Day 4 of the World Series of Poker Main Event has concluded with Kenny Hallaert primed for back-to-back final tables finishing the day third in chips.

Between 1987-1989 the name ‘Johnny Chan’ was ubiquitous with the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, winning back-to-back titles in 87 & 88, only to have his unprecedented triple triumph foiled in 89 by a promising young lad named Phil Hellmuth Jr.

Back then you could fit the WSOP Main Event combatants in a petri dish. Today, Chan’s accomplishments border on the impossible. Just making the final table is itself a minor miracle, and Mark Newhouse did that in 2013 & 2014 finishing in ninth place on both occasions, a fact that must have felt like a chisel driven into his marrow.

The Newhouse run was a mere flash in the pan.