The tension is high, the pay jumps are big and every hand dealt is more important than the last. The pressure in the Amazon room is rising as the final table fast approaches. Day 6 of the Main Event saw the field shrink from 79 players to 27 by night's end and put everyone that survived one step closer to becoming a member of this year's November Nine.
Not only are the players remaining closer to becoming a November Niner, they are also closer to taking home the $10 million first place prize and WSOP gold bracelet. Only one player will take home the $10 million and the bracelet but all of the players have guaranteed themselves a cash of at least $286,900 for making it this far. Not too bad for a week's worth of work.
The big mover on the day was Martin Jacobson. Jacobson has been near the top of the chip counts the entire tournament. He finished Day 1A as the chip leader and has looked strong ever since. Jacobson started Day 6 with an above average chip stack but did not have a top ten chip count. Jacobson didn't waste any time and started chipping up as soon as the day started. By the time the dinner break rolled around Jacobson had claimed the chip lead. Jacobson lost the chip lead for a brief moment after dinner, but then won a huge pot to knock out Peter Placey and vault his chip stack far ahead of the competition. Jacobson continued to roll the rest of the night and finished as the chip leader with 22,335,000 chips.
Other players to have a big Day 6 include two-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Luis Velador, who finished second in chips with 16,600,000, and Dan Sindelar who finished third in chips with 16,345,000. Both players started the day outside of the top five chip counts. Other notables to end the day with chips include Dan Smith, Craig McCorkell, Mark Newhouse, Bryan Devonshire and Leif Force. Newhouse, Devonshire and Force have all been at this point in the Main Event before, but the highest finish among the three was Newhouse's ninth place finish last year. They all will be looking to outdo their previous Main Event performances and come away with a bracelet this time. The experience of being deep in the Main Event should help as the pressure continues to rise.
The journey for the bracelet has come to end on Day 6 for Maria Ho (77th), Brian Hastings (64th), Vitaly Lunkin (57th), Isaac Baron (52nd) and Matt Waxman (45th). Maria Ho was the last woman standing in this year's Main Event. A title that she has now earned twice. The last player knocked out on the day was Matthew Haugen. He finished in 28th place for $230,487.
Day 7 will begin at noon on Monday at the Rio in Las Vegas as all players will be front and center under the spotlights of the ESPN cameras. Play will last until only nine players remain. Those players remaining will be the 2014 WSOP Main Event November Nine and will return November 10 to compete for the bracelet and the $10 million first place prize. Here are the top ten chip counts heading into Day 7:
1. Martin Jacobson - 22,335,000
2. Luis Velador - 16,600,000
3. Dan Sindelar - 16,345,000
4. William Pappaconstantinou - 15,640,000
5. Andoni Larrabe - 15,280,000
6. Bruno Politano - 11,625,000
7. Dan Smith - 10,335,000
8. Craig McCorkell - 8,765,000
9. Felix Stephensen - 7,740,000
10. Andrey Zaichenko - 7,335,000