WSOP Day 48: Brian Hastings Hunting for Back-to-Back Titles in the $3K H.O.R.S.E.

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Jul 15, 2019 7 min read Last updated Dec 19, 2019

It's the final countdown for the 50th annual World Series of Poker with the festival scheduled to end tomorrow. The last event kicks off on today's Day 48 with the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em giving players on the sidelines one final chance to chase WSOP gold.

In addition to this event, there are five others in motion, including the one poker fans from around the world have their eyes on in the 2019 WSOP Main Event. The tournament is down to just five players with Hossein Ensan in the lead and Garry Gates not too far behind. Mainstream sports fans around the world will be watching the final table as it plays out on a short delay on ESPN with hole cards exposed.

The $3,000 Pot Limit Omaha 6-Handed event is down to a final table of six with Millard Hale and John Richards entering the action with the biggest stacks.

The $1,500 The Closer is another event scheduled to end today with Tam Nguyen in the chip lead and four-time bracelet winner Shaun Deeb in the top three in chip counts. However, this event could end tomorrow with 198 players remaining.

In other news, four-time bracelet winner Brian Hastings is near the top of the chip counts entering the penultimate day of the $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. event and Anuj Agarwal leads the final 16 players in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed Championship.

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

Event #73: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT - World Championship

The original plan yesterday was to play down from nine to six players out of the original field of 8,569 entrants. However, yesterday's Day 8 ended after just 56 hands throughout a tad more than 3 hours with only five players remaining. The original plan for today was to play down to three players, but this is subject to change based on the flow of play.

Hossein Ensan, who entered the final table with the chip lead, will come back today at 6:30 p.m. PDT with blinds at 600,000/1,200,000 and a big blind ante of 1,200,000 once again on the top of the pack with 207,700,000 in chips.

Garry Gates also chipped up yesterday and will start the day with 171,700,000 in chips with the top two players holding approximately 75 percent of the chips in play.

Also still in contention for the title of 2019 WSOP Main Event champion are Kevin Maahs (66,500,000), Alex Livingston (45,800,000), and Dario Sammartino (23,100,000).

Read our dedicated WSOP Main Event Day 8 recap

2019 WSOP Main Day 9 Seat Draw

2019 WSOP Main Final Table Payouts

After yesterday's eliminations of Milos Skrbic (ninth - $1,000,000), Timothy Su (eighth - $1,250,000), Nick Marchington (seventh - $1,525,000), and Zhen Cai (sixth - $1,850,000), the remaining five players are each guaranteed a $2,200,000 payout. The winner will go home with a cool $10,000,000 and the coveted WSOP Main Event gold bracelet.

Event #84: The Closer - $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em

The three opening flights attracted 2,337 entrants with about half coming from yesterday's Day 1c field. Today's action is scheduled to feature the second and final day. However, even with 30-minute blind levels, it is possible a third day will need to be added tomorrow with 196 players remaining.

Today's action kicks off at noon PDT with blinds at 8,000/16,000 and a big blind ante of 16,000 with Tam Nguyen in the lead after bagging 1,284,000 on Day 1c. Also with at least 1 million in chips to start today are Day 1a chip leader Roman Korenev (1,198,000), Day 1b chip leader and 2018 WSOP Player of the Year Shaun Deeb (1,172,000), Denis Gnidash (1,058,000), and Griffen Abel (1,000,000).

Event #84: The Closer - $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Leaderboard

Event #85: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed

This event will award a bracelet today with just six players remaining out of the original field of 835 entrants. The action resumes today at noon.

Each of the six remaining players is battling for their first career bracelet. Millard Hale drives pole position to enter the final table with 5,480,000 in chips with John Richards close on his tail with 4,800,000 in chips.

Alan Sternberg (2,625,000) and Evangelos Kokkalis (2,525,000) are in the middle of the pack, while Ka Kwan Lau (695,000) and Joseph Cheong (650,000) coming into play as the short stacks.

Event #85: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed Final Table Seat Draw

Event #85: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed Final Table Payouts

The final six players are each guaranteed a $64,722 payout with the winner going home with their first bracelet and the $448,392 top prize.

Event #86: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed Championship

Another 24 players joined in on the action before the start of yesterday's Day 2 to grow the field to 272 entrants for a $2,556,800 prize pool. The field is down to just 16 players to start today's Day 3 at 2 p.m. PDT with each player guaranteed a $28,618 payout and their eyes on the bracelet and the $630,747 top prize.

The plan for today is to play down to six players. However, this could change depending on the pace of play and is at the tournament director's discretion.

Anuj Agarwal enters the action with a chip leading stack of 2,171,000 in chips with blinds at 10,000/20,000 and a big blind ante of 20,000 and increasing every hour. Also in the top five on the leaderboard are Markus Gonsalves (1,777,000), Jeffrey Trudeau (1,651,000), Eric Kurtzman (1,311,000), and Vicent Bosca Ramon (1,125,000).

Two bracelet winners are in the hunt to add their second with Ben Heath bagging a healthy stack of 937,000 in chips and Gal Yifrach bringing in the shortest stack into play with 319,000 in chips.

Event #87: $3,000 H.O.R.S.E.

Yesterday's opening day in this three-day event attracted 301 entrants to create an $812,700 prize pool with tomorrow's winner going home with a bracelet and the $206,173 top prize.

The tournament keeps players on their toes with the games rotating within the one hour blind levels between the following games.

• Limit Hold'em
• Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better
• Razz
• Stud
• Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better

The action resumes today at 2 p.m. PDT with 127 players remaining of which 46 are guaranteed at least a $4,673 min-cash.

Harold Klein enters the action with a chip leading stack of 123,200. Also bagging six-figure stacks were bracelet winner Justin Liberto (116,900), bracelet winner Yueqi Zhu (115,000), David Levi (108,200), bracelet winner Christopher Wallace (108,000), and Nicolas Milgrom (101,500).

Meanwhile, defending champion Brian Hastings ran his 20,000 starting stack to a healthy 89,000. Last year, Hastings finished on top of a field of 354 players to win his fourth bracelet and the $233,202 top prize.

Event #89: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em

This is the final event to kick off at the 50th annual WSOP today at noon PDT. The tournament is scheduled for two days and should be fast-paced with 30-minute blind levels.

Players will start with a stack of 30,000 in chips with blinds at 100/100 and a big blind ante of 100. Players can reenter once until late registration closes at the beginning of Level 13 and are scheduled to bag chips after 20 blind levels.

Those that survive are scheduled to battle until one player remains starting tomorrow at noon PDT.

Last year's event proved to be historic with Phil Hellmuth notching his record fifteenth bracelet after finishing on top of 452 entrants to win the $485,082 top prize.

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