WSOP Main Event hits payout time

After three full days of play in the 50th annual World Series of Poker Main Event, the tournament’s second-largest field of 8,569 was whittled down to 1,286 at 1 a.m. Tuesday at the Rio Convention Center.

All the remaining players were guaranteed a minimum payday of $15,000 in the $10,000 buy-in No-limit Texas Hold’em World Championship entering Day 4 on Tuesday. The winner will earn $10 million.

Three former Main Event champions are still alive: 2013 winner Chris Moneymaker (681,000 chips), 2016 champion Qui Nguyen (669,000) and two-time winner (1987, 1988) Johnny Chan (498,000).

Defending Main Event champ John Cynn was eliminated Monday, along with former champs Scotty Nguyen, Jim Bechtel and Joe Hachem.

Preben Stokkan was the chip leader at the start of play Tuesday.

Other notables in the money included two-time bracelet winner Eric Baldwin , three-time bracelet winner Antonio Esfandiari and two-time Main Event last woman standing Kelly Minkin .

Former NFL star Richard Seymour and actor Kevin Pollak also remained in contention entering Day 4.

The field will be pared down to the final nine players Friday. After an off day Saturday, the field will be cut to six players on Sunday and to three on Monday. Play on July 16 will start with three players and continue until there’s a winner.

Cynn outlasted Tony Miles for last year’s title in what is believed to be the longest heads-up showdown in WSOP Main Event history. The epic back-and-forth battle lasted a little more than 10 hours and 199 hands, starting at 6:45 p.m. on a Saturday night and ending at 4:50 a.m. Sunday.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.