PokerStars Ambassador and Irish Open High Roller winner Kenny Hallaert is through to the final day of the World Series of Poker Main Event in Vegas – with just four players left.
The Belgian tournament director, who is the only European left in the field, will be the short-stack when play resumes today, but he has already beaten both his position and payout from his amazing run nine years ago.
Back in 2016, Hallaert finished sixth for $1,464,258; this year he is guaranteed at least fourth place and a payday of at least $3 million.
Hallaert, 43, was the chip leader on both Day 6 and 7 and started the final table yesterday in fourth place. But it is American poker legend Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi who has a dominating lead and will start today’s action with more than three-quarters of the chips in play. Mizrachi won the $50k Poker Players Championship for a record fourth time this summer and is set to make history today as one of the most accomplished players of all time.
Current chip counts
Michael Mizrachi, 445,500,000
John Wasnock, 94,500,000
Braxon Dunaway, 25,500,000
Kenny Hallaert, 19,000,0000
Many are dubbing this year’s WSOP Main Event final one of the best in years, and were especially delighted that it featured Spanish pro Leo Margets, who was the first woman to reach the final table since 1995. She finished seventh for $1.5 million.
Watch the PokerNews interview with the final four here:
Back in April, Hallaert won €140,674 – one of the biggest cashes of his live poker career – when he took down the €5k NLH High Roller 8-Max at the Irish Open. There were 9,735 entries in this year’s $10k buy-in WSOP Main Event creating a total prize pool of more than $90 million with 1,462 players making the money.
