2019 WSOP Day 4: Never-Ending Big 50

Written by Jennifer Newell

Last updated on June 2nd, 2019

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Another day of the Big 50 anniversary tournament at the 2019 World Series of Poker, another day of somewhat-orderly chaos throughout the Rio Convention Center in Las Vegas.

On Saturday, June 1, this is what happened.

Event 3:  $500 Big 50 NLHE – Day 2B & 1C

Entries:  more than 19,000

Prize pool:  TBD ($5 million guaranteed)

Players paid:  TBD

Day 2A players remaining:  unclear

Day 2B players remaining:  521

Day 2A chip leader:  Mikhail Vilkov (Russian Federation) – 3,475,000 chips

Day 2B chip leader:  Jerald Willilamson (USA) – 4,105,000 chips

Day 3 starting time:  11am on Wednesday, June 5

Day 1D starting time:  10am today

Event 4:  $1,500 Omaha-8 Hi-Lo – Day 3 of 4

Total entries:  853

Prize pool:  $1,151,550

Players paid:  128

Minimum payout:  $2,257

Winner payout:  $228,228

Day 3 players remaining: 7

Final table chip counts:

John Esposito (USA) – 2,330,000 chips

Jason Berilgen (USA) – 2,145,000 chips

Derek McMaster (USA) – 1,775,000 chips

David Halpern (USA) – 1,270,000 chips

Joseph Aronesty (USA) – 855,000 chips

Ben Yu (USA) – 290,000 chips

Tom McCormick (USA) – 85,000 chips

Final table payouts thus far:

8^th place:  Shannon Shorr (USA) – $20,760

9^th place:  Patrick Leonard (UK) – $15,897

Day 4 starting time:  12noon

Event 5:  $50K 50^th Annual NLHE High Roller – Day 2 of 4

Total entries:  110

Prize pool: $5,280,000

Players paid:  17

Minimum payout:  $75,789

Winner payout:  $1,484,085

Day 2 players remaining:  12

Chip leader:  Ben Heath (UK) – 5,255,000 chips

Day 2 starting time:  2pm

Event 6:  $2,500 Limit Mixed Triple Draw – Day 1 of 3

#WSOP50 Event 6: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball, consisting of A-5 Lowball, 2-7 and Badugi, starts at 3pm.

Players have 8 levels of late registration and one re-entry. pic.twitter.com/IwSIQt7Au6

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 1, 2019

Total entries:  296

Prize pool:  $666,000

Players paid:  45

Minimum payout:  $3,737

Winner payout:  $160,447

Day 1 players remaining:  112

Chip leader:  Jake Schwartz (USA) – 117,600 chips

Day 2 starting time:  2pm

Notable Information

The third starting day of the Big 50 anniversary tournament offered only seats for late registrants and those willing to wait for seats. The field had become bigger than anyone anticipated, complete with monstrous registration lines, daily tournaments cancelled due to a lack of space, and tables scattered throughout the casino.

Sunday will be the last day of new players in the Big 50, and it is likely to become the largest field ever assembled in live poker. But players should prepare for more chaos until the field thins.

We have over 19,000 players in through 3 starting flights. Expect to add 8,000 more today, making this the largest live poker tournament ever.

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 2, 2019