Canadian Poker Pros running strong in WSOP Main Event Day 5
Poker players from Canada performing strong at 2018 WSOP Championship.
The World Series of Poker Main Event is the most prestigious poker tournament in the world. Action got underway last week, where a field 7,874 entrants began their mission towards WSOP fortune and fame. The near-record-breaking entries to the $10,000 buy-in event promises an overall prize pool of $74,015,600.
Hundreds of Canadian poker pros turned out to represent their nation. Now in Day 5 of the tournament, only 310 players remain, including 16 hometown heroes who are already guaranteed no less than a $37k slice of that lucrative pie.
Poker Players from Canada Performing Strong
Alexander Wong, native Ontarian and a regular at the Playground Poker Club in Kahnawake, Canada, was kicking butt and taking names going into Day 4. The Canadian poker pro had the 3rd highest chip count to start. His luck took a turn as the day wore on, but he’s still high in the counts coming into day 5. Wong has 1,916,000 chips, putting him in 61st position.
As Wong dropped in the count, other Canadian poker pros were rising. Frederik Salari and Ryan Rivers will start the day in the strongest representative positions. Salari, of Vancouver, B.C., is a relative new comer who’s been all over the felt in the 2018 WSOP. He finds himself in 22nd place with 2,664,000 chips. Hailing from Ontario, Rivers, who already has a half-million in live tournament cashes under his belt, is just one seat behind Salari in 23rd, holding 2,652,000.
A bit further down the list in 35th place is Charancy Khun of Laval, Quebec; another Canuck who honed his skills at Playground Poker over the years. Khun’s claim to fame is his 2013 WPT Barcelona championship. With 2,253,000 chips, he should be a strong contender going in today’s action.
Eric Wasylenko (Winnipeg, MB) and Alex Livingston (Halifax, NS) aren’t far behind. Wasylenko, who’s been raking in sustainable cashes all over the world for the last two years, sits in 51st position with 2,064,000. Livingston, after just missing the final table in the 2013 WSOP Main Event (13th, $451,398) is hoping his 1,941,000 chips (56th place) will be enough to get him onto the elite final table in 2018.
Other Notable Mentions in 2018 WSOP Main Event
A few other Canadian poker pros still remain in the running. These guys and gals will need to pull some sensational tricks from their hats today to get back above average in the chip counts. They include:
| Name | Locality | Chips | Place |
| Umangi Dattani | Calgary, AB | 1,148,000 | 138th |
| Chad Ryan | Alberta | 1,039,000 | 155th |
| Johnathan Plens | Toronto, On | 923,000 | 178th |
| Jacob Kipfer | London, On | 905,000 | 183rd |
| Carter Swidler | Westmount, QB | 902,000 | 184th |
| Ema Zajmovic | Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, QB | 851,000 | 191st |
| Matthew Klapstein | Edmonton, AB | 839,000 | 194th |
| Scott Wilson | Vancouver, BC | 803,000 | 199th |
| Scott Davies | Vancouver, BC | 347,000 | 287th |
| Chi Chan | Vancouver, BC | 340,000 | 291st |
Kristen Bicknell Elimination on Day 4
Also worth mention was yesterday’s elimination of Kristen Bicknell, the most popular female poker player in Canada—if not the entire world. She plummeted in the count early on, risking half her stack on a promising hand that she ultimately folded on the river.
Bicknell didn’t leave empty handed though. Finishing 492nd, she claimed $26,535, more than doubling her entry fee and bringing her career live tournament earnings to over $2.15 million. Like the rest of us, she’ll be cheering for poker players from Canada to take down the championship next week.
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