2021 WSOP Day 9: FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver Headlines $10K Limit Final Table; Racener Leads

The ninth day of the 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP) saw the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino packed to the rafters thanks to six events taking place. Two of those tournaments crowned their champions, with the other four reaching various stages of play.

Harvey Mathews will have a weekend to remember after he won the $371,914 top prize in Event #13: $3,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em. Mathews also secured his first WSOP bracelet, of course.

Rafael Lebron was the other player who became a WSOP champion on Day 9. Lebron triumphed in Event #14: $1,500 Seven Card Stud. He captured the $82,262 top prize and his second bracelet, having taken down the $3,000 Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event in 2016.

Four other events marched towards their conclusions, including the $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship. John Racener leads that event, but there is a certain Nate Silver at the final table, which is sure to garner plenty of interest outside of the poker community. Silver is an elite statistician and writer whose analysis and systems have been used to predict a whole range of outcomes from sporting events through to the U.S. Presidential race.

This is only Silver's fourth WSOP cash — his previous three total $9,310 — but he is guaranteed a career-best score regardless of his finishing position. His systems correctly predicted 48 out of 50 states correctly in the 2020 election. PokerNews wonders where Silver has predicted he will finish in this $10,000 buy-in event.

John Racener Leads Stacked $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship Final Table

John Racener leads the way in Event #16: $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship where only ten players remain from the starting field of 92.

Day 2 lasted 13 hours, slightly longer than anticipated so that the field could be whittled to only ten players. Brian Rast’s elimination in the early hours of October 9 brought the curtain down on an action-packed day.

Racener was the clear chip leader when the dust settled, the former November Niner was the only player to finish with a seven-figure stack in front of them (1,090,000). The ball may be in Racener’s court right now, but he will not have matters his own way at a stacked final table.

Five of the final ten, including Racener, have WSOP bracelets on their poker resume. Jason Somerville (670,000), Kevin Song (515,000), Ray Dehkharghani (315,000), and triple winner John Monnette (270,000) are all gunning for glory.

Throw into the mix Eric Kurtzman (975,000), Scott Tuttle (650,000), FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver (440,000), and Terrence Chan (350,000) and you have all the ingredients of a classic showdown. There's $245,680 up top and the event kicks off at 4 p.m. PST.

Event #16: $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship Final Table Seating & Chip Counts

Jeremy Malod Leads Final 8 of Event #15: $1,500 6-Handed No-Limit Hold'em

Only eight players remain in contention to become the champion of Event #15: $1,500 6-handed No-Limit Hold’em after the 96 returning Day 2 players were whittled down over the course of ten levels.

With no former WSOP champions remaining in the field, this event will see a brand new addition to the gold bracelet fraternity. France’s Jeremy Malod will fancy his chances courtesy of finishing the evening with a tournament-leading stack of 7,570,000 chips.

None of the returning players have less than 21 big blinds, so all will fancy their chances of poker glory. Second in chip Bradley Jansen has the more favorable table draw because he is seated with the shorter stacks of the tournament.

Event #15: $1,500 6-Handed NLHE Final Day Seat Draw & Chip Counts

Each of the returning eight players are guaranteed $28,782 regardless of what happens on the final day. There is a cool $313,403 and a WSOP bracelet awaiting the eventual champion, so none of them will want to reel in the smaller amount.

Yiming Li Bags Millionaire Maker Day 1a Chip Lead

The first of two flights in Event #17: $1,500 MILLIONAIRE MAKER No-Limit Hold’em saw 2,568 players buy-in but only 567 of those starters ended the day with their passage to Day 2 secured.

Yiming Li was fastest out of the block, bagging up 487,000 chips at the end of the 11th level. Donavan Dean led right up until the death but finished Day 1a with 391,500 chips, enough for second place.

Scores of established pros safely navigated their way through the Day 1a waters. Mark Dube bagged up 375,000 chips, while Chance Kornuth (324,000), Kitty Kuo (276,500), Asi Moshe (266,500), Craig Varnell (265,500), Jason Wheeler (254,000), and Calvin Anderson (246,500) all finished with healthy stacks.

Further down the overnight chip counts, you find such stars as Anton Wigg (178,500), Shannon Shorr (101,000), Ryan Riess (97,000), and Spain’s Adrian Mateos (70,000).

Event #17: $1,500 Millionaire Maker Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts

Day 1b shuffles up and deals at 10:00 a.m. on October 9 and the entrants will play the same 11 levels as the opening flight.

Robert Mizrachi Bags Chip Lead on Day 1 of Event #18: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball

Robert Mizrachi’s impress form in non-hold’em event continued with him bagging up the chip lead in Event #18: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball at the end of Day 1.

Mizrachi has already racked up a third-place finish in the $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo event, and a seventh-place in the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo. Now he is on course for a deep run in the $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw tournament.

Day 1 saw 104 of the 253 entrants progress to Day 2, and the field was ridiculously stacked with stars. No fewer than two dozen gold bracelet winners were in the field, showing the lure these events have.

The likes of Julien Martini (180,000), Scott Seiver (177,000), Benny Glaser (129,000), reigning champion Dan Zack (127,500), David Benyamine (112,000), Daniel Negreanu (61,000), Frank Kassela (54,500), and David "ODB" Baker (50,000) and just a handful of bracelet owners to look out for on Day 2. However, none could match Mizrachi’s 201,000 stack.

Event #18: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball Top 10 Chip Counts

Play resumes at 2:00 p.m. on October 9 with the plan to play ten hour-long levels. Will Mizrachi still lead at this point? Tune into PokerNews to find out.

WSOP Events on Day 10 (October 9)