Chan, Nguyen still competing as World Series of Poker field thins to 450

2 former champs left in World Series of Poker

LAS VEGAS — Two former World Series of Poker champions were still competing for millions in the main event Wednesday as the top 4.3 percent of the field battled for spots at the final table.

Just 312 players remained in the no-limit Texas Hold ‘em tournament after five hours of play, including 1998 champion Scotty Nguyen and two-time champion Johnny Chan.

Nguyen and Chan, two of the biggest names in poker, stayed relatively quiet at the start of their fifth session. Chan dropped below 1 million chips but built back to 1.28 million by the dinner break while Nguyen’s stack dropped after losing a race with pocket queens.

He rebuilt it to 572,000 by the break, but it was below the tournament average of 703,750 chips.

Both still had plenty in their stacks to bluff, trap and grind their way to a bigger payday. Each of the 574 players who started the session were guaranteed at least $24,079.

During the first hour of play, 74 players were eliminated — more than one per minute.

But players began taking even longer to make big decisions, resulting in some opponents calling the clock to force a play. The move gives players one minute to make a decision, tracked by a tournament official.

Among the big stacks were Matt Affleck, who finished 80th in the tournament last year, Phil Galfond, an online poker sensation known by his handle “OMGClayAiken” and James Carroll, who has cashed twice already during this world series. Affleck was one of seven players with more than 2 million chips at the dinner break.

Chips have no monetary value. A player must lose all his or her chips to be eliminated.

Top prize in the main event is $8.94 million, with the final table to be determined this weekend. The final nine players will take a break until November to allow weekly television coverage of the tournament to catch up with the play.

Last year’s winner, Joe Cada, won $8.55 million.

Each of 7,319 entries cost $10,000. The tournament started July 5 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.