Event #65: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT - World Championship

Poker isn't known for being an activity that's affected by the elements, but the weather came into play on Day 5 of the 2018 World Series of Poker Main Event.

A storm hit Las Vegas, with the first serious rainfall of the summer arriving along with howling winds. The Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino took the hit hard. Power died in the event center and emergency lighting activated about an hour before players were scheduled to bag.

Tournament supervisors announced there would be a 10-minute break while they figured out how to react to the situation. Although the lights came on just as the 10 minutes were up, the supervisors announced everyone was bagging up in the Main and they'd return as scheduled for Day 6 at 11am Tuesday, July 10.

That means 109 players still remain after finishing out their final hands of the night in darkness. Foremost among them in terms of chip count is Michael Dyer. The Houston native finished with 12,180,000 to give him a wide lead over second-place Brian Yoon — the two-time bracelet winner bagged 8,395,000.

"It was pretty swingy early on, but then I moved to the feature table and just skyrocketed," Dyer said when asked about his day."

The key hand occurred there on the stream, during the last level that fully played out, 25,000/50,000/5,000. Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy opened for 110,000 under the gun, Dyer three-bet to 315,000 with ace-king suited and Josephy made it 815,000. Dyer shoved, barely covering Josephy's 3.8 million, and the former November Niner called it off with kings. Everything ran out clean for him until an ace hit the river.

"It's a trap hand," Dyer said. "He has so many chips that he can have whatever he wants to have. He had a really good hand, so I got lucky so that just happens sometimes. I just play hands. Whatever happens, happens."

Some other players still toting above-average stacks include Bart Lybaert (7,530,000), start-of-day leader Barry Hutter (5,695,000), two-time bracelet winner Eric Froehlich (5,365,000) and high roller regular Ivan Luca (4,580,000).

Notable eliminations among the 200 or so who went down on Day 5 included Jake Schindler, 888poker Ambassador Chris Moorman, Ben Yu, Paul Volpe, Antonio Esfandiari and Brian Altman.

Three notable storylines still remain in play heading into Day 6. While several women had pulses coming into the day, Kelly Minkin remains alone among a sea of male competitors.

"It means a lot to me," she said of the distinction. "All the women who were deep in the Main Event were amazing as well. I busted a few of them in the previous days, and it doesn't feel good because I'd like to see as many women as possible go deep in the Main, but it feels amazing to do it again."

Minkin finished 29th in 2015.

She had heaps early on after making some big hands but after peaking around 5 million, slid slowly from there until she bagged just 1,205,000.

"I definitely lost a lot of steam coming into the feature table and made a bunch of mistakes, so I'm really excited that we're bagging early," she said. "It means I can get a full night's rest and come back tomorrow and bag heaps."

Joe Cada is the only player remaining who knows what it's like to lift poker's most cherished prize, having won the 2009 Main Event. He had something of the opposite tack compared to Minkin as he came in with one of the shorter stacks and slowly worked his way to just a little under average with just under 3 million. He ran well in the all-in pots, winning two flips, so he remains in contention to pull off a nearly unthinkable feat of winning two WSOP Main Events in the modern era.

Finally, Benjamin Pollak is trying to become the latest player to make two straight Main Event final tables. Last year's third-place finisher for $3.5 million, the Frenchman finished with 5,715,000 and could join the likes of Mark Newhouse and Michael Ruane as players to advance to the final table in back-to-back years, although Ruane only made the unofficial final table as he busted in 10th in 2017.

Follow along with these stories and more as the Main Event continues to develop with coverage right here on PokerNews, starting at 11am with Level 26 (30,000/60,000/10,000) continuing where it left off when inclement weather hit.

The Tournament Director has announced that the players are taking a 10-minute break until 11:45 p.m.

By that time, there will be an update on the lighting situation or whether or not play will conclude for the night.

Mason Barrell checked a completed board of       from the big blind and Hyon Kim pushed all in for 870,000 from the button. Barrell was in there with a snap-call and Kim turned over    for trips. Barrell had rivered him with    though, and Kim sent his stack over and went to collect a payout.

Mason Barrell	4,200,000	2,020,000
Hyon Kim	0	-1,800,000

Catching the action on the flop of     with around 2,000,000 in the middle, Konstantin Beylin was all in for his last 2,380,000 against Steven Adams.

Konstantin Beylin:   
Steven Adams:   

The turn and river landed the   and  , and Beylin doubled to nearly 7 million in chips.

Konstantin Beylin	6,930,000	3,630,000
Steven Adams	1,010,000	-4,375,000

Tony Miles opened to 135,000 from the cutoff, Peter Nguyen reraised all in for 1,115,000 from the button and Miles tanked for a bit before he called with   . Nguyen held   .

The board came down      , safe for Nguyen to double up.

Tony Miles	6,000,000	-1,515,000
Peter Nguyen	2,400,000	900,000

There was a bit more than 300,000 in the pot on a flop of     when Dan Wilson checked over to Victor Pedote Dos Santos. Santos then moved all in for 460,000 total and Wilson thought for a good while before calling.

Dan Wilson:   
Victor Pedote Dos Santos:   

The board completed with the   and the   giving Santos a full house and allowing him to double up back over a million chips.

Dan Wilson	2,650,000	-400,000
Victor Pedote Dos Santos	1,320,000	385,000

The action folded to John Cynn on the button, and he raised to 130,000. Hector Dominguez-Depaz called in the small blind, as did Laurynas Levinskas in the big.

The flop landed     and Cynn continued for 160,000. Dominguez-Depaz called, and Levinskas folded.

The turn fell the   and after a check from Dominguez-Depaz, Cynn bet 480,000. Dominguez-Depaz called again, and when the river landed the  , he checked for a third time.

Cynn slid out two full stacks of chips amounting to a bet of 1,250,000, and after about two minutes of deliberation, Dominguez-Depaz called.

Cynn tabled his    for the flopped nut straight, and Dominguez-Depaz mucked.

John Cynn	4,835,000	2,685,000
Laurynas Levinskas	3,105,000	905,000
Hector Dominguez-Depaz	1,500,000	-2,200,000

Chris Da-Silva had raised from early position and saw Mason Barrell call on the button, and the big blind player defended. The flop came down    , and Da-Silva continued for 180k. Barrell called and the big blind folded.

The turn was the   and both players checked. When the   hit the river, Da-Silva fired big for 675k. It only took around 10 seconds for Barrell to make up his mind and he called. Da-Silva tabled    for a full house, and Barrell conceded the pot.

Chris Da-Silva	3,800,000	900,000
Mason Barrell	2,180,000	-2,095,000

After a limp from one player, Brian Altman moved all in for a bit less than a million. Action folded to Nirath Rean who called in the cutoff. Everyone else folded including the limper so it was on to a showdown.

Brian Altman:   
Nirath Rean:   

The board ran out       and that would be it for Altman who started the day third in chips. Rean raked in the pot and moved over four million in chips.

Nirath Rean	4,475,000	775,000
Brian Altman	0	-540,000