Day 4 of the 2019 World Series of Poker main event was moving day, with less than one-third of the players who made it into the money bagging up chips at the end of the night.
Canada's Dean Monroe distanced himself from the pack with just shy of 5 million chips, but there's little to separate Denmark's Lars Bonding (4.04 million) in second and Baltimore's Andrew Brokos (3.518 million) in 10th -- and it's tight beyond that point as well.
One of the most interesting stories to evolve on Day 4 was that of former New England Patriots All-Pro defensive tackle Richard Seymour. He continued to build up his stack throughout the day Tuesday and finished the night in 35th place with 2.75 million -- well within striking distance of the lead pack. Seymour isn't playing on a lark, either; he had more than $500,000 in career tournament earnings coming into this event.
With only 354 players surviving for Day 5, something had to give. With former champions Chris Moneymaker (687th), Johnny Chan (560th) and Qui Nguyen (455th) all hitting the rail on Tuesday, we are guaranteed to have a first-time main event winner.
Daniel Hachem, a son of 2005 WSOP main event champion Joe Hachem, is still in the mix, as is long-established poker pro Todd Brunson, son of 1976 and 1977 main event winner Doyle Brunson.
Play resumes at 12 p.m. local time in Las Vegas at the Rio All Suite Hotel & Casino, with live coverage on ESPN from 8 p.m ET until 11 p.m. ET.
Players remaining: 354 (8,569 entries)
First place: $10 million
Prize pool: $80,548,600
Guaranteed payout: $34,845 (for 354th)
Top 10 chip counts
1. Dean Monroe (Dawson Creek, BC, Canada): 4.98 million
2. Lars Bonding (Denmark): 4.04 million
3. Michael Messick (Herndon, Virginia): 3.925 million
4. Warwick Mirzikinian (Mosman, New South Wales, Australia): 3.9 million
5. Henrik Hecklen (Aarhus, Denmark): 3.862 million
6. Mihai Manole (Bucharest, Romania): 3.781 million
7. Robert Heidorn (London): 3.7 million
8. Sean Mills (England): 3.692 million
9. Christopher Wynkoop (Peru, Indiana): 3.563 million
10. Andrew Brokos (Baltimore): 3.518 million