Hello everyone, Welcome back to a new episode of the Poker Go Podcast. My name is Donnie Peters. At twelve twenty am on Friday, July tenth, Day four of the World Series of Poker Main Event is. In the books. The bubble has burst, the remaining players are all deep into the money, and we are moving forward today five in the greatest poker tournament in the world that this is the world famous Bubble Pod. So we're gonna play some audio of me talking on the floor. I got rim Ken Rinkimo was out on the floor, We talked to some players throughout it all. We'll be running you through the hands that ultimately led to the bubble bursting. So there's a lot to unpack in this episode. Of course, we'll also get into some of the just general news of the happenings today. You know, who's got big stacks, who's leading the way, how many players are left, who busted out, all that sort of good stuff that is coming on this episode as well. I spoke with both Will Gibbons and Caitlin Komeski on the day that was separate than the bubble Pod portion, so we have an absolutely slamm episode here on the poker Go podcast as a reminder, get your butts over to play PokerGO dot com where you can play free online poker. That's right, everyone, it's poker, it's online and it is free. Playpokerg dot com. Slash podcast is the url that you need to go to because if you go to that url and if you sign up there, you'll get a free one hundred thousand gold bonus to help kickstart your bankroll. Play poker Gode is available on web, it's available on iOS, and it is available on Android, and it is the official free online poker game of Poker Grow. So check it out today and get in there and let's start battling. Day four came into today or yesterday, I should say, with the thirteen hundred and eighty nine players remaining, thirteen hundred and eighty two made the money, so seven people had to bust before we got into the money for the twenty twenty sixth to visit p main event. They did not start play hand for hand. I thought they would have, you know, I thought after what happened last year. I believe we came back last year, maybe twelve people off the money around there, you know, close but not close enough that it was just gonna snap bust. But still there was a lot of There was a lot of tanking, there was a lot of stalling. There's a lot of people yelling at each other about about the whole situation. At one point, my table got the whole the clock got put on the entire table because of a couple of players. It was a whole big shnanigans going on. So I thought, you know, coming off of that, they would have just started hand for hand this year, I mean just just skipped through all that sort of stuff, so they didn't start doing hand for hand play and right off the bat, you know, I thought that that was interesting, right because it felt a little too close to comfort, like you might be flying a little bit too close to the sun here. They I believe each table played one, maybe two hands before tournament director got on the loud speaker and said, okay, you know, all the dealers stopped dealing. Once you deal the current hand that you're on and that hand is complete, stand up, do the whole thing that That obviously signals that they are going to then go into hand for hand. So thirteen hundred and eighty nine players returned. I look up the clock. You know, there's thirteen eighty five that it ticks down to thirteen eighty four. I'm like, oh, they're getting They're getting pretty close here. And you know, so you know, a bunch of tables start finishing up. You know, one by one, all the tables are finishing up. Players are obvio standing up, stretching out. They all know what's coming. One of those players, Sean Deep, he had a he had a big stack to close out Day three. So and I talked with him on that last episode, and here I am. I wanted to catch up with them at the beginning. I basically I wanted to ask Sean, you know, he's played a bazillion tournament. I wanted to say, you know, what do you think about them not not starting in hand for hand play? And he had had an interesting take on it. So let's just play that now to kind of kick things off here before we start getting into more of the money bubble. I have one question for you, Sean Deep, are you surprised to not start hand for hand? I mean, I knew that they would do this and we got a few bust outs. It's just hand for hand is so slow, you know, for years. I've been talking the World series, suggesting around for round, and I think that solves so many issues these big bubbles. It makes a better player experience, the money gets split up. You know, it's just. Way better overall. So hopefully you know, they decided to make some changes that will be a much better customer experience. And we don sit around for twenty minutes every hand because with no shot clocks, there's gonna be hands to take twenty minutes on the bubble. And you know it's one hundred and fifty plus tables in play. It only takes one and everyone's waiting fifteen minutes. So well, let me let me push back for one second this specific event. Don't you want that spectacle of the money? I mean maybe you don't as a player, but the poker world they can. But yeah, that's the I'm the words person, Like, I don't listen. I know that you're all business. You're like, let's go. Yeah. I mean, like I almost considered playing the PLO last night because I knew that the hand for handled be so slow. I might just go play over there. But I also know it's me a big. Sack, so I couldn't miss the free hands over here, so I'm gonna win. You know, ninety percent of hands dealt So yeah, it's just it's a bad experience. I think it messed up everyone's schedule. If we sit around doing nothing, it's we're here to gamble. Why why make us sit here and wait? It's like, you know, it's a fucking natural rain delay of these poker tournaments, and it shows fucking reval. Like it's just a waste of time. There's something the camerackers have to go to every table. It's just the craft swarms. And guys signing autographs here. I mean, you know, the whole the whole thing. Yeah, I mean, there's nothing else to do. Really, you know, I'm just sitting here. It's one of my thumbs, right, and call my wife and FaceTime her, you know, chatting to family. I usually can't talk to any tournament. This is the time where than can be shit to do, so I might as well keep the kids happy. So that was Sean deep and uh interesting that he doesn't necessarily care about the hand for hand stuff, the money bubble, all that sort of stuff. I mean, just very workmanlike for Sean. He wants to just get there. He wants to play the voker, he wants to move on with things. I do have to disagree with him, you know, I would say that, you know, ninety nine point nine percent of tournaments out there do all that other sort of stuff. Get through it, let's move on with our day. But the one tournament in the world that deserves the spectacle, and honestly it deserves it deserves a spectacle to be made even more of a spectacle than it is, right, just just crank that thing up with the craziness, the spectacle, the lights, the cameras, all of that sort of entertainment. Like, let's do it for the WSP Maine event. You know this is I mean, it's up there. I don't know exactly where it ranks, and I'm not going to sit here and do some sort of list on the fly. But as the coolest day in poker for the entire calendar year, right, Like it's so cool to be around, you know, in the room, for the atmosphere, for the tension, for the excitement, you know, all that sort of stuff. You have people abusing the bubble, trying to get chips. You got people's dreams getting absolutely freaking shattered. You have the pressure of people who are moving all in whether they're called or not. You know, you have the crazy swings of if you're actually all in and you do get called, you you just have all these emotions, everything just just going on in one room. You know, there are thousands of people in. Yes, you have the thirteen hundred and you know eighty something players that are in the tournament, but there are hundreds of fans around as well, Like this is the day when you know you play this tournament. Okay, fine, but you know, let's say you come to town. You come down to town with a bunch of your buddies, or you come to the town with your wife or your girlfriend or whatever it may be, and you know you're gonna play this event. Well, they don't come down on day one, or day two, or heck, they don't even come down on day three. You know, it's just checking in on text messages, whatever the heck the thing is. But when it's Money Bubble day, people are in the room, and then of course you have dozens of media members running around. Production gets beefed up a little bit more. You know, Jack Effel's there and today, for the first time ever, Jack Effel was wearing a camera on his chest, similar to like what you guys might see on the referees in the World Cup. So it's just it's awesome. It's madness, but it's incredible, it's brilliant. I absolutely love it. So so yeah, so each table played one to two hands that they announced that they're going to go to hand for hand play. So let's start getting in to the Bubble episode and go straight to the floor where I was out there. I know remc rinkium On, my colleague was out there as well, and we got we got a lot of different audio that we're going to play here, So let's just get right into it, all. Right, everyone, We are here on the Bubble, day four of the World Series of Poker Main events. So they started the day with thirteen hundred and eighty nine in the players remaining thirteen hundred and eighty two cash, so seven spots off the money. They did not start hand for hand, so immediately in the first few minutes here, the clock starts at one hundred and twenty minutes. Due to two hour levels, the clock has paused. Right now at one hundred and eleven minutes and forty six seconds so less than ten minutes in they did announce play this hand and stop. But the clock reads that thirteen hundred and eighty five players left, so we've already lost four players. And honestly, there's a chance that this bubble bursts right now anti climactically, I mean, without really the big bubble spectacle that you get in the World Series of Poker main events. And I mean, it's just it's very interesting to have it done this way. I can't recall it happening like this. I am surprised that they didn't just start hand for hand from the start of play today, but I do also understand that that does take a while. Yes, but you know, we'll see how this goes. Okay, So they wrapped up the few first bunch of hands. When the clock was paused, they asked all tables to please finish dealing the hand that they were on. I just talked about how the clock said that they were three off when the tournament director got back on the mic to announce hand for hand play, telling all the dealers to sit down. They are moving to hand for hand play. They are one off the money. Thirteen and eighty three players remain thirteen and eighty two spots will cash during this first hand of hand for hand play, we do have a few different all ins happening. One of them is up here on the cluster of the main stage. I'm standing right up here. Looks like a player Timundo Matsumoto is all in and there is a call, So this one's definitely going to be run. I know. There are a few other ones that I'm hearing from the production team that are taking place out on the rest of the floor. Everyone is running around, Various camera crews are getting set up try and film the action. Definitely increased level of production this year, just in terms of the volume of resources that are out here on the floor. There are. Three JIB cameras in play. There's multiple MG crews running around that. Would help us out. We're going to have a hard time checking as well. This would help us out. Please mainment. Players, remain in your seat. Players being instructed to remain in their seats. They do ask the dealers that once they are done, to stand up so they can get an eye on if hands are completed, but players are requested to sit down. Of course, fewer people standing allows the tournament directors to be. Able to see the dealers. They should also put that functionality on the app. I'm telling you, you just press hand done on your app that all goes through to the tablet that all the tds have. There's maybe a master tablet that one of them sitting at a desk behind, and that you know, that would make this a little bit more efficient. Yes, you can do the whole stand up thing too, but let's use that technology. Of course. It's kind of special right this moment for everyone to have a chance to cash the main. Yeah, I mean I'm currently down about seventy K in the man, so I'll try to get some of that today. We'll say, is this your first time deep in the main? I've cashed once in twenty twenty one, but I've played it about eight times and I've only been cashed once, So yeah, I've been This tournament's insane. I was down to like thirty k. You can just always have like twenty bigs and like it's incredible. You just have you can really take your time. It's a it's a lot. I mean, I'm already feeling the fatigue. I feel like this is gonna be uh fun if you go really deep. But I'm glad that doing the August wait till you play the biggest spot of your life and give you like a two weeks off. Kind of thing. It's exciting. If I make it, that would be cool. Quick quick question for Chino as a as a main event veteran, after this bubble bursts, what's gonna happen? Chips are gonna fly, people are gonna go nuts. That's normally what happens. Like the short sects are just gonna go for it, and the big secs are gonna now be able to do it at ease with ease. Are you gonna sit back and watch the fireworks? Are you gonna get in there? It all depends, you know. I can't. I don't know that. All depends on in the moment. Can't never answer that yet. What have the swings been in the main event so far? For me? Basically steady, just full fullfold and then I got a nice little rush last level of the Night of the Future table and to be above average. But basically I just folded a lot, a lot to get here. Then yeah, now we're here. Patience patience, Patience takes patience in the main event. Greg, what was the bubble, like four for the money. Yeah. I don't even remember how long it lasted. All I remember is that like a guy on the next table got knocked out and they didn't do this thing now where they like make you pause. So he gets knocked out and the look on his face was like someone had phoned him and said, like your wife and children are dead, you know, like there was a car crash. That was his level of anguish. It was so intense. And then they were like, wait, there's a hand on the feature table and that guy busted. You both get five thousand now. We looked like we're sorry, We're sorry, Like that was a different John Smith. That wasn't your wife. Amazing he was that. And then they announced we're giving you each five thousand more. Now it was like, not only is your wife alive, she bought the winning powerball ticket. I mean, it was unbelievable to see his face. It was amazing. How big was that for you to get to the money back to him? I was like, if not the biggest stack, one of the top four or five. So I was thinking about abusing the bubble, not making the name. I had never made the money in the main event before but I was past that point and. This year, what's the story so far? I mean, I've had a lot of tough hands. I've had a couple of very lucky hands, and uh, you know, I'm just trying to make the best decision. That's it, Like, what's the best possible decision? Right now? Take me back to your first main events. How did you decide to play? When was it? How did it go? My first main event, I got twenty third place, so it was pretty good. I had like no money to my name and had a quarter million after and had a chance to win eight million, so it was good. Yeah. I don't remember the bubble really, I know, with like thirty. Five people left, I was chip leading and then I got twenty third, so so it was kind of it was, you know, very good, but disappointing at the same time. So been trying to replicate that run since and hopefully this is the year. Does the gorilla really come out once the bubble has burst. He's always in there, you know, in this tournament sometimes you gotta put him away. It's a marathon, so. You know, just trying to play each hand the best I can and whatever happens happens. Josh, are good to see you, get to see you. You are here for some poy points, for a deep run. What are we doing? I'm here for ten million fucking dollars. That's right, that's number one on the list. Never played another anti poker after that. This is the retirement tour. This is this is this is my retirement plan. How much does experience help in the main. I think a lot, just because this is what I do every day and there's you know, people that aren't going to be as comfortable, so I I mean I have an edge against the guy that doesn't, that flies out and play one event for sure, and it's no secret. I mean I think that they would say the same thing. Having been in many big spots in your life, even just this summer. At what point does the avrenalin come. In for you? When I wake up in the morning, when it never leaves. I I'm a junkie, like I live this shit. I absolutely fucking love it. I love competing. I love staring a guy down and just knowing that he's given his best and in his biggest moment and no one thinking that I'm able just to stay, you know, and when when it gets hot and there's a fire. You know, I'm just right there in my olement. This man is going to set some more stuff on fire. Just watch. It's just money here in a minute. So you guys heard from well myself there on the floor. You heard from Rock Wilson, China, Reem, Greg Ramer, Jesse Lonis was out there, Josh Aria as well. You know. So a lot of players that that REMCO was able to catch up with get some different thoughts on things. Some people are straight up chilling. Some people I feel like you can kind of hear it in their voices, like this is a big spot. You know, this is a this is an important thing. And listen. I know somebody like a Sean Deep for example, like he's just extremely nonchalant about this whole thing. But I don't know, it's still effing cool to get into the money for the WSOP man. And I don't care who you are. You know, maybe maybe there might be five or six people and poker where it doesn't matter and they don't they don't feel how cool it actually is. But for everyone else out there, like this is the moment, everyone's just kind of mulling around, you know, waiting for them to officially kick off hand for hand and then they do you know, the room gets down or back into plane, I should say, and they play the first hand that lasts for however long it lasts, and there are four all in in calls on that first hand. So what they do, as you guys know, is they basically run around from table to table. They run it all in out. They do ask that players when they get all in and there is a call, all hands remain face down. Nothing gets revealed, so there's no like information that's getting out around the room, like, oh my gosh, this guy right here, he's drawing dead. So if everyone just folds, we're all going to get into the money. Like you don't want that stuff to get out there. So they they run four all in and calls, and uh, we'll just get into that right now. I was, I was kind of far away from all of them and just listened in on the loudspeaker. You know, Jack Effel runs around from table to table. Uh, production is right behind him filming the whole thing. Media is, you know, stampeding behind him as well. They they surround the table with with with it, you know, the cameras, the microphones just all of it, right, But jackets on the microphone. He calls the action, so you can hear everything in the room and I kind of talk it through. You know what's going on. So let's get into now that this first batch of all in hands again, there were four all in in calls on this first hand of hand for him play all right, So right now there are four all in in calls that were just announced by Jack Effel. He is going to be running around to the different tables. He will be announcing the action. I'll try and send it. Through to you guys here as well as I hear it in the room. Okay, an, let's see five pocket thieves all right? Firsthand Kings versus Queens. Seven phase Head of Diamonds, nine of space King's no good, Ace of Clouds, no help. Let's see the river River was the sphase two Kings that were going to double one. So on the first all in and call that was run, pocket Kings doubled up through pocket Queens. So we are now down to three all in and calls again. We are one off the money here in the twenty twenty sixth obissop, the main event, Jack and the team are heading over to the next table. I can see it's on the complete opposite side of the room from where I am. Okay and be all over here seat number six and we are versus seat number nine. That were hands all on the show first, he's got. Pocket games versus pocket eights, pocket. Gains and wrists but even the league but six flop. Oh si mart seven of marks kind of spain none in our age could be very understandable. The two things are. Still a hand. Let's say the charge Kings versus eights player with the eights is the covering stack. He flopped the gutter. Can no help for the ads. River was a Queen Kings. Up again, King's doubling up again. In the Dobissophie main event. We are now down to two all in in calls to try and burst this bubble on this first hand of hand for hand play. So on the first one, the first run out, Kings versus Queen's Kings got the double. There Kings versus Eights flop came ten to seven to six, but the King's held to get another double. And we are moving on and it looks like they are. Going to where are we heading? There's a whole giant group of people running down the hallway. I see Jeff Platt, I see multiple camera crews, I see Jack Effel, all the media members. I mean, what an absolute spectacle this is. You just love to see it, you really do. They might be coming up. Here to the cluster for this all in new call that we have on the cluster. All right, they are coming up here. I'm gonna back out of the way. I used to like to get right in there, you know, just just cram myself in with all the other sixty people that are trying to cramer on one poker table. That's got three feet of space. Around it as a moat, but not anymore, you know. I'll watch from afar. I'll listen on the on the loudspeaker to hear them call the auction. Okay, And this was the player that I just told you about. Let's him did the parts versus Queen of Parts Jack. Also all Ace eight is all in against Queen Jack. An this one feels like it. It's the one the pace had good on the flop, got a straight trout. Now for the Queen Jack on the turn, let's river River car it. Makes are. All right? So Ace eight makes it straight and he just needed to hold, and he did hold. So Ace eight doubles up there, and we. Are going to one more all in and call a fourth and final all in and call of this hand of hand for handling. I kind of want this to keep going on. Guys, come on, don't burst the bubble yet. Let's have let's have like four hands. You know, I don't want a two to three hour bubble, but you know we can deal with forty minutes or so. Have some fun with it. Man, it would be a sixth sweat. To be to be the last player all in when you know the other three have already doubled up. That would be a wild feeling sitting there at the table you hear the first one boom, because because you know, when you go last, and you got these other use that are all on and calls ahead of you. If somebody busts, great, you're you're free. Wrong, right, you know you're gonna split them in cash or whatever they're gonna do the the flip or whatever they. Do for the seat for next year. You know, I mean they never announced that, but I'm assuming they're gonna do it again. Now you're the last one. You're four out of four and everyone else doubled up. Here we go. It seems like some bad navigation. They went from the opposite side of the room to this side of the room. And then back to the opposite side of. The room versus s what's up over here? All right? We had a board ten to stuff A SPAN's. Not a heart. Art. This is all on the river. Type. I've got three tins over there. And three tens looks like that's the best hands. Of her nines and would double up here there will be no elimination. So it was announced that three tens are gonna double up versus a pair of nines. That was sounded like it was all in and call on the river. Maybe there was another player on the hand before that. I don't know exactly, but they got there on the end, So all four all on calls on this first hae hand for hand play resulted in double ups one hand. We are back one more hand with hand for hand to play. I got a guy over here with a bottle of Maker's mark on the table and a corona. Mean, this gentleman is incredible. All right, it's time for. The rundown for the second hand of hand for hand play here on the main event bubble at the World Series of Poker six all in and calls six hands. We got to run through, so we got six shots at bursting this bubble. Let's see if they can do it. They are running over to the So everyone is in the main Paris ballroom today, and to help accommodate the size of this feeling and get everyone into one room, they have tables in the cash came section and that is where we are going. First, Jack just. Calling out his dealers. First, Okay, ace king suited versus pocket fives. All in player has ace. King fives, maintain their lead on the flop, go river cord, all right, so the ace king, the ace king gets eliminated there. So we have a bust out on the first hand of the second hand. So everyone in here, he's getting into the money. Well maybe not everyone, but. We are running over to the second hand. Now, maybe we'll just go six for six six bust. Outs, I mean, why not? Right sitting secondhand here? Okay, all up player has aces up against Queen ten. All right, all right, that one bricks out, so the aces are going to double up there. Moving to the next table, so we are two hands done one elimination. Moving over to the third hand, we got six hands to get there. Okay, first, all. Right, full house on board in this hand. Chris Moneymaker is the losing player on this hand. Here there was a full house on board, but the covering player had pocket aces to make a better full house and bust. Chris Moneymaker. Jeez, Jack just rubbing it in. Goes from world champion to bubble boy. All right, fourth hand here. You've got a pair of four? Can you be. You? Okay? Where could we be? Alright, let's. Kings on the river? All right? Double up on that table. Couldn't really hear what the heck was going on, something about kings and four's pair of fours. I don't really know what was happening on that one, But we double up is all we need. Moving over to the fifth hand, I think the place that you're able to be the most free is on the feature tables during the bubble. I'm just looking around at these feature tables up here. The all in player here has abandoned his hand and is not at the table to. Turn it over. What what is going on? Jack? I was on the mic saying the player abandoned his hand. What's happening. I think they're still trying to look for this player. Jack did mention that he's going to try and look around the room and maybe see if he can get this player to come back. But the hand is not revealed. He does he. Count. Oh, they're gonna have to count this one down. So there's a player with king ten who made a pair of kings. There's a player with pocket nines. But the player with the pocket nines left an abandoned his hand. So now they're now they're counted down the stacks to verify who's got more chips here? Okay, all right, well I guess they're going to the other table. Now nine, okay, all versus three's right? All right, so let's get the last all on a call. Here we have five space fIF. O' clocks, acy diamonds, three diamonds, ten of clubs. Then I can't see the champions here. He's got three sixes. And he has a pair of pass three six. Best hand he hasn't covered at last even corrects. Do you have an elimination here? Ooh? Elimination there? Trip six is trip sixes elimination. Eliminations that he which means with one off hunting that. Two places who shot three different players. We will play off more into. The supermainer ten. All right, so we will be all three of those players for come ballom on every day. So you can do this playoff, determine who he ask for Baba Bay will be, and then you guys can shots each one fifteen thousand each. All right. So they're going to an empty table right now, three eliminations. They're gonna do this playoff, this flip whatever they do, and they're gonna award one player with a twenty five K seat to the WSP Paradise Super Main Event, and then the other two players are going to chop the in the money prize here. So that's how this one's working out, or they're gonna get in some money. I don't I don't really know. Matth is hard. Okay, So three. Players money man, what's your nest one start. And what is your er? What's a good meme? I love that. So those three players that all bust it on the bubble, they're gonna chop up the first two spots. So fifteen K times two. That's thirty thousand divided by three, that's ten thousand apiece and then gentlemen, I believe his name is Jack is winning the twenty five k WSP Paradise Main Event seater or Super remain Events seat. I should say, allow me to correct myself. Let's given. Order. We'll get the cards back in the air. They're gonna give you guys some instructions, but I will send congratulations to all of us for making the money. Here for twenty twenty six. All right, so you guys heard it. There Three of the six hands resulted in eliminations. One was Chris Moneymaker, another one was Stoyan Manziev, and then the third player to bus was Jakin said Betkov, I probably butchered that name, and I'm sorry. Madonziev had Ace King of Hearts up against Gregory Brown's fives. The fives held, they were all on pre ran off the board, no Aser King, no hearts, no nothing for Madonziev, and he's out. And then with money Maker, there was a lot of action leading to the river on a board that contained a full house that had eight seven seven seven eight on the board. Antonio Vargas jammed on the river. Moneymaker called with Jack nine playing the board, but Vargas had aces so Moneymaker was eliminated, and then set Betkov moved all in on the river. I believe he bet. Multiple streets here if I remember correctly. On ace six, five, three, ten, move was on on the river. Dan sta Villa called with a set of sixes. Sep Betkov had ace nine, so he was eliminated. So those three players, Madonziev, Moneymaker and Sep Betkov all got eliminated. So because there were three eliminations and we were only one spot off the money, the three players got to chop the first two payouts, so fifteen thousand dollars each, as I said, that's thirty thousand dollars. They get ten thousand dollars each, so they break even. Then they do this flip for a twenty five thousand dollar our seat into the WSP Paradise Super Main Event, and said Betkov wins that. I mean, I don't know too much about him, but I do know Chris Moneymaker won the main event once I do know, Soyaan Madanzi have won the online WSP main event for almost four million dollars. So I feel like, said Bekov should be the one winning winning this flip at the end of the day, So as always fun on the bubble. You know, it's great to be in that room. If if you're a fan and you kind of pick some days to come out to watch stuff at the World Series of Poker, I would I would try and time it around the ws P main event money bubble as one of those. Days to look at. Of course, you know the best days to come out as a fanily just come out for the final table, watch the final table, right, but secondary to that, it's probably the bubble day. You know, being in there, it's just really cool, it really is. So yeah, the money bubble that never disappoints. It really doesn't. From there obviously, the bubble bursts and the eliminations, they come in fast and furious. The payouts to start were fifteen thousand dollars or one and a half times you're buying. In that first payout bracket, you had Isaac Barron, Kristin Fox, and Chris Vich, Kathy Leeber. Those are just some of the names that I know busted for fifteen thousand dollars. After that, everyone got a pay jump of twenty five hundred dollars up to seventeen thousand and five hundred, and then in that bracket, you had Mike Leah Stevenson, Chris Mormon, and Anton Winfield. Anton Winfield Senior a football cornerback. Believe he played for the Bills, the Vikings. Yeah, maybe maybe one other team, but they were all in the mix cashing for seventeen thousand, five hundred dollars. Then you had the twenty thousand dollars payout bracket. Jesse Lonis, Chris Brewer, Alex Livingston, Dimitar Danch have all cash there. And that twenty thousand bracket or at least those four players that I named all finished better than one thousand in place. So now we're getting down to you know, fewer than one thousand players left in the twenty twenty six is a p Maine event. Pay jump is another twenty five hundred dollars up to twenty two thy five hundred. Joey Cooden, Jeremy Osmas, Joe Hasham had a deep run for the hash and Michael Rocco all finish in that group there, and then the next jump was to twenty five k. You had Renlinn Farrah Galfon, Alan Lee and another former champ, Scott Blumstein. Scot Blumstein got six hundred and seventy first place for twenty five K. So when it was all said and done, when Day four was done and dusted, five hundred and thirty three players remained. Now I do have a little bit of a gripe here. I'm kind of a little bit confused on who the chip leader is going in today. Five. I look on Poker News and I see a gentleman named Sam Swellum Swileom, probably butchering his last name. I'm sorry, Sam, I they have him up on top. If I look in the WSP app, they have Archer Marturosian up on top. I'm gonna guess that thesp app is correct, but I'm also not completely sure. So it's either one of these two. I'm guessing unless somebody else somehow gets some chips. My gripe is that there never seems to be any like news coverage or promotion coming from WSP when these days end, Like it's it's two hours now since the day ended, since I left Paris, Like why aren't there all the chip counts pushed down on social media? You know, graphics, photos in email blasts like all that sort of stuff everywhere? Right, Like, let's I mean, this is Poker super Bowl, Like, let's let's get the word out, like, you know, like I mean, heck, like we should be going like we should be going nuts. We should be in the back, you know, slamming the buttons for morse code to to to let the other countries know out there that you know, this is this is a coming. Day five is a coming, Like, let's get rocking and rolling. So yeah, I think, I mean, I would like for that to be done a little bit better. I just feel like I'm flying blind here and here I am guessing because I have Poker News, as you know, they're the only live reporting outlet, and they've got one guy on top. The WSB app has another person on top. So I'm confused with the chip leader, which I want to talk about. But then also that leads me to question, what are the are the other chip counts right or all the payouts that I just read, right, you know, I'm just I'm confused. So we all know about Archer march ROSI right, So I don't I don't think we really need to touch on him too much. I will say that he got a lot of his chips at the end of the evening or towards the end of the evening on day four when he won a big hot with ace as a gentleman, either four or five that ripped in like seventy big blinds with pocket tens, and march Rosian is just sitting there with the freaking birds calls aces hold, and that is that. We obviously know how good Arterur Martirosian is. He won another bracelet earlier this summer, but for Sam Swilom, he's out of Lutz, Florida. He's only got one hundred and thirty eight thousand dollars in earnings according to the Hendon Mob. And of that one hundred and thirty eight, one hundred and nine thousand was from his best live score, so the large majority of it is from one score and that was in It's very interesting if you look through his results, he's this is only his seventh live tournament cash. Again, this is all according to hendonmob dot com. And he's got one previous WSP cash in the fifteen hundred dollars Closer in twenty nineteen. None of his other events are like they're all like fifteen hundred, eleven hundred, smaller buying stuff, but this largest cash isn't a fifty k super high roller down at seminole, So I don't know if he was just ripping off the biggest shot of his life. I don't know if he was, you know, want a satellite or something like that. You know, but that's that's pretty crazy and notable. He won a big pot off Chris Brewer. He made a full house and won a big pot there. And then he also busted a player when he made a flush to win another big pot. You know, those are kind of the two notable ones that I saw through some of the coverage that allowed Sam to build and I'll say a top three stack. I think that that one's safe. I think that that one's safe. We also got danceda Villa and far Reed Johnton with quite a lot of chips. Believe they both have just a little bit over three million. Now, those two. I want to mention those two specifically because if things go like I think they can go, as it relates to Dance to Villa and Faried Johnton, get ready for some very creative, some very entertaining poker that is coming from these two. They are fun, They are a bit unorthodox at times, both of them are willing to get after it, especially when they have a lot of chips and they're able to leverage their stack against other players in the field. So if these two start to get featured, they start to show up on some feature tables and that sort of stuff like that, it's gonna be some fun, you know, especially with Furrey John, Like that guy is as agro as they come, and it's awesome to see. And when he is locked in, and he is locked in every break, he goes up onto the side of the stage and he just sits way over by himself. No one's around, He's just got his eyes closed. He sits there, he just does some meditating. Then he gets out of that meditation and that breath work, he does a little bit of stretching and he goes back over. He sits down and he just plays. He doesn't talk much, he doesn't give off much. He's like a freaking robot out there. But he's an absolute stone cold killer. Is free John. Other players still in the mix. We got hosting ensign the twenty nineteen champ is still doing it. Brock Wilson. Brock Wilson hasn't had the best summer for as hot as he was at the beginning of the year. He won the poker Rol Cup, he won the US Poker Open. He was crushing this year, but the summer hasn't been too kind to brock Wilson. But of course that can all change when it comes to the biggest tournament of them all, the World Series of Poker Maneament. Sasha Lou made it through, Daniel Hasham made it through. His dad didn't make it through. We mentioned how Joe Hashim busted, but Daniel Hasham is looking to carry the torch. Michael Rosito is still in Caitlyn Kameski, Matt Salzburg, Alex Foxen, Sean Winter, Masado Yokosawa, Sean Deeb. Just quickly Foxen and Deeb. Both of them are I think Foxen's leading and Deep might be third or fourth in the wsitby Player of the Year race. They're both aware of each other and it's just great to see them go ahead to head in this event, which is you know, the main event is going to have so oh many points up for grabs as it relates to the Player of the Year and these two and they are aware of each other and what they have to do. They have similar chip stacks, which adds to the story. Like it's just cool to see this battle and the I mean, these two are They're incredible players first of all, so just having them go deep in the WSP Made Event is a great treat for all of us fans. With the added element that they are battling for the WASP Player of the Year title, that's just super cool. We got TJ. Reid out there, Brianyu and Sam Chardier. Dylan Smith is still going, Tony Dunst still in. Will Gibbons Dutch Boyd is in the mix. Ryan lang Sala de Carlos de Carlo got second in the monster Stack, I believe for nine hundred K. So he's you know, he's already had a successful summer. Now he's looking to make it even more successful with a deeper run in the WSP Man Event. Michael mcrocky still alive, was doing the damn thing for much of the day up on the feature table. Didn't bag you. Know, at peak, but he's still in and he's the grinder. He can absolutely spin it up at any given moment. Patrick Leonard is still in. Greg Ramer, another former champion of this event is still in and then we got Marcel Luise, the Flying Dutchman, still in the damn field. Of course, there are hundreds of other players still in the mix, but that's just a handful of the players when I browsed through the chip counts that I grabbed to shout out here. I mean, it's just the event is awesome. It's it's absolutely incredible. The crowds are starting to build inside Paris. You can feel the tension with almost every half hour, every hour, definitely every level that goes by, just building building building. The way that the Paris Ballroom is set up, they are almost all in kind of the front section now, which has is all kind of the roped off area that leads right up to the stage. I think there's still a few tables that need to be out in kind of the outer section as I'll call it, but there might be let's say anywhere from five to ten tables there. Those will break relatively early on on day five on Friday, and then once that happened, and you're once that happens and you're a little bit closer to the stage. I mean, that's like, in a way, that's kind of like a moment that's like a new checkpoint in a way. And then once they have these these outer sections right around the w CB countdown stage, once those get all done and everything is up on the cluster and like actually on the physical stage, that's like, I mean, I'm getting I'm getting some some freaking goosebumps, and you know, the hair is standing up on my arms just just thinking about that, right, Just thinking about how close people are going to be to then ultimately getting to the final table, getting to the winner circle. So that's just freaking great. Throughout the day, I wanted to talk to a couple of people. One of them was Will Gibbons. You know, I've talked about Will Gibvens' story a couple of times now on this podcast. How this is his first time back at the World Series of Booker after he was banned from Caesar's Properties for a few years. So I just wanted to talk to him about exactly that and also how his event is going. And Will was kind enough to give me a few minutes of his time. So this interview happened right on the dinner break, so there was still a couple of levels to play. Afterwards. Will did go on to bag chips. I think he bagged around one million or one point one million heading into into day five. But here is Will Givens, just talking about being back at the World Series of Poker after some time away. All right, everyone, I'm here with Will Givens going into dinner break. First of all, your stack is looking quite great. How many chips you got over there? We have two point four? Two point four? I mean, this is this is this is what you do. Right. How's the day been going for you? It's been smooth, you know, I believe it or not. I didn't really beep it much at the bubble, didn't really have any hands. I'm not forcing anything. That's my younger days. So everything's just been smooth, you know what I mean, just playing as you know, taking as it come. And she's been smooth selling who came in with one point five? Now we got two point four at five tens, so we're all right. So you're someone who I've always wondered over the last couple of years. You know, where is Will Givens when it comes to the Little Series of Poker. It just so happens that you then show up at one of my tables earlier. Yeah, and you were telling the story to some of the people how you had been banned from Caesar's properties for something that happened in the pit. I mean, what happened and how did you get back in? Because we hear about people that could band all the time and then they never get back in. But you're here now, Okay. Well, first off, shout out to my lawyer. She's amazing. Little she might she might charge you, but it's worth it. But uh so, Yeah, man, I had a crazy night with some friends. I bagged chip lead at the wind playing I think it was a seventeen hundred? Did I end up gambling at the wind? Four am rolls around. I walk over to where I was getting contact because I was seven star at the time at Harris, I walk in had no intentions on playing bacarat, but the board was talking to me. Back back then, I used to play a lot of back and a lot of crabs like I mean that literally it was if it wasn't poker, it's them too. And I sit down, I'm buy him for about five thousand, and I'm cooking. I'm cooking, and this lady next to me, Asian lady. She's beat in the opposite of me, so she's getting roasted. So now she's sitting there with her arms crossed, and I go to bed three thousand and uh. She starts tapping on the felt money, money, money, money, and I don't know what that means. So I'm like looking at my stacks, I'm like, this is my money, that's your money. And then her and the dealer kept talking and she doesn't be English or speaking man during to each other, and I'm asking the dealer what is she saying? And the dealer won't even translate, which is weird. And so then I get up. I go to the pit balls and. I'm like, sir, you got a lady here to say money, money, money, nfelt. I have a three thousand dollars bet going on. It's frozen. Can you please, like you know, figure this out. And he starts talking to her a little bit, and then I said, can you just go to security? I requested, please just go to security so we can just move forward. Now this is crazy. I sit there and wait two hours, six on in the morning, security come down. They whisper in her ear. She starts crying, so obviously she speaks English, and because he doesn't speak mendering, and I acted, sir. I said what happened? And he said, you took six black chips house in between us, in between us, and I said, there's no way I did that, but here you go. I handed a six hundred. If I did that, I'm sorry. He asked me to stand up. He acted for my player card. I give him my card and then he proceeds to tell me that I'm benned for stealing. I'm like, no way, sir. I requested you to come down. I sat here for two hours. I got a day two tomorrow and it's almost seven in the morning. What kind of thief is doing this? And I even pointed at the cameras and told him what I do for a living. And I go to my bag and I pull out money and I'm like, bro, like, look at what I'm betting, Like make it makes sense. And he looks in my eyes. It was really offensive. He goes, there's stupid thiefs. So he's called me dumb, and he's called me a thief. I checked I did. When you lose it, it sucks, man, because being a black man in America, you deal with things that people really don't know about, and there's my dad dealt with it. My dad did seventeen years in prison. And there's so many men that's in prison just innocent, and I'm getting accused of stealing and I never stole, never attended to steal. I snapped, gave her the money. I did everything that I could as a customer, and I'm telling this man and then they've proceeded and I was staying there and they're like, well, you got to leave, and I'm like, well, I have a room here and I can't check into another room. It's seven something in the morning. They're like, well you can stay here. You can't come back to you can see the floor. But you can stay here and there tomorrow. So when I woke with the next morning, it was like I got a day two that I'm supposed to be excited about, But I'm like, did I just have a nightmare? Was that real life? And the man four years later and. Then you said you got a hold of a lawyer and it took it's only a couple of weeks or a few weeks to get back in. How did that process go about? I contact a lawyer, told them my situation, got the details. They did what they did. I stayed back. They wait, why so long before you got a lawyer? Was it? Well, you just didn't know about that process. You want to know exactly what happened. Of course, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the app. Okay, okay, I was sitting in the letters, sending a letter, sending the letters. I always deny, deny, deny it. Then I live in Texas, now Dallas. They had a WSOP circuit in Austin. I finally got a hold of this app, and I saw how smooth it was. See last year. I realized the playing field outside of the WOP changed dramatically last year, but I couldn't figure out why. See, I didn't mind it because back in. The day, with the lines and all the hassle and the dealers and all that, I said, you know what, this is paradise. I'm playing out the win and I'm playing at ario. I'm playing everything else and people come out and I still have just not as big fields, but I can still make money. So I was okay with it, but I wanted to get in. But once the app came in, lock holded everybody. So now the fields out there is like all the years and everything. So once I actually used that app, I said, I gotta get a lawyer. So I did some investigating, I did some research and took about the man. Thank you God. Three weeks boom, you're back here this summer. You've had a couple of results already, you had a final table, you had another deep run I think the million maker, and here you're sitting on a huge stack in the main event. I mean, I guess, could you have asked for a better return? Bro? Someone said, why would you drop that kind of money on the lawyer or whatever? There's no value to be competing against the best and something that you love. I couldn't put a price on it. So yes, it was a great return. And I'm just happy that I'm mentally where I'm at now to where Also, I'm grateful every time I stepped foot in this building. Everything happens for a reason. So yeah, it was a great return. I'm grateful, and I'm just happy to be competing against the best froom all around the world again. You know, like I'm here, let's good, let's dance. You know what's it gonna take to go super deep in this thing? Possibly win it man, mental clarity, focus, energy, aligned, discipline. There's so many different things, so many different variables you have to There's it's crazy. You can't just come in here and thinks just gonna win. That's there's upstairs downs, you gotta take it. There's swings. Can't get too high, can't get too low. You know, he's just it. It's like a one hundred round boxing match, like right now, we're in round twenty, okay, so you just gotta you just gotta survive. All right. So that was Will not shy at all to share his story and what happened to him. And you know, it's better. It's better than just coming from me from what I hear it. But he's back and he's having a great summer. He's absolutely crushing it. He has well, he has two Dubis Whippy Cashes this summer. He has a third place finish in the fifteen hundred dollars pot limit Omaha event for two hundred and fourteen thousand dollars, and then he has a deep run in the Millionaire Maker a fifty fourth place there which netted him twenty seven thousand dollars. You know, Will is one of those players that you just see him around kind of everywhere playing everything. He does have a World Series of Poker Gold bracelets. Twenty fourteen, he won a one K Nolan Man Hold Him event for three hundred and six thousand dollars. In that tournament, he topped a field of eighteen hundred and forty one. So yeah, so that's Will Givens. He's going strong into day five and we'll obviously be checking in on him and seeing how he's doing going forward. But it's good to have Will Gibbings back in the mix. At the end of the night, I wanted to talk to Caitlin Komeski. She was on her way out and I grabbed her and she was kind enough to, you know, give me a few minutes off her time. We did a whole walk and talk thing, So pardon me if there is is some background noise. We're walking through a crowd at one point, people just aren't getting out of the way of a walk. We're walking through the main hallway into like the Rotunda area over in Paris. But listen, I talked about how good of a summer Will Givens has been having so far. I mean, Kaitlyn Comeski's freaking crushing it. She's got one, two, three, four. Five six. I believe this is her seventh, maybe her eighth eighth dobisipy cash. This summer, she's been on fire in terms of making some deep runs she has. She made the final table of the Ladies Championship, she got fourth there for sixty seven thousand dollars. And then she played the ten K stud High Low Championship. She got fifth place there for ninety seven thousand dollars. That ninety seven thousand dollars is her largest live tournament score. So Kaitlyn's freaking cooking. Like you know, she and she and she's great. She's got a lot of personality on her. I know she can be viewed as as the funny person, but you know, when it's I've played with Kaitlin on a few different occasions, you know when you're playing with her, yeah, she's a good time and she likes to have a laugh and some jokes and whatever. But when it's time to play some poker and buckle down, focus and get serious, like she's in there and she's in there battling. She's a handful to deal with at the table. So here's a little Walk and Talk interview at the end of the night with Caitlyn Komeski, who bagged I believe a little bit over one point seven million. All right, Kaitlyn Komeski, I think it's been the summer of Kaitlin. Well, what's are you on steroids? What's going what's going on here? I honestly put the work in. I meditated and manifested, I journaled, I watched hours of content. I watched hours of poker. I've played hours and hours online last year. I I don't know, I've probably played one hundred thousand hands between my live and online volume. And you know, I mean, I know most people know me as a content creator, but slowly and surely I have really put in the work to get better and refine my game. I think I've got more work into the mixed games, if I'm being honest. But it has made me a better Nola, not for no question. And I'm just feeling like really dialed in. Momentum is real and poker and in all sports, and I feel it and I'm riding the wave. You're someone who always seems to have fun at the table, even though you obviously take the game very seriously, both on and off the filthy Just how has the experience been? You know, I notice you, you know, having a lot of fun with those guys at the end, talking about making day five all that sort of stuff. How important is that part of things to just enjoy it along the way? It's incredibly important. I mean, just like mindfulness and living in general is going to make you a happier person. If you're living in the past or the future, you're never gonna feel fulfillment. So just in terms of like being a good person and having a good attitude, that's imperative. But for poker, I think growing the game and. Making the game more accessible, especially with how solved it's getting and how good everyone's getting and how intimidating the environment is, we have to keep that fun element in it to continue it, to grow, to make people go shrudged through the mud that is becoming a winning coper player. You're in the money, You're going to day five in the main event, you had this incredible summer from here on out. What sort of expectations do you have for yourself? You put a lot of chips in the bag heading to day five, So how are you dealing with possible pressure, possible expectations, all of that. I'll tell you what the first week I was here, I was running deep in my best event seven no limit single draw. The best I had ever finished was thirty second last year in the eight game, and when we got down to thirty two players, I found this huge adrenaline spike that I was not in control of. I beat Jerry Wong in a huge pot read the situation perfectly made the maximum and there was too much power behind the steering though I was speeding and I didn't even realize how deep I was. Talked about this with somebody else, but yeah, I punted. I got overwhelmed by the moment. I had odb on my left and Jerry Wong on my right, and I have one of the top stacks in the tournament, and. It was too much. So I did a Q and A with Alex Livingston and I asked him, like, how do you deal with these pressures? Because I feel like I'm good at the game. I was ready for the moment. I did the grind to get there, and then I tripped on the finish line and he said, the only way that you get better and can feel more in control of these thoughts is just keep putting yourself in them. So I put myself in a ton of uncomfortable positions and I had a really hard week. I played some games that I'm not very good at. I got fish braided a lot. I ran into a player who took a particular disliking to me that I had to play with a lot, and it was really hard, and I moved through that. I had a lot of support and a lot of friends, and I'm really proud of myself for putting myself in those uncomfortable positions so that I know now that I'm here, I'm ready. I mean, if I final table is and then it'll be my third final table at the series, so it'll feel very comfortable on car for the course. And that's really exciting because I know I'm going to be able to play my best because of the summer that I've had before this to be ready to you know, make it happen. So that was Caitlyn Kameski was a pleasure talking to her as well. Thought I might not get the interview, to be honest, she was doing another interview and you know, the whole double interview at the end of night when people are just trying to get the heck out of there and go get some rest. I'm always a little bit worried they're going to say no. Of course, you know full respect that, you know, everyone's allowed to say no. It's not a big deal. But I was a little bit worried. I did want to talk to her, So thank you Caitlin for taking the time there. As I mentioned, five hundred and thirty three players remain, they are all guaranteed thirty two thousand, five hundred dollars. It's either ar tomorch Erosion or Sam Swilim as the chip leader. Entering day five, there is going to be a pay jump of another twenty five hundred dollars up to thirty five. When they get down to four hundred and seventy six players left in the field. I'm guessing they'll finish with around two hundred or so on day five, maybe a little bit more. I was thinking today, you know, it kind of hit me and maybe I'm just getting a little bit too in my feelings about things. I was walking through the floor and I was like, man, like these these guys are like they're all they're all in it, Like all these players are. They're in it, They're deep, they're in it. Look at these stacks, like the payouts are starting to build, Like okay, like we're getting there. You know, there's there's under one thousand players left, there's under seven hundred players left, there's under six hundred players left. And then I was thinking, man, they still have so much further to go, Like it's you know, you have to go day five, Day six, day seven, day eight, and then if you ultimately want to get to the top of the mountain, you got to go through multiple days of a final table. I'm like this, there is still so much left this tournament, and that's that's what makes it so great, Like there's nothing is given in this tournament. You can be a chip leader and you can be out tomorrow. You can be a short sack and you can spin it and be a chip leader. You know, heading into day six, it can go any which way up, down, left, right, sideways, It does not matter. Okay. I mean this thing is just absolutely awesome. And if Day five is anything like Day four, and I'm speaking mostly about what we saw on the coverage, I mean, good lord, the hands that were played, you would honestly think that the decks were raked. It was banger after banger after banger, like big pairs, classic flips. There was a hand that was a set over set with an overpair of aces involved. It's just madness up there. And then of course you get all the crazy hands combined with the pressure of the moment, the characters that are involved, like all of it. Like, there is nothing like this tournament. And I really really. Hope that you know, what we do on this podcast can just give you guys a little taste of how freaking awesome it is. Don't forget to tune into the coverage when it happens. I know there's been a lot to be said about it being on the ESPN Plus or the app or whatever it's called. But tune in because ultimately, the more viewers that this thing gets, the better that it ultimately is for poker, and that's what we want to thrive, that's what we want to succeed. But we're getting down to it, boys and girls. It's going to be Friday. It's going to be day five of the WSP Main Event. Five hundred and thirty three players remain, and we are going My name is Donna Peters it's a pleasure as always, and I will talk to you guys on the next episode. Jenny