Daily Updates from the 2023 WSOP – June 13
Shaun Deeb won his sixth bracelet in less than a decade, putting him in some rarified company, while Ben Lamb bagged his second bracelet. Jans Arends is leading a stellar final table in the $100k High Roller and Benny Glaser is looking to add another bracelet to his resume after becoming the winningest player in PokerStars' COOP history recently.
Event #25: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship
The final day of play in Event #25 was a star-studded affair featuring some of poker's best. Topping the stellar field for his second career bracelet was Ben Lamb, who battled through a final day that included James Chen, Luis Velador, Johannes Becker, and nine-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel.
There were 212 entries for this one, putting the prizes at $1,971,600, divided 32 ways. Yuri Dzivielevski was the first player to exit with cash in 32nd place, and joining him with cash on Day 2 were players like Craig Chait, Dan Shak, Jose Ignacio "Nacho" Barbero, Sammy Farha, Kyle Cartwright, John "Johnny World" Hennigan, David Williams, and James Obst.
Lamb started the final day with a small lead in chips, but knocking out all of his opponents over the course of the day helped him keep that lead. In his post-game interview, Lamb said he was "running hotter than the f***ing sun" but he also noted that he feels like he has been "more emotionally invested and focusing harder" at the tables, and it showed through in his victory. He now has more than $8.5 million in earnings on the WSOP alone with his second bracelet and has close to double that in live earnings in general.
Event #26: $800 No-Limit Hold’em Deepstack
They had to play an extra day in this one to finish it out after Day 2 was called during heads-up play. The final two players returned to the felt on Tuesday to finish it out. Mao started heads up with a deficit, stacking up ~70 million compared to the ~120 million of runner-up Matthew Elsby but it didn't take long for that to turn around.
Shortly after the start of the impromptu Day 3, Mao found a huge spot where he rivered a flush after Elsby flopped top two pair with ace-queen. That left Elsby on about 45 million, with Mao playing almost 3x as much with 142 million. It all ended shortly after when Mao's ace-high held to take down his first bracelet and put China on the bracelet board.
This was Mao's second live win after taking down the HSPC Huangshan Cup Guangzhou, Guangzhou in October of 2022 but this was his biggest score by quite a bit with his previous best sitting at around $15k USD.
Event #27: $1,500 Eight Game Mix 6-Handed
It didn't take long for Shaun Deeb to make good on his bet. His friend Josh Arieh recently won his fifth bracelet in the Limit Hold'em Championship and while they were celebrating the win, Deeb made a friendly wager with Arieh that he'd win his 6th bracelet before Arieh or Deeb would hit the showers and retire from poker. It started as a boast and turned into a promise, but it only took Deeb a few days to make good on it after taking down the $1,500 8-Game Mix last night for a score of $198,854.
Deeb's sixth bracelet comes just 8 years after his first meaning he has won all six of his WSOP titles in the last decade. That puts him in some rarified company with only six other players managing six bracelets in a decade, including poker icons like Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Layne "Back-to-Back" Flack, Johnny Moss, Phil Hellmuth and Jeff Lisandro. Of the new group of seven, only Lisandro and Deeb are not in the Hall of Fame, and Deeb isn't eligible for a few years yet. Given his meteoric rise in the last decade, he looks to be a lock for the Hall when he is eligible.
Deeb didn't have an easy go of it on the final table either. He had to battle through players like Daniel Strelitz, who won a Razz bracelet last year for his second, John Bunch, and Kyle Loman. Deeb now has almost $9 million in earnings from the WSOP and more than $12 million from live poker as a whole.
Event #28: $1,500 Freezeout No-Limit Holdem
Matthew Hunt has a big lead going into the final day of play in Event #28. There were 2,046 entries in this freezeout game, putting the prizes at $2,731,410. A total of 307 players shared in that prize money with Valentino Konakchev from Bangladesh taking the min-cash spot in 307th for $2,406.
Hunt leads a final-day field of 17 players returning, and he has a pretty solid lead to start the day. The second-place stack of Benjamin Ector only has about 5.7 million in it compared to almost 9.4 million for Hunt. Dietrich Fast is among the other players to bag a top-ten stack for Day 2. Cards hit the felt for Day 3 at noon on Wednesday and the plan is to play down to a winner before they stop for the night.
Event #29: $100,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em
Jans Arends leads the way after the second day of play in the $100k High Roller game. There are just six players remaining going into the final table, and it's hardly a surprise that the list is full of familiar names. Arenda has 16.625 million to start the day while student loan mogul turned PokerGO owner Cary Katz is second with 12.775 million. Biao Ding, Adrian Mateos, Chance Kornuth, and Jeremy Ausmus round out the star-studded final table.
$100k High Roller Final Table
| Seat | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cary Katz | United States | 12.775m |
| 2 | Jans Arends | Netherlands | 16,625m |
| 3 | Biao Ding | China | 8.8m |
| 4 | Adrian Mateos | Spain | 7.175m |
| 5 | Chance Kornuth | United States | 4.6m |
| 6 | Jeremy Ausmus | United States | 5.75m |
Cards for Day 3 will go in the air at noon local time, and PokerGO is streaming all the final table action with cards up, on delay.
Event #30: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw
Benny Glaser leads the final 18 players in the Triple Draw Deuce game as play goes into the final day. Glaser is on a bit of a high recently after becoming the winningest player in PokerStars' COOP history with his 18th title across the SCOOP and WCOOP series during the 2023 SCOOP, but he is no slouch on the live felt either. He leads a pretty strong field that includes mixed-game crusher John Monnette in second place.
Monnette and Glaser are two of six players with a million chips or more to start the final day, and among the other millionaires is another player who, while better known for his online play, can handle himself on the live felt as well, Patrick "Pads" Leonard. Allen Kessler, Carol Fuchs, Thomas Taylor, and Tom Schneider are also among the players to start Day 3 with chips and could easily be dangerous in the endgame.
Players returning for Day 3 are all guaranteed at least $5,840 of the $696,870 prize pool (522 entries) and the action gets going at 1 pm local time with the expectation of a winner before play finishes for the day.
Event #31: $600 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em; Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack
They got 2,759 entries for Event #31, continuing this year's trend of record-breaking fields. When registration closed, there were $1,407,090 in prizes with 414 players sharing in the money. Alfred Atamian cashed out first for the min-cash of $961, and Day 1 played down to 122 remaining before they bagged up for the night.
Troy Nowlin leads the counts to start Day 2 as the only player with more than 2 million chips. There are a host of players in the 1 million range, including second-place Hassan Tahsildar with 1.86 million. Jason Stockfish also bagged a top-ten stack with 1.45 million, but only just, hitting the list in 10th place. Among the other notables to find a bag in this one were British pro Barny Boatman, who was part of the founding team for The Hendon Mob, as well as Matthew Wantman and Patrick Clarke. The Day 2 action will kick off at 10 am, and the game is scheduled to play until one of the players is wearing a bracelet.
Event #32: $3,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em
There were 1,241 entries for Event #32 creating a prize pool of $3,313,470, and there are still 57 players in contention for the biggest prize of $558,266. Chris "Big Huni" Hunichen bagged the biggest stack at the end of Day 1 with 2.405 million and Asher Conniff with 2.17 million is the only other player over the 2m mark.
Ian Matakis, Roman Hrabec, and Noah Schwartz are among the other players with top-ten stacks going into Day 2 while Maria Ho, Eric Baldwin, Paul Volpe, Martin Jacobson, and Ryan Riess all bagged stacks for Day 2 and could be dangerous. Play resumes at noon and all returning players are guaranteed $8,436 at least. Play is expected to continue on Day 2 until a winner is crowned.
Event #33: $10,000 Razz Championship
There were 102 entries on Day 1 of the $10k Razz Championship for prizes totaling $948,600, but entries remain open on Championship events until the start of Day 2, so those numbers might still change a bit. With the current numbers, at least 15 players will be sharing in the prizes, but it remains to be seen how much the winner is expected to pocket.
Roy Thung was the only player to get 300k on Day 1, ending with the chip lead at 303k. There are several players in the 200k range that could be dangerous, however, including Scott Bohlman, David Funkhouser, Adam Owen, Bryce Yockey, Brian Yoon, and Daniel Zack, and other crushers like Dutch Boyd, Talal Shakerchi, James Obst, Brandon Shack-Harris, Brian Rast, and Anthony Zinno are all lurking outside the top ten waiting to strike on Day 2.
The Day 2 action gets going at 1 pm and the field will be set when the cards go in the air. There are seven levels of poker on the Day 2 schedule, after which the remaining players will bag and tag for the final day of action.
Upcoming Events on June 13
Event #34: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha
- Start: 10 am
- Late Entry: 9 Levels
- Start Stack: 25,000
- Reentries: 2
Event #35: $10,000 Secret Bounty No-Limit Hold'em
- Start: 12 Noon
- Late Entry: 12 Levels
- Start Stack: 60,000
- Reentries: 2
Event #36: $3,000 Nine Game Mix
- Start: 2 pm
- Late Entry: 8 Levels
- Start Stack: 40,000
- Reentries: 1
