A lot has happened since our previous Main Event update last Friday, as over 1000 players have become only 27 players still with the chance of taking down the most highly regarded poker tournament in the world!
Christian Pham's life could easily be made into a intersting poker movie. Back in 2015, he accidentally registered for the the wrong tournament and ended up winning it, overcoming the likes of Mike Leah, Robert Mizrachi and Huck Seed to claim his first gold bracelet! Pham qualified for this year's Main Event through a $575 satellite and now has the world champion title within reach!
On Day 5, he put his tournament life at risk after bluffing all in on the board 9
7
5
8
with 53. His opponent, Josh Tieman, called with 88 for a set and was only one card away from eliminating Pham, who needed a lucky six on the river for a chop and to stay alive in the tournament. The sun shined down on Pham as the 6 fell on the river. Pham celebrated while Tieman, who eventually finished in 94th place for a $61k payday, stared in shock at the table.
Two days after the lucky hand, Pham is the chip leader among the 27 surviving players from a starting field of 7,221 entries! No matter what happens next he's set to take home the biggest payday of his poker career (all remaining players are guaranteed at least $263,532 each; Pham's previous best cash was 214,332).
There are a few familiar faces remaining in the 2017 WSOP Main Event, including Frenchman Benjamin Pollak, Dutchman Marcel Luske and Ben Lamb of USA. The latter finished third in the 2011 Main Event for $4 million, however, he's not happy with just being one of the final 27 contenders.
"I don't care about the final table," Lamb said. "I want to win the whole damn thing. I'm going to go home and watch Game of Thrones and then watch a little tape of today.
Play resumes today with 78 minutes left in Level 32 (120,000/240,000/40,000). The plan is to play down from 3 tables to a single table with 9 players on it. The winner of the tournament will take home an incredible $8,150,000!
