Zachary Hall Leads After Day 5 of 2023 World Series of Poker Main Event (2024)

Just 149 players remain from the record turnout of 10,043 entries made in the 2023 World Series of Poker $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event following the completion of day 5, and one of them is less than a week away from hoisting the championship bracelet and the top prize of $12,100,000.

The chip leader heading into day 6 is Wilbraham, Massachussets’ Zachary Hall (pictured above) with 16,310,000. Hall was involved in the early stages of the poker career of vlogger Ethan ‘Rampage Poker’ Yau, who has gone on to become a WSOP bracelet winner, World Poker Tour high roller winner, Mid-States Poker Tour champion.

I am rooting for Zachary Hall you legend pic.twitter.com/E80L9T5v1T
— Rampage (@rampagepoker) July 12, 2023

The only other players to end the night with eight figures next to their names on the chip counts were Bryan Obregon (12,295,000), Liran Betito (11,140,000), and Andrew Hulme (11,065,000).

Several big names are still in with a shot at the title, including bracelet winner and World Poker Tour champion Tony Dunst (8,285,000), bracelet winner and 2010 WSOP main event runner-up John Racener (7,670,000), bracelet winner Raj Vohra (7,650,000), WPT champion and bracelet winner Ryan Tosoc (7,625,000), popular Japanese poker vlogger Masato Yokosawa (6,740,000), bracelet winner Jan-Peter Jachtmann (6,375,000), 15-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Maurice Hawkins (6,145,000), Amit Makhija (6,045,000), and two-time WPT champion and bracelet winner Daniel Weinman (5,340,000).

Nate Silver, the founder and editor-in-chief of data-driven politics and sports media company FiveThirtyEight, is also in with a shot. Silver bagged up 2,130,000 at the end of the day. The former professional poker player came close to winning a bracelet in 2021, finishing as the runner-up in the $10,000 limit hold’em championship for a career-best payday of $151,842.

There will be a new world champion crowned this year, as the two prior winners of this event who made it to day 5 were eliminated. 2003 main event winner Chris Moneymaker (403rd – $40,000) ran pocket fives into the pocket kings of Ryan Brown. 2005 winner Joe Hachem (402nd – $40,000) soon followed, with his top pair and a queen kicker unable to fade the flush and gutshot straight draws of Mason Vieth.

Day 5 started with 441 contenders remaining. With just 149 bagging up for day 6, that means there were 292 players that were sent to the rail during the course of the day. Among the many highly accomplished players who were eliminated were bracelet winner and all-time Triton Poker title leader Jason Koon (440th – $37,500), 2019 WSOP main event runner-up Dario Sammartino (428th – $37,500), two-time bracelet winner Chris Brewer (427th – $37,500), three-time bracelet winner Phil Hui (380th – $40,000), bracelet winner Niall Farrell (377th – $40,000), Pro Football Hall of Famer Richard Seymour (284th – $50,900), bracelet winner Jason Somerville (288th – $50,900), Bill Klein (279th – $50,900), two-time bracelet winner Chris Vitch (277th – $50,900), bracelet winner Kyle Cartwright (258th – $50,900), Faraz Jaka (219th = $58,500), two-time bracelet winner Jesse Lonis (209th – $58,500), three-time bracelet winner Davidi Kitai (170th – $58,500), 2022 WSOP main event third-place finisher Michael Duek (178th – $58,500), and popular poker vlogger Andrew Neeme (164th – $58,500).

One of the biggest pots of the day spelled the end of World Poker Tour champion and three-time bracelet winner Chance Kornuth’s run in this event. Nichola Rigby raised to 100,000 on the button with AA and Kornuth three-bet to 385,000 with AK. Rigby four-bet shoved all-in, putting Kornuth to the test for his entire stack of more than 3.1 million. Kornuth quickly made the call to create a massive pot worth over 6.2 million. Kornuth found no help on a J92410 runout and he was eliminated in 301st place ($44,700).

Below is a replay of that massive hand that PokerGO, the exclusive home to live streaming coverage of the WSOP, posted to their Twitter account:

When giants collide…GTO_Diaper</a> vs. <a href="https://twitter.com/ChancesCards?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">ChancesCards in the biggest pot of the tournament so far.
– Watch Live Here: https://t.co/6FK0YJq5Dy pic.twitter.com/tJ0DcimmfC
— PokerGO (@PokerGO) July 11, 2023

Kornuth, who has recorded the three largest paydays of his year this summer, now has more than $16.2 million in lifetime earnings to his name. Rigby had a rollercoaster day, and while he did spend some time at the top of the counts, it ended with him bagging 1,650,000. He is still in with a chance to outdo his 52nd-place finish in this event back in 2021 for $136,100.

The final 149 players will return for day 6 at noon on Wednesday, July 12 with blinds of 40,000-80,000 with a 80,0000 big blind ante for level 26. The average stack of 4,044,161 will represent 50.5 big blinds when cards get back in the air. All remaining players have locked up at least $67,700for their efforts. The first six-figure paydays will begin at 80th place.

Here is a look at the top ten chip stacks heading into day 6:

Rank	Player	Chip Count
1	Zachary Hall	16,310,000
2	Bryabn Obregon	12,295,000
3	Liran Betito	11,140,000
4	Andrew Hulme	11,065,000
5	Joshua Payne	9,850,000
6	Anirban Das	9,230,000
7	Tony Dunst	8,285,000
8	Glenn Fishbein	8,265,000
9	Sergio Torres	8,265,000
10	Jonathan Therme	7,900,000

Remaining payouts up for grabs in the 2023 WSOP main event:

Place	Payout
1	$12,100,000
2	$6,500,000
3	$4,000,000
4	$3,000,000
5	$2,400,000
6	$1,850,000
7	$1,425,000
8	$1,125,000
9	$900,000
10 – 11	$700,000
12 – 13	$535,000
14 – 17	$430,200
18 – 26	$345,000
27 – 35	$280,100
36 – 44	$229,000
45 – 53	$188,400
54 – 62	$156,100
63 – 71	$130,300
72 – 80	$109,400
81 – 89	$92,600
90 – 98	$78,900
99 – 161	$67,700