The WPT World Championship kicks off with Day 5 action at midday, with just 45 players remaining from a field of 3,835 entrants. Those players still in the hunt have locked up $111,300 for their efforts thus far, but will all have their eyes on the $5,678,000 top prize.
PokerOrg will continue to bring you all the latest, up-to-the-minute coverage via our Instant Feed, and ahead of the shuffle-up-and-deal, here are the players to watch.
1. Princess Love
Princess Love, a wildly popular reality TV star on the show Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood and wife of R&B singer Ray-J, has made quite a splash in the poker world recently. At the StormX Invitational back in September, Love finished in 2nd place for $80,156, her largest-ever live tournament cash at the time.
Now, she's locked up a new personal best payday and still has millions of dollars to play for. Love's chip stack--3,625,000--may be on the shorter side of the averages, but she's made it this far for a reason and a spin-up can happen at any moment. Her 3.8 million Instagram followers will be willing it to happen. She's sat next to the only other woman left in the field today, and you can read more about her below.
2. The Foxens
Alex Foxen and Kristen Foxen, the end-bosses of the poker couples subsection of the community, are both still in the running headed into Day 5.
After sitting next to one another at the feature table on yesterday's live stream, the Foxens have a reprieve from one another on Day 5, which might save a few arguments later on.
Imagine if they both made the final table? There's a bonding experience most married couples wouldn't even think to dream about.
It's not out of the realm of possibility, but it won't be easy. Alex has some work to do with his 4,425,000 remaining chips, but Kristen's 10,300,000 chips have her sitting somewhat comfortably. They have made it heads-up before, but not for this sort of money.
3. Chris Moorman
Chris Moorman, an online poker legend hailing from the United Kingdom, may be the most well-known player on this list.
Moorman crushes not only the online streets--he's the all-time leader in online earnings--but also in the live realm, with a WSOP bracelet to his name and over $6,000,000 in live tournament cashes. Currently, Moorman represents ACR Poker as one of its Team Pros, alongside his wife, poker professional Katie Lindsay.
With 10,200,000 chips, Moorman finds himself in a great spot to make an even deeper run, but will have to contend with fellow Brit Ben Heath, one half of the Foxen duo and Princess Love at his table today.
4. Mark 'Moustache Mark' Mounsey
Mark ‘Moustache Mark’ Mounsey from Calgary, Canada is your chip leader and he’s not phased about it at all. He might not have many live cashes--$33,000 in total--but he’s played a lot online and he’s treating this in just the same way.
We caught up with him last night after he bagged the biggest and he was remarkably chilled about the whole deal.
“I’m feeling pretty good considering I’m in on a satellite,” he said. “Honestly, I don’t feel many nerves, I’ve played tens of thousands of tournaments online so to me it’s just another tournament, just with a lot more money up top. I’ll just go back to my room, order some food, watch a movie, go to sleep and wake up and do it all over again.”
It’s exactly the right attitude, but would you be able to treat leading in the final 45 here, with $5,678,000 up top, the same way you play a $215 online? We’ll be keeping a very close eye on Mounsey today.
5. Ren Lin
Ren Lin has emerged as one of poker's most entertaining personalities over the last few years. His talkative, engaging play style tends to be a hit amongst both audiences and players alike. While he might not appear the most serious at the table, he's a machine when it comes to live tournaments--nearly $8,000,000 in live cashes, good for third on China's all-time money list.
Lin represents GGPoker as a member of its GGTeam China and has become a near-permanent fixture in the PokerGO Studio, with his No Gamble, No Future philosophy taking the Studio by storm.
Lin's disarming presence at the table has served him well thus far and his 17,750,000 chips provides him with plenty of ammunition to battle with later today.
Day 5 table and seat draw
| Table-Seat | Player | Chips |
| 212-1 | Cedric Schwaederle | 7,200,000 |
| 212-3 | Sergio Castellucio | 8,275,000 |
| 212-3 | James Chen | 9,000,000 |
| 212-4 | Henrique Zanetti | 7,450,000 |
| 212-5 | Paulius Vaitiekunas | 5,800,000 |
| 212-7 | Young Eum | 8,250,000 |
| 212-8 | Ben Jacobs | 16,425,000 |
| 213-1 | Georgios Sotiropoulos | 7,950,000 |
| 213-2 | Ardit Kurshumi | 3,075,000 |
| 213-3 | Daniel Sepiol | 2,800,000 |
| 213-4 | Eric Blair | 4,675,000 |
| 213-5 | Krisztian Ferenc Torok | 3,675,000 |
| 213-6 | Robert Georato | 9,425,000 |
| 213-7 | Mateus Carrion | 8,100,000 |
| 213-8 | Andrei Boghean | 6,800,000 |
| 214-1 | Bodgan Chornyy | 3,225,000 |
| 214-2 | Roberto Romanello | 4,050,000 |
| 214-3 | Jason Min | 5,675,000 |
| 214-4 | Ade Olonoh | 7,300,000 |
| 214-5 | Mihai Ilioi | 2,600,000 |
| 214-6 | Ankit Ahuja | 6,950,000 |
| 214-7 | Mark Mounsey | 18,725,000 |
| 214-8 | Alex Foxen | 4,425,000 |
| 222-1 | Artur Martirosian | 11,250,000 |
| 222-2 | Maria Navarro | 12,225,000 |
| 222-3 | Neel Murthy | 5,000,000 |
| 222-4 | Noel Rodriguez | 13,925,000 |
| 222-5 | Alex Jauregui | 12,075,000 |
| 222-7 | Raphael Blouet | 17,450,000 |
| 222-8 | John Richards | 6,950,000 |
| 223-1 | Viet Vo | 2,200,000 |
| 223-2 | Andres Campero | 5,175,000 |
| 223-3 | Ren Lin | 17,750,000 |
| 223-4 | Simone Adrian | 3,200,000 |
| 223-5 | Andrew Lichtenberger | 11,100,000 |
| 223-7 | Tjan Tepeh | 9,475,000 |
| 223-8 | Naj Ajez | 14,600,000 |
| 224-1 | Ben Heath | 16,600,000 |
| 224-2 | Carl Shaw | 3,350,000 |
| 224-3 | Chris Moorman | 10,200,000 |
| 224-4 | Maxime Chilaud | 17,900,000 |
| 224-5 | Robert Gentile | 5,550,000 |
| 224-6 | Princess Love | 3,625,000 |
| 224-7 | Kristen Foxen | 10,300,000 |
| 224-8 | Robert McLaughlin | 6,225,000 |
Day 5 of the WPT World Championship kicks off at 12:00pm PT, with a live stream on the WPT YouTube channel starting at 2:00pm PT.
