomania6,965,00087
Brasilia7204John HespUnited Kingdom4,060,00051
Brasilia7205Zu ZhouUnited States7,345,00092
Brasilia7206Richard DubiniArgentina5,190,00065
Brasilia7207Ian JohnsUnited States1,085,00014
Brasilia7208Nicolas CardynFrance2,545,00032
Brasilia7209Kfir NahumUnited States5,385,00067
       
Brasilia7231Jake BazeleyUnited States2,805,00035
Brasilia7232Richard TuhrimUnited States3,830,00048
Brasilia7233Mike LinsterUnited States2,075,00026
Brasilia7234Jesus BlancoSpain6,835,00085
Brasilia7235Paul SenatUnited States2,260,00028
Brasilia7236Eric BermanUnited States1,130,00014
Brasilia7237Daniel OttUnited States8,320,000104
Brasilia7238Colin MoffattCanada5,195,00065
Brasilia7239Thissa DesilvaUnited Kingdom2,395,00030
       
Brasilia7241Scott StewartUnited States7,270,00091
Brasilia7243Robert SchulzGermany6,075,00076
Brasilia7244Kevin CalenzoUnited States1,080,00014
Brasilia7245Travis LutesUnited States4,575,00057
Brasilia7246Damian SalasArgentina8,400,000105
Brasilia7247Scott BlumsteinUnited States6,845,00086
Brasilia7248Daniel TurnerUnited States1,440,00018
Brasilia7249Michael SklenickaCzech Republic5,360,00067
       
Brasilia7251Artan DedushaUnited Kingdom4,330,00054
Brasilia7252Joshua HortonUnited States9,360,000117
Brasilia7253Renato Prado ValentimBrazil2,270,00028
Brasilia7254Wesley PantlingUnited States4,745,00059
Brasilia7255Richard GrykoUnited Kingdom5,835,00073
Brasilia7256Michael KrasienkoUnited States5,710,00071
Brasilia7257Jack SinclairUnited Kingdom2,225,00028
Brasilia7258Wen ZhouUnited States4,090,00051
Brasilia7259Joseph DipascaleUnited States7,450,00093

Tags: Antoine SaoutCharlie CarrelDavid RheemDominik NitscheJuicy LiKathy LiebertKenny HallaertMatt GiannettiMax PescatoriMax SilverTom CannuliYuan-Yuan Li