The bubble finally burst at the 2012 Main Event yesterday at the WSOP and by the end of the days play the field had been reduced to just 282 players from the 720 hopefuls who started Day 4. As we head into day five the current chip leader is Paul Volpe with over 2.75 million chips - over half a million clear of his nearest rival Erick Hellman who has just over 2.2 million
In fact Volpe looked very likely to head into Day 5 with around 4 million chips but lost a 1.26 million pot late in the day which looked to be heading his way as his JJ held off Eric Pratt's AK all the way to the river when a timely K fell for Pratt whose tournament life was at risk.
The days early chip leader Dave D'Alesandro also had a good day, chipping up to around 2.1 million, leaving him in third place as things stand. We have a big name also among the chip leaders as Eric Buchman sits in 5th with 2.076m - Buchman not only has a over $4 million in live tournament winnings and a WSOP gold bracelet to his name along with several WSOP final table finishes but has also run very deep in the Main Event, winning over $2.5 million for his 4th place finish in 2009 so will be one to watch today. Just above Buchman with 2.08 million chips sits Kyle Bowker, who with over $1.7 million in live tournament winnings is no slouch either.
When the bubble eventually burst there was no "bubble boy" as such, as four players were eliminated at the same time meaning that they all get a 1/4 share of the first paid place (so they all take home $4.8k and will now play a sit and go to decide who gets the seat to next years Main Event usually reserved for the bubble boy).
Big names to fall before the money include Erick Lindgren and Ryan Daut while those taking home a min cash of $19.22k included; Liv Boeree, Marvin Rettemmaier, Jason Mercier and Brock Parker. Others to fall before the end of the days play, picking up a little more cash include; JC Tran, Johnny Chan, Antonio Esfandiari, Huck Seed, Chris Moorman, Maria Ho, Eric Baldwin and Jackie Glazier. With the fall of Huck Seed and Johnny Chan we now know that we will definitely have a new Main Event champ now that all previous winners who entered have now been eliminated.
Progressing to Day 5 with above average chip stacks we see the likes of; Leo Wolpert (1.835m), Vanessa Selbst (1.68m), Erik Cajelais (1.6m), Joseph Cheong (1.44m), Gaelle Baumann (1.438m) Andrew "LuckyChewy" Lichtenberger (1.15m), Isaac Baron (1.04m), Gavin Smith (831k) and JP Kelly (778k). Others coming back but with a little more work to do include; Jason Sommerville, Marcel Luske, Ronny "1-ronnyr3" Kaiser, Dan Shak, Sorel Mizzi, John Juanda, Freddy Deeb and Daniel Negreanu. Negreanu started the day with 123k chips but quickly made a big impression on proceedings, chipping up to over 600k in the first levels of play. He slipped a fair bit towards the end of the day however, ending up with 302k. As his twitter reaction suggests however, he is not too concerned, stating, "Started day 4 with 22bbs. I'll start day 5 with 25bbs. No big deal. Been here before, I'll be tough to bust. That is all"
Play for day 5 is due to start at 12pm local time.
Find more of the latest news and articles relating to the World Series of Poker in the 2012 WSOP-section.