2016 World Series of Poker Daily Update: Wong Leads Main Event, Colman Still a Threat, LOFOD Down to 12

July 17th, 2016 | by Kaycee James

The 2016 World Series of Poker Main Event is just two days away from determining its final table. Those players will then be held back until October 25. ESPN will then air the final table “live” (with a 30-minute delay).

The action continues today in the Main Event at the Rio in Las Vegas. (Image: pokersites.com exclusive)

But before we have our October Nine, there are still 80 players vying for a spot. Day Six begins on Sunday at noon Pacific at the Rio in Las Vegas, and we’re not playing with kids now, that’s for sure.

When Day Six restarts, Jerry Wong will have the chip lead. He’s never won a WSOP event before. But he have 19 cashes at the summer series since 2009, plus another five in Circuit events.

Although you won’t find many familiar names among the 80 remaining players, the ones who are left have enough talent to dominate if they don’t go totally card dead.

Dan Colman is 18th in chips. The 2014 Big One for One Drop champion was in the chip lead at one point on Day Four. He’s fallen back in the pack a bit, but still has plenty of chips, and more than enough skill, to make a run.

Tom Marchese is another big name pro still in contention. His 7,155,000 puts him in 14th place, compared to Wong’s 11,555,000. The chip lead will likely go back and forth on Sunday,and there are many players who are a but double-up away from having the most chips.

Unlike previous years, ESPN began filming the event on Day Four instead of Day One. The reason? It’s less expensive, from a production standpoint, to spend more time on each day than more days and less time for each day of play. There’s no secret ESPN has been cutting costs in recent years. The world’s largest sports television network isn’t printing money like it used to, apparently.

No Women Left

Poker is a numbers game. And the numbers suggested that a woman was unlikely to make the final table. That’s because less than four percent of the field was of the female gender.

The odds turned out to be right. There are no ladies left in the fieldas of start of day on Sunday. But some talented females made deep runs including Maria Ho, Liv Boeree, Melania Weisner and Gaelle Baumann, who was the Last Woman Standing this year.

Out with the Old Champs

Although we don’t know who will win the Main Event yet, of course, we do know it won’t be a previous winner. When Greg Raymer busted in 122nd place, there were no remaining former champs left in the field.

Raymer won the tournament in 2004 and then nearly went back-to-back. In 2005, he lost a bad beat in a huge pot and ended up busting out in 25th place. His two-year run a great accomplishment in Main Event history, but outdone by Mark Newhouse, who finished 9th in 2013 and 2014.

Ryan Riess had busted on Friday night, leaving Raymer and Johnny Chan as the lone remaining previous winners. Chan was an early casualty on Saturday. He went out in 180th place, crushing his dreams of becoming a three-time Main Event winner.

Jesus Gone from LOFOD

Chris “Jesus” Ferguson wasn’t welcomed back to the WSOP with open arms this summer. He showed up in early June to compete in his first WSOP since 2010, and many expressed their discontent with his presence when he’s never made an apology about his role in the Full Tilt fiascos that led up to Black Friday in 2011.

Ferguson had a decent summer, but didn’t win a bracelet. On Saturday, his 2016 World Series came to an end when he busted in 58th place in Event #69, the $1,00 Little One for One Drop.

There are 12 players remaining in the tournament. Play will resume at 2 pm PT on Sunday, and presumably play down to a winner. First place pays just over $525,000. After the bracelet is awarded, the only 2016 bracelet left to be handed out is the Main Event in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, most likely.