Wednesday was an important day at Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas as it was the day when the 2018 WSOP Main Event final table was set. As many as 26 players resumed play at the start of the tournament’s Day 7, but only the nine final tablists bagged and tagged for the night.

They will be led by Nicolas Manion from Michigan into the first day of the three-day final table action. The player accumulated a massive stack of 112.775 million on Wednesday to become one of just two players to bag over 100 million at the end of the day, Michael Dyer being the other one with 109.175 million.

The two players are a large gap ahead of the other remaining hopefuls. Tony Miles, the player who scooped the third largest stack last night, bagged a total of 42.75 million. Antoine Labat finished as the short stack with 8.05 million.

Manion, the overnight chip leader, has quite an interesting poker record. The player has played few live tournaments. He usually plays low-stakes cash games in his home state. Asked about how his life would change if he won the World Championship and the accompanying $8.8-million first-place prize, the player said that nothing would change substantially and that he would keep on playing the way he always has.

While there are nine players in contention and the chip leader is well ahead of most of these nine, there is one particular contender who will certainly has all eyes set on him. Joe Cada, the 2009 Main Event champ, is looking to repeat his feat and become the first two-time winner of the tournament in poker’s modern history.

Cada topped the field of the world’s most prestigious No-Limit Hold’em event when he was just 21. he later on scooped two more gold bracelets in the WSOP, one in 2014 and one just a couple of weeks ago.

If he wins the Main Event this year, Cada will join the likes of Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, and the late Johnny Moss as the players who have won two World Championship titles. And the late Stu Ungar was the last repeat Main Event winner. He claimed the final of his three titles back in 1997.

In 2009, Cada faced none other but Phil Ivey at the final table of the Main Event. While there are no players of Ivey’s celebrity status at this year’s final table, Cada will certainly have to fight fiercely for the title as the competition is tough. Poker has changed and developed a lot over the past nine years and so have game strategies. Cada himself admitted that he has a hard final table ahead and that all remaining players are extremely good.

Aside from Manion, Dyer, and Miles who comprise top three of the leaderboard, John Cynn (32.075 million), Alex Lynskey (25.925 million), Cada (23.675 million), Aram Zobian (18.875 million), Artem Metalidi (15.475 million), and Antoine Labat (8.05 million) are the other six players who are set to return at the host casino today at 5:30 pm local time to take their shot at the title. Day 8 action will last until there are just six contenders left.

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