Daily Updates From the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) – June 1
June 1, 2023 – Casino Employees Event is complete with the next three open bracelet events now underway along with the Tournament of Champions.
Event #1: $500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold'em
The first Gold Bracelet of 2023 has now been awarded to Peter Thai after he took down the opening event of the 2023 WSOP for $75,535. It was a big starting field with 1,015 entries and total prizes of $426,300, the third biggest Employees Event ever. There were 153 paid spots in the two-day game with Thai taking down the title over James “Pman” Urbanic.
This was Thai’s first bracelet and it close to tripled his previous total earnings according to The Hendon Mob. His only other live win came in 2018 when he won a $350 event at WPT500 Legends of Poker in Los Angeles for $21,602 with his next biggest score before this week at just over $3k for 7th in the $75 No Limit Hold'em - Facebook Exclusive Tournament at the WPT L.A. Poker Classic in 2014.
Event #2: $25,000 High Roller Six Handed No-Limit Hold’em
Axel Hallay is looking to parlay the final table chip lead into his first bracelet and biggest-ever score. Hallay leads the final nine players to start the final day on Thursday, June 1 and he has a substantial lead to start the day with just shy of 8 million compared to 4.455 million for second-place Chris Moore.
The French players is one of three non-Americans at the final table of the event that saw 207 total entries for a prize pool of $4,864,500. The winner at the end of the final table will be pocketing $1,215,864 with everyone coming back for the final nine guaranteed at least$104,733.
Event #3: $1,000 Mystery Millions - No-Limit Hold'em
There is Mystery in the air early at the 2023 WSOP with the opening flight of the $1,000 Mystery Millions. It’s already a pretty staggering field after only one starting flight with 2,023 entries so far. That puts the prize pool at $1,800,470 with three starting days yet to play.
With Day 1a now in the books, Francis Anderson has the early chip lead with 2.75 million, but I’d expect even bigger fields for the remaining Day 1 flights, so the prizes in this one could get staggering.
Event #4: Tournament of Champions
Event #4 is a bit of a special one on the schedule as it’s not open to the average player. Only bracelet and ring winners from the 2022/23 WSOP season are eligible to enter, and they all got free entry to the $1 million guaranteed game as part of their winner package at whatever event they won.
Among the players to find a bag at the end of Day 1 was WSOP commentator Lon McEachern. McEachern won a seniors event on the circuit this season to earn his seat and he’ll be playing 113k in Day 2. Boshuang Gao found the biggest stack at the end of Day 1 with 445k. There are 224 players left in the game playing down into the likely 109 paid spots today with the final table scheduled for Friday. Late entry is still open for winners who didn’t get in yesterday, but it’s unlikely many of the winners missed the opening day of play.
Event #5: $1,500 Dealers Choice 6-Handed
The first mixed-game event of the series also got underway on Wednesday, May 31 with 456 entries for a prize pool of $608,760. The winner of the event on Friday will pocket $131,879 with 69 players sharing in the prizes.
Larry Tull leads the chip counts after Day 1 with 217k and the field Day 1 field was full of legendary players like Eli Elezra, Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, and Phil Hellmuth looking for his 17th gold bracelet. Elezra was the only player from that Hall of Fame group not to find a bag at the end of the day.
Day 2 action picks up on Thursday with the final day of play on Friday, June 2.
Upcoming Events on June 1
Event #6: $5,000 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em; Pot-Limit Omaha
- Start: 12 noon
- Late Entry: 12 Levels
- Start Stack: 50,000
- Reentries: 2
Event #7: $1,500 Limit Hold’em
- Start: 2 pm
- Late Entry: 9 Levels
- Start Stack: 25,000
- Reentries: 0
Online Event #1: $333 No-Limit Hold'em Triple Treys Summer Tip Off
- Start: 3:30 pm
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