American Sami Rustom took the overnight chip lead with seven million but Canadians Mark McLaughlin (6.6 million) and Jason Mann (6.5 million) aren’t far behind.
It was another rapid-fire day with only 68 players of the original 239 players making it through the day.
The ESPN cameras were locked on Merson from the start of the day as the defending world champion looked to become one of the few players to make it to Day 6 the next year.
Despite starting with 635,000, he failed to get much going on Day 6 and finally shipped it all in with A♦ 2♦ but was called by Brett Richey with A♠ K♠.
There were no surprises on the board and after shaking every players hand at the table, he headed for the exit to collect his $42,990 payout.
Some of the other notables to fall on Day 5 were Kyle Julius, Marvin Rettenmaier, Ashton Griffin, Max Steinberg, Ramzi Jelassi, Kristy Gazes and Vivek Rajkumar.
Obrestad Stalls in 89th, Glazier Takes Last Woman Standing Title
Aggressive Norwegian Annette Obrestad seemed to be a great bet to become the last woman standing in the 2013 Main Event but was eliminated in the second-to-last level of the night.
Obrestad made an ill-timed shove with pocket fives and got called by Michiel Brummelhuis with pocket kings.
A short-stacked Beverly Lange busted shortly thereafter, leaving Aussie Jackie Glazier as the last woman standing in the 2013 Main Event.
Glazier joins former last women standing Gaëlle Baumann (2012), Erika Moutinho (2011), Bree Zuckerman (2010), Leo Margets (2009) and Tiffany Michelle (2008).
Some of the other notables still in contention include Mortensen (who won the Main Event in 2001), Yevgeniy Timosheno, David Benefield, Mark Newhouse and Vitaly Lunkin.
Incredibly Steve Gee, who finished ninth last year, is still in the tournament with 1.3 million. Gee is attempting to become the first person since Dan Harrington in 2003-04 to make back-to-back final tables.
Action resumes tomorrow at noon local time. The plan is to play down to at least 27 players or five levels. Check our Main Event live updates to follow the tournament as it progresses.
Here are the top 10 chip counts at the end of Day 5:
1. Sami Rustom - 7,005,000 2. Marc McLaughlin - 6,695,000 3. Jason Mann - 6,580,000 4. Maxx Coleman - 6,260,000 5. George Wong - 5,740,000 6. Sylvain Loosli - 5,690,000 7. Ryan Riess - 5,570,000 8. Keanu Tabali - 5,435,000 9. Matthew Reed - 5,255,000 10. Chris Lindh - 4,070,000Visit www.pokerlistings.com