Daniel Negreanu ended Day 6 of the WSOP Main Event in 9th place on the leaderboard with a chip stack of 8,495,000.
Negreanu has over $30 million in live tournament winnings—more than any other playe in the world—and is the Global Poker Index’s Player of the Decade.
Negreanu is one of 27 players across three tables still in the Main Event—and he faces some heavyweight competition. The chip leader for Day 7 is Thomas “Butters” Kearney, with 14,400,000 chips. He’s a regular $1/$2 and $2/$4 cash game player on WSOP.com.
“From here on out it almost feels like I’m on a freeroll. If I crush and win it, that’s amazing, if I don’t there’s more money every single pay jump. I hope for the best obviously,” he told PokerNews.
In fourth place is Joseph McKeehen, a WSOP circuit regular with over $1.1 million in WSOP winnings. And just behind Neagreanu in 10th place is long time pro and personality Justin “StealthMunk” Schwartz, with 7,510,000 chips.
Also still in contention is WSOP bracelet holder Max Steinberg, who slipped back during the day’s play and is now one of the short stacks with 3,290,000 chips. But one double up, and he’s back in with the leaders.
Day 6 also some big name casualties. Brian Hastings failed to make it through after running K-K into A-A, and Justin Bonomo lost his chance of Main Event glory after losing a flip with A-T against 9-9.
The last lady in the Main Event busted out in 29th place when Kelly Minkin headed for the rail to claim her prize money of $211,821. She was the only woman to survive to Day 6.
Negreanu is the foremost member of Team PokerStars, which has been quietly insinuating its brand into play at the Rio. Brazilian soccer star and PokerStars Ambassador Neymar Jr dropped in to see how play was going, and was lucky enough to have his photo taken with Phil Hellmuth Jr —or was that the other way around?
The November Nine—the final table players who will return to play down to a victor—will be named today. All will win over $1 million in prize money, and soon become household names to everyone in the poker world.
Daniel Negreanu is already in the Poker Hall of Fame, and already a household name, but he has never won the Main Event. Despite all his other achievements, making the final table of the Main Event is still as much a dream for him as it is for every other play who will start the day.
