Andrew Feldman, ESPN.com 10y

Day 6: Five tables remain in main event

A flurry of eliminations in the Amazon Room late in Level 27 left only 44 players in contention for the $10 million first-place prize at the 2014 World Series of Poker. Day 6 is planned for a lengthy 11 hours of play, or until the field reaches 24 players, and Kyle Keranen continues to cruise along. Keranen became the first player to top 12 million during the level, most of which coming at one of the toughest pro-filled tables remaining. Upon changing tables, he gave a bit back and finished the level with 9.6 million in chips.

The Bellagio cash game regular is still firing without hesitation. His ability to casually put out million-chip bets is keeping the pressure on at such a pivotal time in the tournament to position himself for a run at the final table. Still, his 38th-place finish from two years ago must sit in the back of his head as he gets through the day.

Dan Sindelar has chipped up constantly today and holds a slight chip lead over Martin Jacobson to leave the Amazon Room  for dinner as the top stack.

At the feature table, Mark Newhouse has played a few big pots and recently eliminated Clayton Hamm with 10-10 over A-10. With 6.9 million in chips, Newhouse is ahead of his Day 6 pace from 2013 when he bagged 5.7 million. The other player to make Day 6 last year was Vitaly Lunkin who, after surviving numerous all-ins, was finally knocked out in 57th. Lunkin finished 46th in 2013.

Other eliminations include:

  • Matthew Waxman: The WPT and WSOP champion had played the short stack well for the past two days but couldn't run it up on Day 6. On his final hand, he was involved in a three-way all-in with Keranen and Eddy Sabat. Sabat's aces topped both Keranen's 10-10 and Waxman's 9-9 to knock down the chip leader and knock out the Florida Pro in 45th.

  • Bill Cole: The 70-year-old was probably having more fun at the table than anyone else. He ran nines into the aces of Robert Park to finish 58th.

  • Issac Baron: An unlucky spot for "WestmenloAA" resulted in his queens losing to Chris Greaves in 52nd.

  • Ryan Fair: Fair has cashed in each of the past three years and nearly eclipsed his 31st-place finish in 2009. Fair ran eights ran into the kings of Andoni Larrabe to exit in 48th.

  • Jason Johnson: Ryan Riess' pick to win the main event had his kings cracked and paid off Martin Jacobson's flopped set in a big pot mid-way through the level. Johnson finished 51st for his third six-figure cash of the 2014 WSOP.

  • Brian Hastings: Right after he finished watching the World Cup on his WatchESPN app, Hastings failed to hit his A-J against Andrey Zaichenko's K-K. He finished 64th.

 

Bryan Devonshire doesn't have a top-10 stack, but played a few big pots to crack the five-million-chip mark. In 2011, he finished Day 6 with 5.9 million in chips. Matthew Haugen isn't in the top-10 either, but he must be pleased with his comeback. The Day 4 chip leader doubled up on the final hand of Day 5 and needed to get his chips in early on Sunday in order to make a run. He's done just that. Hauten doubled through Newhouse to start (Q-Q > 10-10), then gave a bit back, then doubled through Lunkin and Cole before leaving the feature table.  He's again a threat in this tournament with 5 million in chips.

Players are now on a 90-minute dinner break.

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