Joseph Hebert Leads 2020 WSOP Main Event Final Table

The final table of the 2020 WSOP Main Event at WSOP.com is set. Only nine players remain in the hunt for the title and Joseph “kolebar” Hebert is the chip leader.

A bumper crowd of 705 players bought into this tournament and created a $6,768,000 prize pool. The $9,600+$400 tournament is now the biggest tournament WSOP.com has ever run. Hebert has the chance to write himself into the site’s history books and bag a cool $1,553,256 prize.

Daniel “Bunzer07” Jordan burst the money bubble on Day 1. Both Jordan and Justin “cheersfive” Liberto got their stacks into the middle with ace-queen and a chopped pot looked likely. That was until three spades appeared on the board and Liberto held As-Qs!

Plenty of big names finished inside the money but short of glory. Six-time WSOP bracelet winner Daniel “DNegs” Negreanu was the highest-profile casualty. His 92nd place finish resulted in a $14,890 score.

Hebert finished Day 1 in 32nd place with 372,956 chips. This sum was way behind overnight chipleader Upeshka “gomezhamburg” De Silva. Da Silva already has three WSOP bracelets to his name.

Hebert Excels on Day 2

Day 2 was crammed tight with poker superstars, but many fell by the wayside before the final table.

Barry “puigmyfriend” Hutter, Ryan “Protential” Laplante, Nick “cashusklay” Schulman, and Galen “turkmalloy” Hall were early casualties. Darren “darrenelias” Elias, Ryan “BiTC0iN” Riess, Scott “ThatsPraxis” Seiver, and Anthony “nowb3athat” Spinella went deeper.

Spinella, in particular, burst the final table bubble. He only had two big blinds when he open-shoved from the button with Kd-Jc. Shawn “shades927” Stroke called with As-8c, flopped an ace and busted Spinella.

Hebert shone brightly on Day 2 and is the only returning player with an eight-figure stack. He bust all but one player from 15th place onwards. Hebert sits down at the live final table in Las Vegas with 13,052,534 chips. Stroke is his nearest river with 5,252,000 chips, half Hebert’s total.

Place	Player	Chips
1	Joseph “kolebear” Hebert	13,052,534
2	Shawn “shades927” Stroke	5,252,000
3	Ryan “Hagzzz021” Hagerty	5,071,572
4	Ye “YUAN365” Yuan	4,829,459
5	Michael “geNet1x_” Cannon	4,408,847
6	Gershon “jets613” Distenfeld	3,475,481
7	Ron “Samthedog76” Jenkins	2,476,746
8	Upeshka “gomezhamburg” D Silva	2,151,969
9	Harrison “Harridsond33” Dobin	1,581,392

Glory Awaits One The Nine Finalists

Each of the nine finalists is guaranteed at least $98,813 for their efforts but there’s more on the line than that. The runner-up becomes a millionaire, for example, while the champion nets $1,553,256. The champion then plays heads-up against Damian Salas, who won the international leg of this tournament, in a $1 million winner-takes-all heads-up clash, for the title of world champion and a WSOP Main Event bracelet.

Place	Prize
1	$1,553,256
2	$1,002,340
3	$529,258
4	$387,130
5	$286,963
6	$215,222
7	$163,786
8	$125,885
9	$98,813

Hebert has a great chance of winning this event; the ball is in his court. He has 41 WSOP cashes during his career, which total $344,297. Most of those cashes come from the WSOP Circuit in the United States.

The final table is the home for a handful of instantly recognizable players. De Silva has three bracelets to his name already. He returns second-last in chips but is incredibly talented so do not write off his chances.

Ryan “Hagzzz021” Hagerty is a seasoned professional player out of New Jersey. Stroke came close to winning an online WSOP bracelet in 2018 but ultimately finished second in a $365 buy-in event.

Play resumes on December 28 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Will Hebert win or will the chasing pack close in on him? Return to here on December 29 to find out.

Matthew Pitt

If it’s something you can play online for real money, chances are Matthew knows a bit about it. He’s been writing about slots, craps and poker for the better part of the last decade. He’s written for PokerNews, PartyPoker and many other respected online gambling websites during the last nine years.

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