Biggest $5,000 Main Event in WPT history brings back 39 players for Tuesday’s action
The payout ladder from the biggest $5,000 Main Event in the history of the World Poker Tour sees the prize money really start to escalate today.
Day 3 of the WPT Venetian $5,000 Main Event resumes at the Venetian Las Vegas, with 39 players coming back after surviving through Monday’s Day2 flight. Those 39 players will compete until only six remain.
The six-handed final table will play to its conclusion on Wednesday, July 7. Ari Oxman leads the field heading into the penultimate day, with 3,310,000 chips in his stack.
Oxman’s stack gives him 132 big blinds to work with heading into Day 3. The tournament resumes at Level 21 today, with the blinds/antes at 15,000/25,000/25,000.
Here’s a look at the top ten in the chip counts as the WPT Venetian $5,000 Main Event hits the home stretch today:
WPT Venetian $5,000 Main Event top ten chip counts (Day 3)
| Place | Player Name | Chip Count* |
| 1 | Ari Oxman | 3,310,000 |
| 2 | Tim McDermott | 3,120,000 |
| 3 | Mike Liang | 2,750,000 |
| 4 | Stephen Song | 2,735,000 |
| 5 | Sergii Baranov | 2,670,000 |
| 6 | Jason Koon | 2,435,000 |
| 7 | Arie Kliper | 2,135,000 |
| 8 | Nacho Barbero | 2,090,000 |
| 9 | Matt Bond | 1,945,000 |
| 10 | Landen Lucas | 1,850,000 |
Nine former WPT champions remain in a loaded 36-player field
Whoever ends up as the WPT Venetian Main Event champion will certainly have to earn that victory. Lurking in the top ten in the chip counts are names like Stephen Song (2,735,000), Jason Koon (2,435,000), and Jose Ignacio “Nacho” Barbero (2,090,000), just to name a few.
All players in the top ten chip counts heading into Day 3 look to claim their first career WPT championship. Just below the top ten, however, sit numerous players who already have their names etched on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup.
John Hennigan (1,680,000), Tony Dunst (1,550,000), Keven Stammen (940,000), and Pat Lyons (860,000) sit among the contingent of former WPT champions still in the hunt.
A total of nine former WPT champions remain in the Venetian $5,000 Main Event field. Rounding out that list are Tony Tran (750,000), Scotty Nguyen (730,000), Mike “The Grinder” Mizrachi (630,000), Harrison Gimble (580,000) and Ben Palmer (390,000).
Here’s a look at what the final six players have to look forward to at the end of today’s Day 3 action:
WPT Venetian $5,000 Main Event final table payout structure
| Place | Payout |
| 1 | $910,370 |
| 2 | $606,890 |
| 3 | $448,755 |
| 4 | $335,200 |
| 5 | $252,945 |
| 6 | $192,855 |
A total of 1,199 entries turned out for the WPT Venetian $5,000 Main Event, creating a $5,545,375 prize pool. Among the players exiting the tournament in the money on Monday were Chance Kornuth (42nd - $19,920), Jean Gaspard (45th - $19,920), Sean Perry (46th - $19,920), Jeremy Ausmus (49th - $17,345), Shawn Daniels (51st - $17,345) and Brock Wilson (52nd - $17,345).
Featured image source: Twitter
