By Adam Ulick | July 16, 2010

On Day 4 of the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, we saw the money bubble burst.  On Day 5, the short stacks and many of the “just happy to cash” crowd were weeded out.  On Thursday’s Day 6, the tournament entered the serious money stage as the field was narrowed to just 78 players.  Just one of those players – Gianni Di Renzo – is wearing a Party Poker logo.

Party Poker sent a total of 64 players to the WSOP – 59 customers who won seats online and 5 members of Team Party Poker.  Going into Day 6, Di Renzo, a Party Poker qualifier, and Dragan Galic, a member of Team Party Poker, remained, but to the surprise of many, it was not the pro who lasted longer.

Galic had been having an excellent tournament, actually holding the chip lead on a prior day.  But he stagnated and had trouble keeping up the momentum.  He was still in decent shape to start Day 6, but he never really gained any traction.  With the blinds climbing to 10,000/20,000 with 3,000 chip antes and his stack at less than half a million, he had to make a move before he had no fold equity left.  Dealt A-K in the blinds, he found his opportunity and got all of his chips in the middle.  Unfortunately, he was called by Scott Clements with Q-Q and while Galic flopped a King, so too did Clements flop a Queen.  Dalic bowed out in 183rd place, winning $48,847.

In the meantime, Di Renzo began the day with just over one million chips and was able to double his stack by the end of play.  He held fairly steady for the first half of the day, chipping up slightly, but then hit a huge hand against Matthew Jarvis, one of the biggest stacks in the tournament.  With pocket Tens, Di Renzo three-bet pre-flop to 202,000 after Jarvis raised to 72,000 with A-J of spades.  The flop was one of those action flops that, if seen online, people would claim the site was rigged.  With 9-T-J, two spades, on the board, Di Renzo bet 500,000 after Jarvis checked.  Jarvis then check-raised all-in with his top pair and nut flush draw, having Di Renzo well covered.  Di Renzo called his final 870,000 and showed Jarvis the bad news.  Jarvis still had several outs for the flush, but they never hit and Di Renzo moved up to 3.2 million chips.

By the end of the day, Di Renzo had lost about a million, finishing at 2,280,000.  But that still puts him in 34th place, in the top half of the field.  If he were to somehow bust immediately on Friday, he would still win $94,942.  Six figure payouts start when 72 players, or eight tables, remain. 

Gianni Di Renzo will be in Seat 1 at Table 373 to start Day 7.  Three players at the table have larger stacks than him: John Dolan (3,470,000), Matthew Bucaric (3,595,000), and Edward Ochana (5,950,000).  Only one of the other five opponents – UB.com pro Adam “Roothlus” Levy – has over one million chips, so it should be interesting early on, as blinds are 20,000/40,000 with 5,000 chip antes. 

WPT Grand Prix de Paris champ, Theo Jorgensen, is the current chip leader with 9,300,000, followed by this year’s $50,000 WSOP Players Champion Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, with 7,535,000.  John Racener is close behind with 7,200,000.

Play will once again begin at noon local time at the Rio in Las Vegas.  The plan is to play down until just 27 players remain.  Those competitors will then return on Saturday until the new November Nine are determined.

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