The field in the World Series of Poker Main Event includes a former champion and several other bracelet winners.
But it’s a local recreational player who tops the leaderboard after Day 6.
Tyler Gaston, a Clark County public defender, had 21 million chips when action in the $10,000 buy-in No-limit Hold’em World Championship was paused late Saturday at Paris Las Vegas.
The Main Event continues Sunday with Day 7, and 62 players remain from the starting field of 9,208. All the remaining players are guaranteed at least $150,000.
Gaston has an extensive poker resume, including a third-place finish in the $1,500 buy-in “Millionaire Maker” No-Limit Hold’em event in 2022. Primarily a cash-game player, Gaston also had a World Poker Tour title to his credit and has $781,918 in career live tournament earnings, according to the Hendon Mob Poker Database.
Gaston started the day with a top-10 stack and continued to chip up. He knocked out four-time bracelet winner Loren Klein in 72nd place and also eliminated three-time WSOP champion Dutch Boyd in 66th place during a key pot late.
Among the notable names still in the field is Todd Brunson. The Poker Hall of Fame member has 17 million chips and is in ninth place as he looks to join his late father Doyle Brunson as a Main Event champion. The Brunsons would be the first father-son duo to win the Main Event.
Nine-time bracelet winner Shaun Deeb also made a move and was sitting on 8.725 million chips, good for 26th place.
Deeb made no secret of the fact that he would rather bust the Main Event early so he could play other tournaments and chase points for the WSOP Player of the Year race. But he appears focused on making the final table now that he’s this deep.
Hossein Ensan, the 2019 Main Event champion, climbed the chip counts and was fifth with 17.775 million. The German is looking to become the first two-time Main Event winner since Johnny Chan (1987, 1988).
Top 10 Chips
1, Tyler Gaston 21,000,000
2, Blake Barousse 19,375,000
3, Zhao Liu 19,047,000
4, Mario Boos 17,950,000
5, Hossein Ensan 17,775,000
6, Rami Hammoud 17,400,000
7, Junjie Tang 17,300,000
8, Malcolm Trayner 17,200,000
9, Todd Brunson 17,000,000
10, Carlos Chadha Villamarin 16,825,000
Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on X.
