The 2019 World Series of Poker $10,000 buy-in main event drew the second-largest field in its history, attracting 8,569 players. After three full days of tournament action, that field has already been narrowed down to just 1,286 players, all of whom are now in the money. The money bubble burst shortly before 1:00 a.m. local time when Ryan Pochedly called off the last of his stack with A-K on a 873K7 board, only to find out that his opponent Julian Pineda had made trips with his 76.

Pochedly was awarded entry into the 2020 main event as a consolation prize from the WSOP, along with a signature board in the shape of a bracelet that featured the signatures of many of the games biggest stars.

The 2019 World Series of Poker Event #19: $1,500 NL Millionaire Maker was the largest in history with 8,809 runners, which over the course of five days was reduced to just one. John Gorsuch completed an epic comeback being down to less than two big blinds seven handed to win the tournament for $1,344,930 and his first gold bracelet. Demo Kiriopoulos Wins 2019 World Poker Tour Fallsview Poker Classic Canadian Tops Record Field of 602 Entries To Win $517,424 CAD ($382,894 USD) by Erik Fast Published: Feb 26, 2019. PREVIOUS EARNINGS $233,973 Poker has a new World Champion! Hossein Ensan won the Main Event of the 2019 World Series of Poker late Tuesday night, earning $10,000,000 and poker’s most prestigious prize: the WSOP Main Event bracelet. 'This is the best feeling in my life,' Ensan said after the event with a huge smile.

With Pochedly’s elimination, the remaining 1,286 all locked up a minimum payday of $15,000, and are alive in this event with a shot at the championship bracelet and the top prize of $10,000,000.

Heading into day 4, Preben Stokkan holds the chip lead with 2,184,000. Other top stacks include Andrew Brokos (1,906,000), Ryan Dodge (1,800,000), WSOP bracelet winner Galen Hall (1,658,000), Cassio Pisapia (1,646,000) and Chris Hunichen (1,618,000).

There are several more big names with healthy stacks following the end of day 3, including Jean-Robert Bellande (1,126,000), Joseph Cheong (1,068,000), Jack Salter (1,015,000), Matt Stout (1,011,000), Max Silver (978,000), November Niner Eoghan O’Dea (946,000), two-time bracelet winner Eric Baldwin (916,000), Tom Cannuli (780,000_ Adam Levy (751,000), three-time bracelet winner Antonio Esfandiari (740,000) and Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier (727,000).

World Poker Tour 2019 Prize Money Winners

Three former winners of the main event are still alive with a chance of becoming repeat champions. 2013 WSOP main event winner Chris Moneymaker bagged up 681,000, 2016 champion Qui Nguyen ended with 669,000, and two-time main event champion Johnny Chan will come into day 4 with 498,000. Former champs to hit the rail on day 3 included Joe Hachem, Jim Bechtel, Scotty Nguyen and defending champion John Cynn.

Two-time WSOP main event ‘last woman standing’ Kelly Minkin spent much of her day at one of the three featured tables in the Amazon room. Minkin finished the day with 456,000, securing her third cash in this event in the last five years. She finished 29th in 2015 and 50th last year.

“I can’t say I’m surprised, because I expect myself to go deep every time I play the main event, but it’s a relief that we’re finally in the money,” said Minkin after play ended.

“I want to be the last person standing and win the main event, that would be incredible,” said Minkin when asked for her thoughts on being the last highest-finishing female player in this event multiple times. “But I do think there is something to say about being the last woman, given that I guess this year there were only 350 total women in the field. So, if how I finish and my success in this event can encourage other women to get into poker, that’s amazing.”

Among the 1,594 players that were eliminated on day 3 were plenty of notables like Igor Kurganov, Asi Mishe, Phil Hui, Loni Harwood, David Bach, Calvin Anderson, TJ Cloutier, and Nick Schulman, who was set-over-setted by Joseph Cheong to lose a huge chunk of his stack late in the day.

The final 1,286 players will return for day 4 at noon on Tuesday, July 9. Play was halted following the bursting of the bubble with 6 minutes and 26 seconds remaining at 3,000 – 6,000 blinds and a big blind ante of 6,000 for level 15.

Here is a look at the top ten stacks following the conclusion of day 3:

The 2019 World Poker Tour Fallsview Poker Classic $5,000 CAD buy-in no-limit hold’em main event attracted a record field of 602 entries, up from the previous high-water mark of 517 entries which was set just last year. The huge turnout created a total prize pool worth $2,744,518 CAD ($2,082,991 USD). After three long days of intense action, the sea of entrants was narrowed down to just one player: Demo Kiriopoulous. For the win the Canadian native earned his first WPT title and the $517,424 CAD ($382,894 USD) top prize, the largest payday of his live tournament career.

Prior to securing this title, Kiriopoulous’ largest score came when he finished sixth in the 2018 partypoker LIVEMILLIONS North America $5,300 CAD main event for $312,000 USD. With this latest score, his earnings have increased to $888,216.

In addition to the title and the money, Kiriopoulous was also awarded 1,680 Card Player Player of the Year points as the champion of this event. This was his first POY-qualified score of 2019, but it alone was enough to catapult him into a tie with PokerStars Players Championship fourth-place finisher Scott Baumstein for 13th place in the overall POY standings.

Kiriopoulous entered the third and final day of this event in 14th chip position with 19 players remaining. He survived through the first handful of eliminations before picking up pocket kings after Mark Zajdner had moved all-in from the hijack. Zajdner’s K10 was well behind and never caught up. Zajdner was sent to the rail in 13th place ($25,489 USD) while Kiriopoulous essentially doubled up.

Yuri Siniak was the next to clash with Kiriopoulous, with his pocket kings being cracked by the eventual champion’s 109. Siniak earned $31,927 USD as the tenth-place finisher and Kiriopoulous moved into seventh chip position with nine players remaining.

Kiriopoulous survived to the final six with a middling stack before going on the run that would see him claim the title. He surged into the lead with five players remaining, making the nut flush on the river against the turned nine-high straight of Andrew Pantling on an A957K board. Kiriopoulous fired a sizable bet of 1.7 million on the river and Pantling quickly called with his 8-6, only to muck when he was shown the AJ.

World Poker Tour 2019 Prize Money Winner

Jake Schwartz’s fourth WPT final-table appearance came to a close when he got all-in with the QJ against Kiriopoulous’ A8. Both players paired their highest card, but Kiriopoulous’ aces were enough to secure him the pot and the title. Schwartz took home $123,867 USD as the fourth-place finisher.

Three-handed play continued for 47 hands. Andrew Pantling began with the lead, but after losing a few key pots to Kiriopoulous, ultimately ended up hitting the rail in third place. He got his last chips in good, but his pocket kings did not hold up against the pocket deuces of Wing Yeung, who flopped a set and rivered a full house. With that Pantlin was sent to the rail with $172,671 USD.

Kiriopoulos took just over a 2-to-1 chip advantage into heads-up play against Yeung. The two players battled it out for 36 hands, but Kiriopoulos’ lead was never threatened as he was able to steadily wear his opponent down until the final hand arose. Yeung moved all-in for just over 9 big blinds from the button with the J6. Kiriopoulos quickly called with 1010. The board ran out A93710, giving Kiriopoulos a set on the river to lock up the pot and the title. Yeung earned $268,511 USD as the runner-up finisher.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Winner photo credit: WPT / Joe Giron.

World Poker Tour 2019 Prize Money Prize

World Poker Tour 2019 Prize Money Payout