Day 5 of WSOP Main Event delivers fireworks

It will be hard to match the dramatic action that took place on Day 5 of the 2024 World Series of Poker $10,000 Main Event No-Limit Hold'em World Championship, but the remaining 160 players returning for Day 6 inside the Horseshoe Event Center will do their best as poker's biggest event gets closer to crowning a champion.

Leading the way for the third straight day is 2022 GPI Player of the Year Stephen Song, who seeks his second bracelet, another career year and to add to his more than $6 million in live earnings.

Song, who bagged 4,745,000 on Day 4 before running up a stack of 12,310,000 on Day 5, will have to fend off a trio of Portuguese pros who ascended to the top of the counts on Day 5: Carlos Caldas, Diogo Coelho and Manuel Machado. He will also have to contend with fellow Americans Yegor Moroz and Kevin Davis, as well as Ireland's Charles Russell, Mexico's Tomas Szwarcberg, Belgium's Laurent Manderlier and Sweden's Niklas "Lena900" Astedt, an online crusher recognized as one of the best in poker without a bracelet.

Day 6 Top Ten Chip Counts

Place Player Country Chip Count Big Blinds
1 Stephen Song United States 12,310,000 154
2 Carlos Caldas Portugal 12,110,000 151
3 Diogo Coelho Portugal 9,950,000 124
4 Yegor Moroz United States 9,470,000 118
5 Manuel Machado Portugal 8,830,000 110
6 Kevin Davis United States 8,675,000 108
7 Charles Russell Ireland 8,055,000 101
8 Tomas Szwarcberg Mexico 7,950,000 99
9 Niklas Astedt Sweden 7,900,000 99
10 Laurent Manderlier Belgium 7,500,000 94

Other notables who will be in the Day 6 field include Poker Hall of Famer Brian Rast, four-time bracelet winner Kristen Foxen, poker commentator Tony Dunst and high-stakes familiars Danny Tang, Ren Lin and Leonard Maue.

The field shrank significantly on Day 5 and saw some of poker's biggest names go, including Phil Ivey, Alex Livingston, Nacho Barbero, Alejandro Lococo and Adrian Mateos, who correctly folded kings before getting aces cracked in a brutal turn of events.

Day 6 kicks off today at noon local time on Level 26 with blinds of 40,000/80,000/80,000. It will follow the same schedule as previous days with five two-hour levels planned and 20-minute breaks after each level and a 75-minute dinner break scheduled after Level 28 at approximately 6:40 p.m.

Each returning player has locked up a payday of at least $70,000, while all eyes are on the eight-figure prize of $10 million up top.