WSOP Day 4: Ali Imsirovic Leads the $50,000 High Roller

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Jun 01, 2019 5 min read Last updated Dec 19, 2019

Yesterday's Day 4 of the World Series of Poker featured four events with the second gold bracelet awarded when ARIA poker dealer Nicholas Haynes topped a field of 686 runners to win Event #1: $500 Casino Employees Event for $62,345.

In addition to the three continuing events, today's fourth day of the series will also feature the start of Event #6: $2,500 Limit Mixed Triple Draw.

PokerGO and CBS All Access will not be broadcasting since none of the events have reached a final table. This will be the only day in the entire month of June that poker fans will not be able to watch any of the action via live stream. PokerNews will be covering all the action, so be sure to follow our coverage.

Here's what's on tap today, in the daily What to Watch For on PokerNews, sponsored by 888poker.

Event #3: BIG 50 - $500 No-Limit Hold'em

Both Day 1b kicked off at 11 a.m. PST followed by Day 2a. The latter was originally scheduled for 2 p.m., was rescheduled to 5 p.m., but ultimately only got underway well after 6 p.m.. The attendance thus far has been off the charts with 6,095 players entering on Thursday's Day 1a followed by another 6,048 on yesterday's Day 1b for 12,143 entrants in total thus far with two more opening flights to go starting with Day 1c today at 10 a.m. PST.

The Day 1c is already sold out to capacity, so those interested in entering or reentering should consider preregistering for Sunday's Day 1d flight.

After 13 hour-long levels of play, Matthew Keegan ended Day 1b with the flight's chip lead after bagging 902,000 in chips. This is slightly less than the 932,000 that Day 1a chip leader Cosimo Bisogno managed to accumulate two days ago.

Other players bagging top five stacks on the second opening flight included Alexander Kartveli (892,000), Glenn Swanlund (869,000), Corel Theuma (849,000), and Chiajung Liu (846,000).

They will be joined by WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hui (414,000), 2017 WSOP Player of the Year Chris Ferguson (345,000), Joel Smith (305,000), Viliyan Petleshkov (264,000), Jake Schwartz (257,000), Jamie Kerstetter (115,000), and many others in the Day 2b field with the 1,269 remaining Day 1b players resuming action today at 7 p.m. PST or two hours later than the originally published starting time of 5 p.m. PST.

Notables hitting the rail on Day 1b included Matt Affleck, Kou Vang, Allen Cunningham, and Dan O'Brien. These players and everyone else that didn't advance thus far in an opening flight will have two more chances to reenter on Day 1c and Day 1d if they so choose.

Meanwhile, the Day 2a field battled for 10 levels with 316 players bagging chips into Day 3 on Thursday, June 5. Russia's Mikhail Vilkov bagged the Day 2a chip lead with 3,475,000 followed by Joshua Thibodaux with 3,215,000 and Amer Tobey with 3,025,000.

Among those not to survive Day 2a were Roberly Felicio, Antoine Saout, Greg Mueller, Jonathan Tamayo, Steven van Zadelhoff, Maurice Hawkins, Jacob Baumgartner, Loni Harwood, and the Massey brothers; Aaron and Ralph.

Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better

Yesterday witnessed 373 players out of the original 853 entrants compete down to just 46 players with Richard Fuller bagging the chip lead with a stack of 474,000.

Fuller has found WSOP success in the past. In 2007, he took third place in a $1,500 No Limit Hold'em bracelet event for $247,518 for even slightly more than the $228,228 he can win in this event if he manages to parlay his chip lead into a bracelet.

Also bagging top five stacks heading into the penultimate day were Clifford Schinkoeth (448,000), Tom McCormick (400,000), John Espositio (350,000), and David Halpern (349,000).

Notable players to advance to Day 3 include Ben Yu (294,000), Scott Abrams (240,000), four-time bracelet winner Mike Matusow (215,000), Andrey Zaichenko (187,000), four-time bracelet winner Jeff Madsen (125,000), Andrew Barber (111,000), and three-time bracelet winner John Monnette (71,000).

Meanwhile, David Benyamine (68th - $2,996), Steven Wolansky (72nd - $2,996), Michael Chow (74th - $2,714), Philip Long (83rd - $2,504), Owais Ahmed (85th - $2,504), Luis Velador (95th - $2,355), Eli Elezra (97th - $2,355), Scott Bohlman (99th - $2,355), Nick Kost (101st - $2,257), and James Woods (110th - $2,257) were all able to cash on Day 2 but go no further.

Today's Day 3 will feature hour-long blind levels with the action continuing until there are just six players remaining, each guaranteed a $37,063 payout. The fourth and final day will then be broadcasted on Sunday, June 2 starting at 1 p.m. on CBS All Access in the United States and on PokerGo in the rest of the world.

Event #5: 50th Annual High Roller - $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em

As expected, the 50th Annual High Roller attracted some of the biggest names in the game with a hefty $50,000 price tag. Thus far, a total of 92 entrants got in on the action with more to follow as late registration is open until the end of Level 12; the fourth blind level of today's Day 2. In addition, players can reenter once until late registration is closed.

Ali Imsirovic (lead image) will enter Day 2 with the chip lead after bagging 1,549,000 for more than five-times the starting stack. Imsirovic already had one close call to win his first WSOP bracelet after finishing runner-up in Event #2: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Super Turbo Bounty in a brutal fashion after he was near even in chips with Brian Green and his kings couldn't hold against ace-nine with two nines hitting the board.

Also finishing in the top five on the Day 1 leaderboard were Ben Heath (1,180,000), Barry Hutter (1,081,000), Dmitry Yurasov (1,000,000), and Chance Kornuth (999,000).

Jeremy Ausmus, Dan Shak, Andre Akkari, Ryan Laplante, and Andrew Robl were among the players eliminated on Day 1 but can still reenter if they so choose on Day 2. Unfortunately, this is not the case for Alex Foxen who already fired both of his bullets only to come up empty.

Event #6: $2,500 Limit Mixed Triple Draw

Lowball fans are in for a treat with this tournament featuring three different lowball variants in A-5, 2-7, and Badugi. Each of the games will allow players to draw three-times as the tournament name suggests.

The three-day event kicks off at 3 p.m. PST. Players will battle it out for 10 hour-long blind levels on Day 1 with 15,000 in starting chips, an increase from the 12,500 players began last year's event with. If players don't find initial success, they can reenter once until the late-registration period closes at the conclusion of Level 8.

Last year's event attracted 321 entrants to generate a $722,250 prize pool. Germany's Johannes Becker won his first WSOP bracelet for $180,455 after defeating two-time WSOP bracelet winner Scott Seiver in heads-up play.

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• Tags 888poker Alex Foxen Allen Cunningham Andre Akkari Andrew Robl Chance Kornuth Chris Ferguson Dan O'Brien Dan Smith David Benyamine Eli Elezra Jeff Madsen Jeremy Ausmus Mike Matusow Russia Scott Seiver World Series of Poker Team PokerNews WSOP
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• Related Players Allen CunninghamChris FergusonMike MatusowJeff MadsenDavid BenyamineScott Seiver