Lonnie Hallett collected Canada’s third bracelet so far this series after defeating a former champion and a seven-time bracelet winner to take down more than $750k and his first bracelet while Mike Gorodinsky further cemented his mixed game legacy with a win in the $10k HORSE Championship. It was another day of OG legends looking for hardware as Billy Baxter faced down Hallett for the Seniors title, while Mike Matusow was heads-up against Marcin Horecki for the Stud 8 bracelet. Both fell short in their quests, but they both added to the “year of the OG legend” that has seen several other players seemingly come from the past to book deep runs and challenge for hardware.

Event #48: $1,000 SENIORS No-Limit Hold’em Championship – Day 4

The final day of the Seniors game was chock-full of interesting questions. Could former champion Dan Heimiller hold on to his lead for the win? Could the last woman standing parlay a strong finish from the previous day into the bracelet? Could Billy Baxter come from nowhere to win his 8th bracelet, but first in more than 2 decades? Or, was a farmer from Alberta, Canada going to end up holding the hardware?

In the end, it was the Canadian farmer who stepped up with an answer as Lonnie Hallett ended up with all the chips. “I just can’t believe it, such a huge field it’s almost impossible to do, and somehow it happened. I’m grateful, can’t believe it, I’m so happy,” he said after a win where he was surrounded by friends for the post-bracelet celebration.

Baxter almost stepped up to the plate with his own answer, parlaying his third-place stack to start the final day into second place for a career-high score even while missing out on the bracelet. He was in rough shape against Hallett going into heads-up with Hallett on mountains and a 10:1 advantage.

One of the defining hands late in the game saw Hallett raise and then call a three-bet from Heimiller with play three ways holding queen-four. The flop lit the fuse as Hallett flopped two pair against the top-top for Heimiller, and the two big stacks were in a confrontation for around 100 million chips while Baxter watched on, no doubt thrilled to see the monsters clash. Hallett’s two pair held and he sent the former champ to the rail in third and took a massive chip lead into heads up against Baxter.

This was Hallett’s second live win after a win in a Venetian Deepstack earlier this year but this is by far his biggest score with his previous best sitting at about $50k. This win pushes his Hendon Mob earnings to just shy of $950k and shoots him up the list of all-time money winners for Alberta, Canada, putting him in sixth place in Alberta behind Karim Chatur while he pushes Jimmy Lee down to seventh place.

Event #53: $1,500 MILLIONAIRE MAKER No-Limit Hold’em – Day 3

Andreas Kniep of Germany leads the way in the Milly after three days of play with just 41 players left in the game. They got nearly 10,500 entries for this massive game, putting the prizes just shy of $14 million with two players tagged to win at least $1 million by the end,

Kniep bagged nearly 20 million at the end of Day 3, about 3.5 million more than second-place Champie Douglas. Canada’s Michael Smith and Moldova’s Pavel Plesuv are among the other top-ten stacks after three days while Erick Lindgren, David “ODB” Baker, Ian Matakis, and Blair Hinkle were among the other bags after Day 3. High-profile casualties on Day 3 with money in hand included defending Main Event champ Espen Jorstad, previous Main Event champ Martin Jacobson, and Winmax Team Pro Mustapha Kanit.

The final 41 players return to the felt at 10 am on Tuesday with all returning players guaranteed at least $36,576. The plan is to play down to five players before bagging up to return for the endgame on Wednesday.

Event #54: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship

The betting audience was likely able to predict the outcome of this one going into the final day just on the basis of chip stacks. With Mike Gorodinsky leading the final day of a mixed-game format, no matter who else made the final day, it would always be an uphill slog against one of the best mixed-game players on the planet with a huge stack.

And the final seven was full of worthy challengers, however, with every one of the returning players a certified mixed-game beast with a legitimate shot at taking down the game. Gorodinsky faced down Canada’s Alex Livingston in the heads-up phase. The bracelet winner who was third in the 2019 Main Event has a resume full of deep runs in mixed games, and he added another second to his list.

Four-time bracelet winner Scott Seiver hardly needs an introduction, but while many casual fans might be aware of his abilities in NLHE, they may be more surprised to find his results page full of mixed-game deep runs. Carol Fuchs, who was the last woman standing but nearly had a compatriot at the FT before Esther Taylor bubbled the final day in 8th place, has a bracelet in Dealers Choice from 2015 and multiple other big finishes in non-NLHE events. And with Brian Yoon, Brad Ruben, and Christopher Claassen rounding out the mix, it was really a final seven that could have gone to any of them.

This was Gorodinsky’s third bracelet and pushes his lifetime earnings over $4.25 million.

Event #55: $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better

Poland bagged its first bracelet of the series so far after Marcin Horecki took down the $1,500 Stud8 game for his first bracelet and more than $150k. There were 566 entries in this one for a total prize pool of $755,610, split between 85 players. Kevin Cote was the first player to exit with money in his pocket after bagging the $2,421 min-cash spot.

There were 18 players who returned on the final day, and among them was a bit of a blast from the past. Mike Matusow had most of his success in the 2000s and early 2010s, winning four bracelets from 1999 through 2013. One of his previous bracelets, from 2013, was in the $5k version of this event, so Matusow was well positioned to bag his fifth bracelet and first in more than a decade. He made it as far as second place, but couldn’t make it over the final Polish hurdle on his drive for five.

Another notable to figure in the endgame was Brian Rast, who was looking for his seventh bracelet and second in a week. Rast recently became a six-time bracelet winner after taking down the Poker Players Championship for the third time, but he had to settle for seventh place instead of his seventh bracelet.

Horecki pushed his Hendon Mob earnings to less than $1k away from $1.6 million with the win, and while it was his first bracelet, it was far from his first big score. He has 11 total wins on his record, and while this was technically his biggest win, he had two previous third-place scores in EPT events that eclipsed this one in terms of dollar value.

Event #56: $500 SALUTE to Warriors – No-Limit Hold’em

There are 14 players left in the SALUTE to Warriors game and one of them will walk away with $217,921 in their pockets. There were 4,303 entries for this game, putting the prizes at just shy of $2 million. A total of 646 players got a piece of that pie, and most of the payouts have already been spoken for, at least by volume. By weight, there is still a lot of money waiting to be won by the final 14 players, with $771,361 still in play.

Ryan Stephens bagged the biggest stack at the end of Day 3 with almost 29 million. There are three other players with 20 million or more to start what should be the final day of play for this one. Among the other players still alive in this one are Canada’s Kelly Gall in sixth place, as well as Rajesh Goyal and Timothy Deering, while some of the players to exit on Day 3 with money in hand included Levi Berger, Dominick French, Kenny Hallaert, Ari Engel, and Paulina Loeliger.

The final 14 players for this one will be back at it at 10 am on Tuesday to finish it out.

Event #57: $25,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha

There are just 31 players remaining out of the starting field of 449, and it is Chance Kornuth with the biggest bag to start Day 3. He has a massive stack of 7.245 million, compared to Dylan Weisman in second with nearly 3 million less. Isaac Haxton, Firas Kashat, and Jeremy Ausmus are among the other players to bag top-ten stacks at the end of Day 2. Yuri Dzivielevski, Ben Lamb (who already won the O8 Championship this series for his second bracelet), and Chad Eveslage, who is, so far, the only player to win two bracelets this year, are also in the Day 3 mix of this one.

While Kornuth hasn’t found a win yet in this WSOP, he’s still having a pretty solid summer in Vegas. He’s been at the final tables of two high-roller events and an online event so far, and padded that with a Mystery Bounty win at the Wynn a few days ago. That said, Lamb is waiting in the wings and both his bracelets came from four-card poker, including his first bracelet in the $10k version of this event in 2011, while Eveslage had a blistering start to the series with two Dealers Choice bracelets and Weisman, Haxton and Ausmus are always dangerous in any event they sit down in.

Day 3 action kicks off at 1 pm and they’ll play down to five players remaining before they bag up for the day.

Event #58: $3,000 6-Handed Limit Hold’em

Jason Daly leads the final 17 players after two days of play in Event #58. He has 1.119 million and is one of three players with more than 1 million. Nick Pupillo, fresh off his victory in the Mixed Triple Draw Lowball game on the weekend, is one of those millionaires to start Day 3.

This game saw 263 entries for a total prize pool of $702,210 with 40 players getting a piece of it. Kyle Dilschneider was the earliest player to exit with cash after taking 40th spot for $4,837 while players returning for Day 3 are all guaranteed at least $8,061. Clayton Mozdzen, James Chen, Justin Lapka, Thomas Taylor, Noah Bronstein, Maria Ho, and JJ Liu were among the other players to cash out on Day 2.

Dan Shak and Main Event champ Joe McKeehan both have stacks to play on Day 3 as well, and they, along with the rest of the final 17, will get back underway at 1 pm on Tuesday and the expectation is that one of the remaining 17 will be holding a bracelet before play stops for the day.

Event #59: $3,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’emo 8 or Better

Robert Kuhn leads nearly 1,600 original runners and 240 returning players after the first day of action in Event #59. He bagged up 1.41 million and is the only player with more than 1 million. Giorgii Skhulukhia of Russia and Juan Duenas of the USA both have stacks in the 900k range for second and third places respectively. Ryan Leng also bagged a top-five stack with 874k for fourth place.

Upeshka De Silva, Matt Berkey, and Alex Foxen are among the other players still in the field for Day 2 action. With 240 players remaining, that means they ended Day 1 with players in the money, though none of the payouts have yet been spoken for. Expect a lot of early action in this one, as short-stacked players who know they are now guaranteed at least $4,812 will be looking to double up and go deep for bigger scores, and that will invariably mean some of them go home early on Day 2.

They are fighting for shares of the $4,266,660 prize pool and the winner of the game will pocket $675,275. They won’t get there during the 10 levels of play scheduled for Day 2 starting at 10 am, but by the time they bag, there will likely be four tables or less remaining in the game.

Event #60: $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw

They got 548 entries for the $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw game, a larger field than expected. They combined for total prizes of $731,580, which puts $151,276 up top for the winner of this game. A total of 83 players will win $2,404 or more at the end of this game, and after the first day of play, Michael Trivett is leading the way with 401k.

He has a lot of daylight between him and second place, with OG legend Erik Seidel sitting with almost 150k less than Trivett, but Seidel is far from the only crusher sitting with chips for Day 2. Canada’s Mike Watson is on third with more than 200k while Nick Schulman, Michael Moncek, and Daniel Tafur are all lurking lower in the top-ten. Maria Ho, Alex Epstein, Robert Campbell, Dustin Dirksen, Ryan Moriarty, Phillip Hui, Benny Glaser, Koray Aldemir, Christopher Claassen, Matt Vengrin, Scott Bohlman, Taylor Paur, and Brad Ruben are among the crushers with 100k or more after the opening day, so the field is wide open in this one.

Day 2 gets going at 1 pm on Tuesday and the expectation is to play all the way down to five players remaining on Day 2.

Upcoming Events on June 27

Event #61: $1,000 SUPER SENIORS No-Limit Hold’em

• Start: 10 am
• Late Entry: 8 Levels
• Start Stack: 20,000
• Reentries: 1
• Must be 60+ to enter

Event #62: $1,500 Mixed No-Limit Hold’em, Pot-Limit Omaha

• Start: 12 noon
• Late Entry: 9 Levels
• Start Stack: 25,000
• Reentries: 2

Event #63: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship

• Start: 2 pm
• Late Entry: Start of Day 2
• Start Stack: 60,000
• Reentries: 0

Online Event #11: $888 No-Limit Hold’em Crazy 8’s

• Start: 3:30 pm

2023 is turning into the Year of the OG Legend with two more old-school names making a mark this weekend. Billy Baxter is threatening to win his 8th bracelet and first in two decades in the Seniors event, while Mike Matusow is sitting in 7th place in the final 18 of the Seven Card Stud for his fifth bracelet and first since 2013. Meanwhile, Dan Heimiller is looking to win a second Seniors bracelet but Canadian Lonnie Hallett could stand in his way as both players will dominate the final day with around 50 million each, compared to Baxter’s 15.5 million for 3rd. In perhaps the biggest news of the weekend, however, Lou Garza won the $10k PLO Championship, then immediately dropped to one knee to propose to his girlfriend who was on the rail for his win and happily accepted.

Event #48: $1,000 SENIORS No-Limit Hold’em Championship – Day 4

There are just 7 players left in Event #48: $1,000 SENIORS No-Limit Hold’em Championship after four days of action, and the former winner of this event Dan Heimiller is leading the pack. He grabbed the lead on literally the final hand of Day 4 after sending Ron Fetsch to the rail on the final-day bubble, taking over the top spot from Canadian Lonnie Hallett who spent most of Day 4 with the biggest stack.

Hallett had a pretty solid day, coming into Day 4 with the second-biggest stack and chipping up and holding through the day to hold the top spot through much of it. Heimiller, on the other hand, started the day a bit farther down the counts in 21st place and had to claw his way back up to the lead. Much of Heimiller’s day-ending stack came courtesy of Fetsch who seemingly blew up on the final table to bubble the final day of play.

Fetsch and Heimiller were heads-up in a classic race spot with Fetsch on ace-king and the former champion playing pocket queens. After a flop where Fetsch found a gutshot with two overs, he shoved after some back-and-forth action and Heimiller snapped him off with a flopped set. It was a 50 million chip pot and Heimiller’s set held for a massive double into the lead. Hallett was able to regain the lead briefly, but then Heimiller closed the day out by taking the rest of Fetsch’s chips, ending the day just above the Canadian.

Another notable player on the final day is Shannon Fahey. She was the shorty coming into the final table on Sunday and found a huge early double against Hallett. It looked like she’d be the first one to leave the final table when she woke up with pocket kings in the same hand the chip-leader Hallett woke up with aces. Of course, the money went in for a massive cooler, but Fahey found a king in the window to double and survive. That put her on the path to ladder up a few spots and make the final day of play with the fourth-biggest stack.

Finally, this year looks to be the year of the OG legends. After Johnny Chan came within two tables of his 11th bracelet and Phil Ivey came within five players of his 11th, Billy Baxter is threatening to bag his 8th bracelet as he enters the final day third in chips with 15.5 million. If Baxter can make a move on the final day to overtake the overwhelming leaders Heimiller and Hallett, it would mark his first bracelet in no limit hold’em after one razz and six lowball draw bracelets.

The final day in the Seniors Championship promises to be a big one. Can the last woman standing parlay her Day 4 ladders into a bracelet? Will the former winner hold his lead to take it down? Will an OG legend come from nowhere to win his 8th bracelet more than two decades after his seventh, or will a farmer from Alberta, Canada take it all down? Those questions will be answered before the end of Monday’s action which kicks off at noon local time with 6:42 left in Level 36.

Event #50: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship

Lou Garza got a bit of extra hardware after he won Event #50: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship for his first bracelet and $1,309,232 – while basking in the glow of his victory, he asked his girlfriend to marry him and she said yes so in addition to the bracelet for the win, Garza picked up a ring in the process as well. Garza already had another kind of ring though as he has a Circuit win on his resume prior to this event.

Garza ended up in a heads-up battle with fellow American Arthur Morris for the title. It was a short battle that Garza found the best of when he hit trip fours on the final hand to take it down after a short but active heads-up. Immediately after the win, Garza dropped to his knees for his proposal, icing an already delicious cake. Morris had to come from behind when play was four-ways but rivered a flush to jump back into contention before going on a tear, doubling a few more times before he sent he start-of-day chip leader Stanislav Halatenko to the rail in third.

Among the other notables to make the endgame in this one was Japan’s Kosei Ichinose. While Japan has so far only managed a single bracelet this series, Japanese players have been figuring in the endgames of many tournaments so far this series. Ichinose had to settle for 7th place in this one, but no doubt he and his fellow Japanese players will be back.

The win essentially doubled Garza’s previous lifetime earnings, pushing him above $3.5 million in total earnings. While he will no doubt cherish the memories of his win and the bracelet, Sunday will hold a special place in his heart for more than one reason – congratulations to the future Mr. & Mrs. Garza.

Event #51: $1,000 TAG TEAM No-Limit Hold’em

The Tag Team Event finished out on Saturday night and it was the team of Michael Savakinas & Satoshi Tanaka who ended up with all the chips and the first-place prize of $190,662 to split between them. The pair wasn’t just a one-off pairing for the team event – the two are friends on and off the felt and Tanaka credited that chemistry with at least part of their success.

“I think we get along outside of poker too,” Tanaka said, “so naturally, if things go wrong in poker, we help each other out, but not just poker-wise, with everything.” He also credited their strategy as helping them push through to victory, noting that while they maintained a strict regime of tagging in their partner every level, other teams were more casual about that and he felt that played a role in the win.

There were 1,282 entries for this team event, continuing the clear trend this year of record-breaking fields, and 193 teams figured in the prizes at the end of the game. 26 of the cashing teams came back for the final day of play, and it was a pretty raucous affair with the field down to 18 with the first two levels of play and in the end, it was a roller coaster heads-up battle with Team Moscati (Vincent Moscati & Tanner Bibat). Both teams had big leads at one time and were nearly felted at other times through the heads-up phase that really could have gone either way. Team Savakinas ended up winning it after coming from way behind with a run of five straight all-in victories to secure the bracelets.

Event #52: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball

Nick Pupillo picked up his first bracelet on Saturday night by continually making the worst hand. Of course, that’s kind of the point of lowball poker, and Event #52 mixes three of the triple-draw varieties of lowball poker. In the end, there were 353 entries in the game with 53 players sharing in the $785,425 prize pool.

The win brings Pupillo’s lifetime earnings to about $150k shy of $5 million and until this past weekend, he was often in the conversation about “best players without a bracelet.” He can now take his name out of that conversation after defeating Ryan Moriarty heads up for the title. The heads-up phase against Moriarty was pretty fast, with the action starting and ending in the same round of deuce.

There were 19 players who returned for the final day of play, and there were a few crushers among them outside of Pupillo. Matt Vengrin, Cary Katz, Robert Mizrachi, John Monnette, Joao Vieira, and Ray Henson all fell on the final day before the final table, with most of that list being certified mixed game crushers.

Event #53: $1,500 MILLIONAIRE MAKER No-Limit Hold’em – Day 2

Who wants to be a millionaire? That was the question being asked by WSOP over the opening flights of Event #53: $1,500 MILLIONAIRE MAKER No-Limit Hold’em, and more than 10,000 runners answered with a resounding “Me!” The final tally came in at 10,416 entries for a whopping eight-figure prize pool of $13,905,360.

A total of 2,322 of those entries came back for Day 2 play, fighting for 1,561 paid spots. Mauricio Solano was the first player to pocket cash on their way out of the tournament, and that happened pretty early on Day 2 with 327 players advancing to Day 3 play. Joey Weissman of the USA is leading the pack with 3.77 million, and he is the only player with more than 3 million, but the rest of the top-ten stacks are all between 2 and 3 million.

Among the potentially dangerous players sitting outside the top ten for Day 3 are Roman Hrabec, Tony Gregg, Charles Benoit, Leo Margets, David “ODB” Baker, and Roberto Romanello, all playing top 50 stacks of more than 1 million to start the day. Day 3 kicks off at 10 am local time and the plan is to play 10 levels of poker before bagging up for the final day of play on Tuesday.

Event #54: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship

Poker can be a game of niches, and certain kinds of poker have specific players that focus on, and excel in, those specific game types. When poker fans think of HORSE or mixed games in general, the name Mike Gorodinsky should almost always be top of mind. With two mixed game bracelets to his name, including the coveted Chip Reese Memorial Trophy in the Poker Players Championship in 2015, and a WSOP results page littered with final tables in 10-game, razz, and deuce, there is little question Gorodinsky is one of the last players you’d want to see leading a HORSE Championship if you are in the field.

For fans, however, the chance to watch someone like Gorodinsky ply his craft in a game like HORSE should be pretty exciting, and he goes into the final seven players with a big chip lead. That said, he is far from the only big mixed-game name coming back for the final day. Joining him in the final seven will be Canada’s Alex Livingston with the second-biggest stack, followed by Brad Ruben, Brian Yoon, Scott Seiver, Carol Fuchs, and Christopher Claassen to round out the final table of seven. Every single one of the seven players returning for Day 4 is a clear and present danger in the mixed games, so while even this field is likely unhappy to see Gorodinsky’s name in front of so many chips, none of them will be intimidated by him and each and every one has a legitimate shot at taking the bracelet down.

Among the big names in this one was Phl Hellmuth, who has been sniffing at his 17th bracelet all series. He was having a solid Day 3 early in the day, sitting second in chips at one point, but while he made a deep run into the money, he ultimately fell short of his quest in 11th place for $29,478. Alex Livingstone, who sent Hellmuth to the rail in a razz hand, was the recipient of a trademark tirade of profanity as Hellmuth exited stage left. Other notables to fall just before the final day included David “Bakes” Baker who bubbled the final table, and Esther Taylor who was one place away from being the second woman in the final day of play.

The final seven players return to the felt on Monday to fight for the final shares of the $1,720,500. They are all guaranteed at least $58,633, but the returning field will all have only one thing in mind – the bracelet and the $422,747 top prize.

Final Seven Payouts for Event #54: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship

Place	Payout
1	$422,747
2	$261,278
3	$187,406
4	$136,649
5	$101,319
6	$76,412
7	$58,633

Event #55: $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better

There were 566 entries for the $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better and they are down to just 18 players remaining now. Many of the 85 payouts from the $755,610 total prize pool have already been claimed during Day 2 action on Sunday, but the biggest prizes are still yet to be won on what should be the final day of play.

Qibang Cheung from the UK leads the way into the final 18 with 1.805 million, one of six stacks in the seven-digit range. In a continuation of the OG legend year, Mike Matusow sits just under the seven-figure mark in 7th place with 890k. “The Mouth” is looking for his fifth bracelet and first since 2013. Recent six-time bracelet and three-time PPC winner Brian Rast will also be dangerous with an 8th-place stack worth 870k and Jose Paz-Gutierrez will also come to Day 3 with more than 800k.

Day 3 resumes at 1 pm on Monday and a winner should be decided before the end of play.

Event #56: $500 SALUTE to Warriors – No-Limit Hold’em

There were a lot of players looking to give a Salute to Warriors this year with a final field of 4,303 for a prize pool of $1,936,350. That put $217,921 up top for the winner of the game, while the 646th place min-cash will be worth $800. It won’t take them long to get there either, as Day 2 begins with just 654 players remaining, 8 off the money spots. It’s likely the earliest cashing spots will be claimed within a few hands of cards going in the air.

Charlemagne Benjamin bagged the big stack after Day 1 with 1.3 million and he leads eight players with more than 1 million to start Day 2. Kenny Hallaert and Barry Greenstein are among the players returning to look for cash in Day 2 with the action set to begin at 10 am local time.

Event #57: $25,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha

There were 357 high rollers looking for four-card action in the $25k PLO High Roller, putting $8,389,500 into the prize pool. Those prizes aren’t yet finalized, however, as entries for this $25k game are open until Day 2.

Firas Kashat is the player with the big stack after one day of play, leading 149 players to bag stacks for Day 2. They are one of three players with seven figures in their bags, but among the other big stacks for Day 2 are Brandon Adams, Anton Morgenstern, John Hennigan, Sam Soverel, and Aaron Mermelstein. Arthur Morris, fresh off his runner-up performance in the PLO Championship on the weekend, bagged the 20th-place stack for Day 2.

The second day gets going at noon in Paris Purple and there are 10 levels on the schedule for Monday. Entries will remain open until about 2:15 pm, so this prize pool is sure to keep growing.

Event #58: $3,000 6-Handed Limit Hold’em

There are 115 players left in the game after the opening day in Event #58. That is out of a starting field of 263 entries for a total prize pool of $702,210. That means 40 players will share in the prizes with the gold ring being $165,250 for first place. The earliest players to cash will pocket $4,837 before they exit the game.

Gregory Josephson leads the way into Day 2 with 241k, and Daniel Maczuga has the second stack at 217.5k. No one else has more than 200k, but Dan Shak, JJ Liu, and Michael Mizrachi are all lurking in the bottom half of the top-ten stacks.

Day 2 action kicks off at 1 pm on Monday, and it’s expected the bubble will burst on Day 2 with 10 levels on the schedule and 75 players to get through before the money.

Online Event #10: $400 No-Limit Ultra Deepstack

• Entries: 1,810
• Prizes: $1,044,360
• Paid: 412
• First Place: $145,374.91
• Winner: Ryan “GoFeltaFish2” Eriquezzo (2nd bracelet)

Upcoming Events on June 26

Event #59: $3,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em

• Start: 10 am
• Late Entry: 12 Levels
• Start Stack: 40,000
• Reentries: 0

Event #60: $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw

• Start: 2 pm
• Late Entry: 12 Levels
• Start Stack: 25,000
• Reentries: 2

There were no bracelets awarded on Friday but two starting fields from the record-breaking Seniors game combined for their Day 2 while the PLO Championship played down to the final five players. The Championship HORSE race got out of the gates with a big field, the team event is down to the final 26 teams, and the opening flight of the Millionaire Maker saw more than 4,500 entries for what looks like another massive multi-day field.

Event #48: $1,000 SENIORS No-Limit Hold’em Championship – Day 2

There are 217 seniors still in action in Event #48 after two days of play. There were 8,180 entries for this one across the two starting flights, putting more than $7.25 million into the prize pool. Of those players, 1,624 returned on Day 2 but only 1,227 of those would get any money out of the deal.

It didn’t take long for them to get there, with the money bubble bursting around 3 hours into Day 2 with Dennis Otto as the bubble player. They played a full 10 levels of poker on Day 2, and in the end, Leonard Clementi ended up as the chip leader to end the day with the only stack over 4 million. Chun Li has about 3.2 million for second, while David Palm will be playing 2.335 million in third place for Day 3. Victor Ramdin, Allen Kessler, and JJ Liu all managed to bag a Day 3 stack, as well as Dominick French, Men Nguyen, Joseph Workman, Mark Seif, Mike Matusow, Mike Honeyman (who is coming off a Main Event win in Calgary earlier this year on the Pure Poker Tour), Frank Cupello, and Ted Forrest.

Day 3 action gets underway at 10 am, a suitable early-bird time for the Seniors and there are another 10 levels on the schedule for Saturday with the bracelet expected to be awarded on Sunday.

Event #50: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship

Event #50 is now down to the final five players as they expect to play down to a winner during Saturday’s action. Stanislav Halatenko is the runaway leader going into the final day with almost 20 million in his bag while second-place Travis Pearson barely has 8.5 million. In fact, the rest of the table combined is playing about 24 million to start Day 4 compared to 19.75 million for the leader.

It was a busy Day 3 as they played down from 42 returning players to the final five. Along the way, quite a few hopefuls fell in their quest for the Championship bracelet including Sam Soverel, Kosei Ichinose, Dimitar Danchev, Juha Helppi, Benoit Galland, Dylan Weisman, Paul (Jaspal) Brar, Edmund Chan, Ioannis Angelou Konstas, and Sean Winter. There were a total of 110 players who shared a piece of the $6,798,300 prize pool that grew from the 731 entries to start this game and players returning for Day 4 are all now guaranteed $296,154 with $1,309,232 waiting up top for the winner.

PLO Championship Final Five

Seat	Player	Home	Chips
1	Arthur Morris	United States	4.875 M
2	Travis Pearson	United States	8.55 M
3	Peng Shan	China	6.8 M
4	Ap Garza	United States	3.775 M
5	Stanislav Halatenko	Ukraine	19.75 M

Event #51: $1,000 TAG TEAM No-Limit Hold’em

The Tag Team Event is always well attended and this year’s event was no exception. 1,282 team entries were recorded before the registration desk closed for a total prize pool of $570,490 and the winning team will share the top prize of $95,331. There are just 26 teams left in the game after two days of play and the Japanese team of Yuki Sako – Shunsuke Tokoo is leading the way as one of three stacks bigger than 2 million. David Williams – Theo Tran and Nipun Java – Ronald Phipps round out the top three stacks for Day 3.

Other teams to bag a Day 3 stack include Justin Pechie – Ronnie Bardah and Ramon Kropmanns – Jessica Serial. Day 3 action picks up at noon on Saturday and the plan is to award the bracelet before they finish for the day.

Event #52: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball

There are just 19 players left in the Mixed Triple Draw game after two days of play. Nick Pupillo leads the counts with just over 1.5 million and is one of four players with a million or more to start Day 3. Portugal’s Joao Vieira is among those million-stacks and John Monnette, Robert Mizrachi, Ray Henson, and Matt Vengrin all bagged smaller stacks for the final day. There were 353 entries in this one building a prize pool of $785,425 with 53 players sharing in the prizes.

2019 Player of the Year Robert Campbell, Jake Schwartz, Scott Abrams, Maria Ho, Terrence Chan, Chin Rheem, Daniel Strelitz, and Nacho Barbero all barely missed Day 3 with late Day 2 cashes while Maxx Coleman, Brian Yoon, David “Bakes” Baker, Ari Engel, and Hal Rotholz were among the earlier players to exit with some money in their pockets.

Day 3 resumes the action at 1 pm and while all the players coming back for Day 3 have locked up $6,948 they’ll all be looking for the $181,978 first-place prize.

Event #53: $1,500 MILLIONAIRE MAKER No-Limit Hold’em – Flight A

Day 1a of the MILLIONAIRE MAKER saw a massive field of 4,585 entries that put the prizes over $6 million already. Just over 1,000 players found bags at the end of the opening flight, and Nick Basile bagged one of the biggest stacks of the day. Yong Yi and Sihao Zhang are sitting one and two in the counts after the opening flight, with Canada’s Nick Basile sitting in third, though almost 300k behind the two leaders who both have more than 700k.

There were a few big names to bag up after the first day including Jeff Platt, Jason Wheeler, Ryan Leng, Kristen Foxen (nee Bicknell), Jessica Teusl, Kyle Ho, Jackie Burkhart, and Rob Lothian. There is one more shot for players who failed to find a bag at the end of Day 1a with Day 1b kicking off at 10 am in Vegas, and this flight is expected to be even bigger than the massive 1a.

Event #54: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship

There are just 91 players left in action in the $10k HORSE Championship. Steven Loube leads the way after the opening day of play with 353k, but he’s got some tough competition just beneath him. Scott Bohlman bagged the second stack with 311.5k while Scott Seiver and David “Bakes” Baker also have top-five stacks. Just outside the top five, Mori Eskandani, Paul Volpe, and Matt Grapenthien are among the vipers waiting to strike on Day 2. Among the other players to find a bag on the opening day were Alex Livingston, Mike Gorodinsky, Daniel Negreanu, Esther Taylor, Josh Arieh, Thomas Taylor, Brandon Shack-Harris, Carol Fuchs, Ari Engel, Max Pescatori, Paul Tedeschi, “Johnny World” Hennigan, and David “ODB” Baker.

They got 165 entries before they bagged up for the opening day, but that’s not a final number as Championship events remain open for entries until the start of Day 2. That means the current prize pool of $1,534,500 is expected to grow before it is finalized when cards go in the air later on Saturday.

The second day of play in this Championship game is scheduled for 1 pm on Saturday. Level length jumps to 90 minutes for Day 2 and the plan is to play seven levels before they bag up for Day 3 action on Sunday.

Upcoming Events on June 24

Event #56: $500 SALUTE to Warriors – No-Limit Hold’em

• Start: 10 am
• Late Entry: 9 Levels
• Start Stack: 50,000
• Reentries: 1

Event #57: $25,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha

• Start: 12 noon
• Late Entry: 12 Levels
• Start Stack: 150,000
• Reentries: 2

Event #58: $3,000 6-Handed Limit Hold’em

• Start: 2 pm
• Late Entry: 8 Levels
• Start Stack: 40,000
• Reentries: 0

Online Event #10: $400 No-Limit Ultra Deepstack

• Start: 3:30 pm

Brian Rast became just the second player in history to win the Poker Player’s Championship three times after he took down Talal Shakerchi heads up. Yang Zhang bagged China’s fourth bracelet of the series so far while Yuri Dzivielevski won Brazil’s second in the $1,500 HORSE. In perhaps the best story of the day, however, Pengfei Wang literally jumped for joy when he won his first bracelet in his very first official tournament entry.

Event #43: $50,000 Poker Players Championship

There are now two players in the history of the Poker Players Championship to win the event three times after Brian Rast joined Michael Mizrachi in the three-timers club. There were 99 entries for what is considered by many to be the toughest bracelet in the whole series, which meant they were playing for $4,727,250 in total.

As is to be expected in the PPC, the field was littered with the biggest names in the game. Double-defending champion Dan “Jungleman” Cates donned Terminator gear for Day 1 and Day 2 of this event as he made a bid to win three PPCs on the trot, but he was terminated on Day 2 before the money.

Phil Hellmuth showed up looking for his first PPC victory and 17th bracelet but fell short with a min-cash. Phil Ivey was looking to take down his first PPC and 11th bracelet to put him in sole possession of 2nd place behind Hellmuth, but he bubbled the final day in 6th place.

In the run-up to the final day of play, there were crushers falling like flies in the money. Before Ivey bubbled the final day, Ray Dehkharghani, Hal Rotholz, Josh Arieh, and Daniel Alaei were among the players who just missed out on Day 5 action.

When the final day convened, the field was no less scary despite having lost so many big names. Talal Shakerchi took the chip lead into the final day, but he went on a bit of a roller coaster ride through the day with his stack bouncing around all day. Along with Rast and Shakerchi, former PPC winner Matthew Ashton, James Obst, and Kristopher Tong rounded out the final five players in the game.

With five bracelets to his name going into this event, and two of them from this very event, Rast was the clear favorite going in, at least by reputation. He started the final day fourth in chips with only Tong starting the day shorter than him, but he went on a tear building into an early lead as Shakerchip saw his stack nearly vanish. Shakerchi was able to recover and get to heads-up, but he was at a 5:1 disadvantage in the final phase and it only lasted a few hands before Rast was holding his third Chip Reese Memorial Trophy and sixth WSOP gold bracelet.

Final Results from Event #43: $50,000 Poker Players Championship

Place	Player	Payout
1	Brian Rast	$1,324,747
2	Talal Shakerchi	$818,756
3	Matthew Ashton	$573,679
4	James Obst	$411,824
5	Kristopher Tong	$303,071
6	Phil Ivey	$228,793
7	Ray Dehkharghani	$177,294
8	Hal Rotholz	$141,125
9	Josh Arieh	$141,125
10	Daniel Alaei	$115,477
11	Marco Johnson	$115,477
12	Johannes Becker	$97,209
13	Maxx Coleman	$97,209
14	Phil Hellmuth	$97,209
15	John Monnette	$84,255

Event #44: $3,000 No-Limit Holdem

China is soaring up the national bracelet list after winning its fourth bracelet of the series when Yang Zhang was the last player standing out of 1,735 original entries. He pocketed $717,879 of the more than $4.6 million in total prizes along with his first bracelet. The win bests his previous best finish at WSOP, an 8th place in 2019.

That was actually the last time Zhang was able to make it over from China for the WSOP with the reasons likely being obvious as global travel, especially in and out of China, was severely restricted in early 2020 with this year being the first year since then when that travel has been relatively free. “I love the game from the beginning until now but because of COVID, I didn’t play. But ya, I really love the game,” he said after the victory.

Zhang came into the final day third in chips behind the leader Aram Oganyan and Shannon Shorr, but he was able to flip that script when he met Oganyan in the heads-up phase. It was a pretty sick final table across the board actually, with Jon Van Fleet, Frédéric Normand, Aleks Dimitrov, and Shannon Shorr among the players figuring in the endgame for this one.

This wasn’t Zhang’s first win, but it was his biggest-ever score, dwarfing his previous best of just shy of $115k. This first bracelet puts his lifetime earning less than $50k away from $3 million, so he’ll no doubt be looking for another score here in this series to crack that milestone.

Event #47: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E.

Yuri Dzivielevski pushed Brazil into the multiple bracelet zone, joining the USA, China, and Canada as one of four nations with more than a single bracelet so far this year after he bagged the big prize in the $1,500 HORSE race. The Brazilian was the last player standing out of the starting field of 836, and his $207,678 was the lion’s share of the $1,116,060 total prize pool.

The smiling and immaculately coiffed Dzivielevski was in a good position nearly from the start of this game. After finishing the opening day in the top ten, he bagged up the lead on the remaining days and ended up with all 20.9 million in play after the final hand.

But that’s not to suggest he ran over the field or faced no competition. When he got heads-up he was looking across at Randy Ohel, one of the toughest mixed game players on the planet. While Ohel has but a single bracelet, his results page is strewn will deep runs in deuce, HORSE, stud8, and dealers choice games with five runner-up finishes in mixed games. In addition to having to slay Ohel in the final stage of his quest for his third bracelet, Frankie O’Dell and Stephen Savoy also stood in his way on the final day, and players like Anson Tsang, Scott Baumstein, poker philanthropist Gershon Distenfeld, Scott Epstein, Shawn “Bucky” Buchanan, and Jeff Lisandro were contenders on earlier days.

This third bracelet for Dzivielevski brings his lifetime earnings to around $5.3 million and it comes on top of an online bracelet from the unprecedented 2020 series and one in mixed stud8/O8 from 2019. The $207,678 score wasn’t even close to his biggest though – last year he won almost $900k for 2nd place in the Poker Player’s Championship, falling to Dan Cates’ second title for his biggest score ever, so it’s pretty clear that this HORSE bracelet was no fluke. Dzivielevski knows his mixed games.

Event #48: $1,000 SENIORS No-Limit Hold’em Championship – Flight B

There has been a trend all series of massive turnouts for events, and the Seniors Championship was no different. When the dust settled on the second starting flight, 4,488 entries were recorded for 1b. That put the two-day total at 8,180, a record for the Seniors Event here at WSOP and crushing the previous record of 7,188 from last year.

Joseph Workman bagged the biggest stack from Day 1b with 510k while Francisco Corrales is right behind him at 508.5k. They are the only players with more than 500k as third-place Amin Mostafavi sits with just 391k. That puts the top two stacks from 1b in the lead for Day 2 with the top four stacks from 1a filling out spots three through six coming in for Day 2.

There is still a lot of poker to be played in this one with 1,624 players returning for the second day. 1,227 of them will get paid with the min-cash set at $1,601 and that money bubble should burst fairly early on Day 2. The winner at the end of it all can expect to add $765,731 to his or her retirement fund. Day 2 action goes at 10 am local time and the early action to the bubble should be pretty fast and furious.

Event #49: $1,500 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold’em

“So excited! Yeah, so it’s actually my first time. It’s my first tournament ever.” That was how Pengfei Wang described his poker experience after winning Event #49: $1,500 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold’em. He went on to add that he plays mostly cash poker with a few private games sometimes but that he doesn’t really have a lot of tournament experience.

His excitement clearly showed after the final hand as he literally jumped for joy when he realized he’d won poker’s biggest prize on his first try. As the name suggests, it was a very turbo affair that saw the original 2,226 entries play down to the final nine on the first day of play. Most of the early payouts from the $2,971,710 total prizes were already handed out, but the eventual winner was not in great shape to start the final day, coming in with one of the short stacks.

Argentian rapper Alejandro “Papo MC” Lococo came into the final day with the lead but was only able to manage 7th place for just shy of $40k. In the final phase, Wang faced Will Linden and Wang was actually at risk for his life in a race early in heads-up. He found quads for a huge double and while it wasn’t smooth sailing from there, Wang was able to grind out the victory. While he’s planning to head home for a bit after the victory, his final comment after the win was that he might be back next week for the short deck games, and with a 100% bracelet-to-tournament ratio at the moment, the rest of the field likely shouldn’t count him out.

Event #50: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship

They are down to 42 players left in the game fighting for the PLO Championship bracelet after two days of play. There were a total of 731 entries by the time Day 2 began, putting the final prize pool at $6,798,300. Dimitar Danchev leads the way into Day 3 with 3.705 million, which is a substantial lead over Sam Soverel with barely 2 million in second place. Dylan Weisman, Ioannis Angelou Konstas, and Jay Harwood were among the top-ten stacks as well, while Sean Winter, Joseph Liberta, and Paul “Jaspal” Brar, who won his first bracelet last year, are among the other stacks to make it to Day 3.

They’ll convene for what is expected to be the final day of play at 2 pm on Friday and PokerGO is expected to pick up the game with a live stream starting when they get five-handed.

Event #51: $1,000 TAG TEAM No-Limit Hold’em

The tag team event is always a favorite amongst WSOP regulars, but it’s at least as much about the fun as it is about the poker in this case. When the registration desk closed there were 1,282 team entries that combined for a prize pool of $570,490. The winning team will pocket $95,331 at the end of it all.

The team headed by Mark Evangelista bagged the biggest Day 1 stack with 562k and that was miles ahead of Kenneth Gallo’s second-place team with 382k. Jesse Sylvia – Ashley Sleeth were also among the top-ten stacks to end the opening day while Alejandro Lococo – Martin Pineiro, Julie Marriott – Dara O’Kearney, Sarah Steffan – Kyna England, and Jessica Teusl – Stefan Lehner all bagged top-40 stacks for Day 2 as well.

There are 252 teams returning for Day 2 at noon Friday with 193 of them making the money. Action should be pretty quick to start the day as they play down to the $801 money bubble with all sights set on the $95,331 first-place prize.

Event #52: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball

Fans of lowball poker have been waiting for Event #52 and that showed through with 353 entries, up more than 10% from last year’s 309. That put $785,425 into the prize pool with 53 players sharing in the booty. The earliest cashing player will pocket $4,069 while the winner of this event will be $181,978 richer.

Marco Johnson bagged the biggest stack after the first day of play with 228.5k. He leads five players with more than 200k, including Nacho Barbero and Maxx Coleman in second and third place respectively. Brian Yoon, Lynda Tran, Chino Rheem, Cary Katz, Maria Ho, Robert Campbell, Nick Pupillo, Daniel Strelitz, Patrick “Pads” Leonard, and Main Event Champ Koray Aldemir are also among the Day 1 baggers.

The final 145 players will return at 1 pm on Friday but there will be a fair bit of poker to play before any of them can start thinking about cash. They have 10 levels on the schedule for Day 2 and the bubble will almost certainly burst on Friday, but it’s likely to be later in the day.

Online Event #9: $1,000 PLO Championship

• Entries: 383
• Prizes: $606,600
• Places Paid: 99
• Winner: Stanislav “ForlorarDu” Barshak
• 1st Place Prize: $128,841.84

Upcoming Events on June 23

Event #53: $1,500 MILLIONAIRE MAKER No-Limit Hold’em – Flight A

• Start: 10 am
• Late Entry: 8 Levels
• Start Stack: 25,000
• Reentries: 1 per Flight

Event #54: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship

• Start: 2 pm
• Late Entry: Start of Day 2
• Start Stack: 60,000
• Reentries: 0

Phil Ivey came within five players of bagging his 11th bracelet on Wednesday but fell short after bubbling the final day of play in the Poker Player’s Championship. Talal Shakerchi leads the final five of that one, but it’s a star-studded affair that includes two previous winners, 7 bracelets, and multiple millions in winnings. Braxton Dunaway won his first bracelet before jetting off to watch his son in the College World Series, while William Leffingwell bagged a second bracelet for the Houston Omaha community and Jay Lockett called himself “dead money going in” while he was holding his first-ever bracelet. Details on those stories and more are below.

Event #39: $1,500 MONSTER STACK No-Limit Hold’em Day 4

The MONSTER STACK has finally been slayed as Braxton Dunaway took down the big prize for more than $1.1 million. Dunaway had to survive five days of poker and make it through 8,317 entries for the biggest share of the $11,103,195 in total prizes. Dunaway had some tough competition in the endgame, with two bracelet winners sitting opposite him on the final day of play.

Main Event winner Joe Cada was short coming into Day 5 and was the first to exit the stage in 7th place, but Jesse Rockowitz, who won his bracelet in 2010, made it all the way to 3rd place for a score of $541,376. Once Rockowitz was on the rail with third-place money in hand, the short heads-up against Colin Robertson began with Dunaway winning it a few hands later with two pair over a pair.

Dunaway is a family man whose first order of business upon winning his first bracelet and more than $1 million was to call his wife and kids, who couldn’t be here with him as his son in playing in the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. He’ll be hitting the airport almost immediately to fly out there to join the rest of the family and cheer his son on, but he pledged to be back for the Main Event.

MONSTER STACK Day 5 Results

Position	Player	Home	Payout
1	Braxton Dunaway	United States	$1,162,681
2	Colin Robinson	United States	$718,649
3	Jesse Rockowitz	United States	$541,376
4	Loic Dobrigna	France	$410,493
5	Nicholas Gerrity	United States	$313,297
6	Joshua Adcock	United States	$240,695
7	Joe Cada	United States	$186,149

Event #43: $50,000 Poker Players Championship

The final day of play for the Poker Players Championship is now set, and old-school British pro Talal Shakerchi is on course for his first bracelet in what is arguably the toughest event in the whole series. Shakerchi leads a star-studded final five as the only player with more than 10 million. That puts him significantly ahead of former winner Matthew Ashton in second with 7.38 million. Double-PPC winner Brian Rast is also still in the mix looking to join Michael Mizrachi in the three-timers club as The Grinder is currently the only member.

James Obst and Kristopher Tong round out the final-day field. In total, there are seven bracelets and more than $14 million in WSOP earnings left in the field for Day 5, but there could have been a whole lot more had Phil Ivey not bubbled the final day of play in 6th place. He was on course to bag his 11th bracelet in this event and take over sole possession of the second spot on the bracelet race by breaking his current tie with Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan on 10. Interestingly, Chan also recently had a solid chance to book his 11th when he made the final two tables of the Big O game, but neither player was quite able to finish it out.

They have one more day of poker to play in this game, and while Shakerchi has the advantage going into the final day, there’s a lot of poker talent standing between him and his first WSOP bracelet. The final day of play kicks off at 1 pm and this massive bracelet will be streamed on PokerGO until the final hand is dealt.

Final Day Counts for the PPC

Seat	Player	Home	Chips
1	James Obst	Australia	5.11 M
2	Talal Shakerchi	United Kingdom	10.17 M
3	Brian Rast	United States	4.545 M
4	Matthew Ashton	United Kingdom	7.38 M
5	Kristopher Tong	United States	2.5 M

Event #44: $3,000 No-Limit Holdem

Event #44 is down to the final 15 players now with Aram Oganyan leading the way into the final day of play. He has just shy of 10 million to start the day while Shannon Shorr is second with 8.75 million. Aleks Dimitrov, Ankush Mandavia, and Frederic Normand are among the players who bagged chips at the end of Day 3. There were a total of 1,735 entries that built a prize pool of $4,632,450, and 261 players figured in the payouts.

Defending Main Event champ Espen Jorstad was among the players to cash out before the end of Day 3, and joining him were Eliot Hudon, Boshuang Gao, Bart Lybaert, David “ODB” Baker, Daniel Negreanu, and Jans Arends, among others. The final day of play gets underway at 11 am Vegas time with returning players all guaranteed more than $30k now but all 15 players coming back will have their sights on the $717,879 first-place prize.

Event #45: $1,500 Mixed Omaha Hi Low

Event #45 is now in the books, and Houston’s William Leffingwell navigated through almost 1,100 entries to take down the top prize of $253,651 and his first bracelet. That was the biggest share of the $1,456,485 total prize pool, and Leffingwell actually called his shot, Babe Ruth style. While he didn’t literally point to the bleachers, after his friend and fellow Houstonian Scott Dulaney won Event #31 last week, and in the process proclaimed his mission to prove the best Omaha players come from Houston, Dulaney challenged him to win a bracelet before the Main Event.

Leffingwell responded with “Ok, I’ll come win the $1,500 Mixed Omaha event.” One week later he made good on his promise and brought another Omaha-related bracelet back to Houston. He was in the middle of the table coming into the final day, and he put on a bit of a clinic in split-pot Omaha, picking his spots to find the extra value when it was available.

And it wasn’t as if he was facing a bunch of nobodies for this title. Standing in his way on the final day alone was perhaps the hottest player of the last decade. Six-time bracelet winner and perennial PoY contender Shaun Deeb already has one bracelet this year and was hungry to add another, but ended up falling in 5th place. Joey Coudon had the chip lead to start the day but he could only manage fourth place in the end. And before the final day, players like Nick Kost, Alex Livingston, Maksim Pisarenko, and Leif Force stood between Leffingwell and the bracelet.

Between this win and Dulaney’s win last week, the Houston Omaha community is putting the world on notice. After his win last week, Dulaney claimed Houston produces the world’s-best Omaha players, and for his part, after the win Leffingwell added “PLO is our game, and we invite everyone in the world to come [to Houston to] play at any stakes.”

Event #46: $500 Freezeout No-Limit Holdem

“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” said Jay Lockett after his win. He called himself “dead money coming in” and admitted he ran super-hot, getting quads twice at the final table, and getting there for a huge pot with ace-queen into ace-king. While Lockett was quite emotional after the win and pointed to his luck, as with any poker tournament with 5,342 entries (all unique by the way, since this was a classic freezeout game), the winner will always have gotten to the end on a combination of good play and run-good.

It was pretty shallow to start the final day of play with just 25 big blinds average. That created an action-filled day that saw the returning field of 238 players drop to the final nine in about eight hours of play. The fast pace continued with the final table finishing in around two hours.

Incredibly, this was just Lockett’s second live cash, with his first coming in 2021 at the rescheduled 52nd WSOP where he took 176th place in a $600 NLHE game for just under $2k, so this win was clearly a massive boost to his bankroll. His $262,526 was the biggest share of the $2,243,640 with all players returning for Day 2 getting a piece of that pie. Runner-up Benson Tang scored $162,207 as a consolation prize.

Event #47: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E.

There are still 28 jockeys left in the HORSE race and Yuri Dzivielesvskil leads by a couple of lengths rounding the final turn. The Brazilian crusher is the only one over 2 million, and is about 700k ahead of second-place Stephen Savoy with 1.345 million. The charity world will also be happy to see Gershon Distenfeld sitting in third place on the chip counts with 1.3 million as he’s pledged to donate all of his winnings from the series to charity, with 10% earmarked for the Charity Series of Poker.

Andrew Barber, Scott Epstein, Randy Ohel, Anson Tsang, and Scott Baumstein are among the other players still on their HORSE for Day 3 of this $1,500 race while Jeff Lisandro, Shawn “Bucky” Buchanan, “Crazy Mike” Thorpe, Frank Kassela, Tom McCormick, and Joao Vieira were among the players to cash out on Day 2. Day 3, which begins at 1 pm on Thursday, is scheduled to be the final day of play for this game, but with 28 players returning and the pattern of extra days so far this series, don’t be surprised to see a few stacks still in play when they close the Day 3 action.

Event #48: $1,000 SENIORS No-Limit Hold’em Championship – Flight A

The opening flight of the Seniors event is complete with 3,692 runners and 730 bags at the end of 11 levels of poker. That means there is already $3,285,880 in the prize pool with Thursday’s Day 1b expected to be even bigger. Frank “Skullman” Harrington is the chip leader after the opening flight as one of four players with 400k or more. Rajesh Goyal, Christian Munk, and Jose Obadia Chocron are the other players in the 400k club, while Joshua Mountain rounds out the top five counts with a slightly smaller mountain of 383,000 in chips. Mark Seif also bagged a top-ten stack while Allen Kessler and Andy Black are also moving on to Day 2.

There is one more Day 1 starting flight to play in this one before the final field and prizes are decided, and the Day 1a bags will join up with 1b on Friday for Day 2.

Event #49: $1,500 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold’em

The Super Turbo Bounty lived up to its billing as they played down from 2,226 entries to the final nine players on the first day. There is $2,971,710 to play for in this one, but most of the 334 paid spots have already been spoken for. Chance Kornuth was among the min-cashers in this one and other players to pocket cash on Day 1 included Dylan Wilkerson, Jason Mann, Anh Nguyen, Eric Baldwin, Leo Margets, Erik Cajelais, Punnat Punsri, Xuan Liu, Daniel Idema, Ryan “Christopher” Comely, and Fabrice Bigot.

The final nine players will return to finish it out on Thursday with Alejandro “Papo MC” Lococo leading the counts with more than 15 million. That’s not just “leading the counts” however – it is almost twice as many chips as second-place Will Linden with 8.85 million, so the Argentinian rapper appears to have a stranglehold on the field for the final day.

Event #50: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship

There were 688 entries on Day 1 of the PLO Championship for a combined prize pool of $6,398,400. That is still set to grow a bit, however, with entries for Championship events open until the start of Day 2. Daniel Aharoni has the biggest bag after one day of play with 535,000 while Japan’s Motoyoshi Okamura has exactly 500k for second. Johann Ibanez, Bryce Yockey, Roman Hrabec, Paul “Jaspal” Brar, Sean Winter, Isaac Kempton, Joao Vieira, and Nick Schulman are among the 265 bags still in play after the first day.

There are 10 levels of poker on the Day 2 schedule, and the field for this one will be set when the cards go in the air at 2 pm on Thursday.

Upcoming Events on June 22

Event #48: $1,000 SENIORS No-Limit Hold’em Championship – Flight B

• Start: 10 am
• Late Entry: 8 Levels
• Start Stack: 20,000
• Reentries: 1 per Flight
• Must be 50 years of age or older to enter

Event #51: $1,000 TAG TEAM No-Limit Hold’em

• Start: 12 noon
• Late Entry: 8 Levels
• Start Stack: 20,000
• Reentries: 0

Event #52: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball

• Start: 2 pm
• Late Entry: 8 Levels
• Start Stack: 35,000
• Reentries: 1

Online Event #9: $1,000 PLO Championship

• Start: 3:30 pm

There were no bracelets awarded on Tuesday this week as the MONSTER STACK went to an unscheduled Day 5. Ten-timer Phil Ivey won the battle of the Phils in Day 3 of the PPC by booking the fifth-place stack while Phil Hellmuth made the money but exited in 14th place for a $97,209 min-cash. Matthew Ashton has the lead in that one right now, looking for his second bracelet and second PPC title while Brian Rast is still alive and looking for PPC title #3 as Day 4 is shaping up to be a star-studded run to the final five players.

Event #39: $1,500 MONSTER STACK No-Limit Hold’em Day 4

There is one more day to play in the MONSTER STACK game after 7 players were still sitting with chips. They played nearly 12 hours on Day 4, which was scheduled to be the final day of play in this game. It’s been a bit of a pattern so far this year for large fields to force an extra day in many events, and the MONSTER was no different.

Nicholas Gerrity leads the final seven players returning to the felt on the unscheduled Day 5. He is the only player with more than 100 million in his bag but Jesse Rockowitz is just under 100 million and the 2010 bracelet winner will be looking to strike. Rockowitz isn’t the only bracelet winner left in this game either – Main Event winner Joe Cada bagged a small stack after losing a chunk late on Day 4 when Braxton Dunaway picked off a bluff. Cada returns with just 8 big blinds, so he’ll need to make an early move, but I doubt anyone is counting him out.

MONSTER STACK Day 5 Chips

Position	Player	Chips
1	Nicholas Gerrity	112.3 M
2	Jesse Rockowitz	94.5 M
3	Braxton Dunaway	54.9 M
4	Colin Robinson	47.4 M
5	Loic Dobrigna	47.1 M
6	Joshua Adcock	43.2 M
7	Joe Cada	16.6 M

Among the players to fall short of the final day was Ashley “PokerFaceAsh” Frank who bagged 16th place, as well as Brandon Sheils, Jaered Besse, David Vedral, Jimmy Setna, and Nate Silver. The final day of MONSTER action is underway at 5 pm Vegas time on Wednesday, and they will play down to a winner on Day 5 for sure.

No words. 🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/YDUDV8kk1Z

— PokerfaceAsh (@pokerface_ash_) June 21, 2023

Event #43: $50,000 Poker Players Championship

There are just 12 players left with chips in the massive PPC game now, and 10-time bracelet winner Phil Ivey is still among them looking to take sole possession of 2nd place on the bracelet list with his 11th in what is arguably the toughest event on the whole WSOP schedule. Ivey is fifth in chips after Day 3 with 3.135 million.

While Ivey is looking for his 11th bracelet and a lock on 2nd place, he’ll have to contend with a two-time winner of this event in Brian Rast. Rast bagged 3.365 million to end Day 3 for fourth place on the chips list and he’ll have his sights set on joining Michael Mizrachi in the three-timers club as “The Grinder” is currently the only member.

While Ivey and Rast are likely the marquee players with the most to prove coming into Day 4, they’ll be facing down some serious competition. Bracelet winner Ray Dehkharghani is still in the mix, and his WSOP results page is littered with deep runs in every mixed game imaginable. His single bracelet came in razz in 2016, but Dehkharghani has been deep in razz, O8, LHE, seven card stud, and triple draw deuce at WSOP, not to mention a final table performance in this very event in 2016.

He is joined on Day 4 by players like Johannes Becker, James Obst, Daniel Alaei, recent five-timer Josh Arieh, Talal Shakerchi, and Hal Rotholz to round out what is surely one of the toughest endgames this series. They are all chasing the chip-leading stack of UK’s Matthew Ashton, and Ashton may well have something to prove himself. He is a former winner of this event back in 2013 for his only bracelet so far and he’ll no doubt be looking to join the two-timers club in both bracelets and PPC titles.

The final 12 players return to the felt at 1 pm and the Day 4 plan is to play six levels or down to five players remaining, whichever comes first, before they bag up to return for what should be the final day of play on Thursday. PokerGO has action from both the MONSTER STACK final table and Day 4 of the PPC tonight with PPC action kicking off on stream at 4 pm.

Event #44: $3,000 No-Limit Holdem

Event #44 was another huge turnout with the 1,735 entries billed as “another record-setting field” by the organizers. There is $4,632,450 in total to play for and 261 players will be part of the final payouts. A chunk of those payouts happened before they bagged at the end of Day 2 with 109 players still in the game for Day 3 action.

Canada’s Elliot Smith was the min-cash spot in this one on Day 2, and among the other players to cash out before the end of the second day were Punnat Punsri, Lexy Gavin, Brian Yoon, Matt Affleck, Jack Hardcastle, Rayan Chamas, Katie Lindsay, Stephen Song, Taylor Paur, Alex Kulev, Martins Adeniya, Mark Ioli, and Ryan Laplante.

Yang Zhang leads the way with another solid chance for China to book its fourth bracelet, but Brazilian crusher Joao Simao is right behind him, with both players on about 1.8 million. Eliot Hudon and Frederic Normand both bagged top ten stacks, while Shannon Shorr, Arsenii Karmatckii, Matt Berkey, Chris Moorman, Santiago Plante, Daniel Negreanu, and defending Main Event champ Espen Jorstad are among the other bags at the end of Day 2.

Event #45: $1,500 Mixed Omaha Hi Low

Joey Couden is one of just two players with 2 million chips at the end of Day 2 of Event #45. There are 33 players still left in the game and many players have already cashed out of this one. 164 of the original 1,091 starters for this game got a piece of the prizes and when Scott Buller ended his run in 34th to end Day 2, he was the first player to the pay jump to $7,279.

Thomas Taylor, Tom Koral, Brandon Shack-Harris, Men Nguyen, Angela Jordison, Ben Lamb, James Woods, Yuval Bronshtein, and Dustin Dirksen were among the other players to get a piece of the $1,456,485 prize pool on Day 2. In part, Couden got his chip lead by taking out Hollywood veteran and WSOP mixed-game reg James Woods in 65th place. Woods can be found in the mix of many of the WSOP’s more esoteric games and while he is yet to score a bracelet he has 29 cashes in WSOP events of various kinds.

Couden is one of two players with more than 2 million, but he’s the clear leader. He bagged 2.885 million to end the day while second-place Nick Kost barely has 2 million. Six-time bracelet winner Shaun Deeb, who just recently bagged #6 this year, has the fourth biggest stack and will be looking to make it #7. Canada’s Alex Livingston also bagged a top ten stack for Day 3 of this one while Martin Zamani, Leif Force, and Maksim Pisarenko were among the other Day 3 stacks.

Day 3 is set to go at 1 pm Wednesday, and the plan is to play down to a winner, but fans should be prepared for a possible Day 4 as there are still 33 players left in the game, and extra days seem to be the rule rather than the exception so far this year.

Event #46: $500 Freezeout No-Limit Holdem

Preston McEwen is the chip leader at the end of the opening day of play in Event #46. One of the cheapest bracelets on the schedule, the $500 game saw 5,342 runners, and as this game is played in the classic freezeout format, every single one of those entries was a unique person. All those unique people combined for a whopping prize pool of $2,243,640 with 802 players slated to get a portion of it.

In fact, a good chunk of those payouts are already in players’ pockets as they ended the day with just 241 players left alive. Among the players to cash out on Day 1 were Gavin Wood, Steven Couture, Lam Nguyen, Matthew Osorio, Jeffrey Minnema, Evan Thomas, and Veronica Brill.

Joining McEwan with chips for Day 2 are Yita Choong, Lori Persinger, Jeffrey Silverstein, Erik Cajelais, and Maureen Bloechlinger. Day 2 action gets going at 10 am on Wednesday and this is scheduled as a two-day event so the plan is to finish the game on Wednesday, but once again, there are a lot of Day 2 players to get through.

Event #47: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E.

Players were eager to get on the HORSE as Event #47 kicked off on Tuesday with 836 entries. Once again, that is up on last year’s number of 773, continuing what is now a clear pattern of year-over-year field increases. That made this HORSE worth a total of $1,116,060 with the winning jockey riding to a victory of $207,678.

“Crazy Mike” Thorpe is the chip leader going into Day 2 with 252,500 to start the day. All the players in the top five have 200k or more, and Phillip Hui is among them with the 4th place stack of 212k. Thorpe already has three cashes this summer, so he is looking to add a fourth here in the HORSE. He’s got competition on Day 2, however, with the likes of Yuri Dzivielevski (189,500,) David “Bakes” Baker (130,000), Koray Aldemir (130,000), and Matt Savage (106,500), as well as Joao Vieira and poker philanthropist Gershon Distenfeld still in the mix.

The cards go in the air for Day 2 at 1 pm, and the plan is to play 10 levels of poker on Wednesday before the remaining players bag up for what should be the final day on Thursday.

Online Event #8: $3,200 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller

• Entries: 321
• Prizes: $1,489,600
• Paid: 54
• 1st Place: $360,036.32
• Winner: Jeremy “ChipChecka” Ausmus (6th WSOP bracelet)

Upcoming Events on June 21

Event #48: $1,000 SENIORS No-Limit Hold’em Championship – Flight A

• Start: 10 am
• Late Entry: 8 Levels
• Start Stack: 20,000
• Reentries: 1 per Flight
• Must be 50 years of age or older to enter

Event #49: $1,500 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold’em

• Start: 12 noon
• Late Entry: 11 Levels
• Start Stack: 25,000
• Reentries: 0

Event #50: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship

• Start: 2 pm
• Late Entry: Start of Day 2
• Start Stack: 60,000
• Reentries: 0

China took sole possession of 2nd place in this year’s national bracelet race after the Asian nation got its third from Qiang Xu, while Scott Abrams had to battle “ghosts of the past” to take down his first bracelet. In the massive PPC event, the Terminator, aka two-time defending champ Dan “Jungleman” Cates, was terminated on Day 2 ending his bid to become the first player to win three PPC titles on the trot, but Phil Ivey is making a run for his 11th bracelet in one of the toughest events on the whole summer schedule and Brian Rast is looking to join Michael Mizrachi as the only three-time winner (though not on the trot).

Event #41: $1,500 Big O

It was like a blast from the past in many ways on the final day of the first-ever Big O bracelet event. OG legend Johnny Chan was looking to bag his 11th bracelet to stand alone in second place in the bracelet hunt, while Robert Williamson III and Victor Ramdin also figured in the endgame of the split-pot five-card pot-limit Omaha game. There were just shy of 1,500 entries for this inaugural Big O bracelet game, putting the prize pool to beat for next year at $1,946,430.

When the dust settled on all the action, Scott Abrams was the player with all the chips, the $315,203, and the bracelet. He ended up in a bit of an old versus new battle when things got heads-up as he faced down Robert Williamson III, who seemed to be everywhere on televised poker in the 2000s and early 2010s. Abrams started heads up with a small advantage in chips. but quickly picked off a bluff to take a big lead. That led to a quick finish as the money went in a couple of hands later when Williamson III flopped top two with a flush draw against Abrams’ top-top and a low draw. Abrams turned flush outs and got there on the river for his first bracelet.

For his part, Chan got a decent start on the day with an early double and made the final two tables, but ultimately was unable to finish it out for his 11th, falling in 14th place for $13,982 and his deepest run in a decade at WSOP. Ramdin did a little better, making the final table and ending his day in 4th place for $105,383 while Williamson III bagged $194,814 for second. The $315k win comes in as Abrams’ second-biggest after his 12th-place finish in the 2012 Main Event for almost $600k, and brings his lifetime earnings to more than $1.6 million.

Event #42: $800 8-Handed No-Limit Hold’em Deepstack

China is now in sole possession of second place on the national bracelet board after Qiang Xu bagged his first bracelet for China’s third so far in this series. He described the win as a “dream coming true” and said his main goal coming over from China for this trip was to bag a bracelet, but he also admitted he “ran very good from start to finish”.

Xu’s tournament life was on the line when things were four-handed, and it might have all ended right there for him if he hadn’t been able to win a crucial flip to stay alive and when things got heads-up, Xu made pretty quick work of Jason Johnson who pocketed $209,547 for second place.

There was a whopping 3,773 entries for this game, putting the prizes at $2,656,192 and 566 players got a piece of the action in the endgame. Among the other players who pocketed cash from this one were 2021 Main Event Champ Koray Aldemir, who took 12th for $21k, and Donna Stutts, who busted the final table just before the dinner break in 9th place for $33,382. Other cashers included “World Famous” Pat Lyons, Santiago Plante, Chino Rheem, and Antoine Saout.

Event #39: $1,500 MONSTER STACK No-Limit Hold’em Day 3

There are just 43 players remaining from the monster starting field of 8,317 in the MONSTER STACK game. There is $11,103,195 to play for in this game, but a lot of the prizes have already been handed out with a total of 1,248 places paid in this one. Just before Day 3 ended, Justin Hankinson busted in 44th to hit the pay jump to $30,415, and that’s what the players returning for Day 4 are all guaranteed now. One player will finish this game as a millionaire however, with the top prize slated at $1,162,681.

Xuming Qi is in a great position to book China’s fourth bracelet of the series with more than 24 million and the chip lead going into what should be the final day of play after he shot up from the bottom turning a short stack to start Day 3 into the leading stack for Day 4. No one else has more than 24 million but Marcos Exterkotter has about 23.5 million for second, while Steven Snyder has just shy of 21.3 million for third.

Nate Silver and David Vedral were both among the players to end Day 3 with a top-ten stack while 2009 Main Event Champ Joe Cada bagged just under 9 million for 21st place. Canada’s Jimmy Setna, who led for much of the Day 2 play, is still in the hunt as well with just under 11 million to start the final day.

Final day action from the MONSTER STACK starts at noon on Tuesday, and PokerGO has cards up coverage of the endgame starting at 7 pm.

Event #43: $50,000 Poker Players Championship

Ten-time bracelet winner Phil Ivey is still looking good to book his 11th bracelet and take over second place in the all-time bracelet race. He bagged the third-biggest stack after the second day of play in the $50k Poker Players Championship, but he’ll have some tough competition to turn that third-place stack into a bracelet. Above him on the chip counts for Day 3 are Daniel Alaei and James Obst, both in the 2 million range.

Bracelet winner Obst is the biggest for Day 3 with just shy of three million, but it’s no surprise that the rest of the field is littered with some of the most dangerous names in poker. One of the dangerous names that won’t be back for Day 3 is two-time defending champion Dan “Jungleman” Cates. Dressed up as the Terminator for this event, Cates had a rollercoaster ride through much of his two days of play, getting very short early on Day 1, then spinning that back up to a decent Day 2 start stack only to see it fall away again on the second day.

That means the field is open to a new winner this year, but it doesn’t mean there won’t be a repeat. two-timer Brian Rast is still sitting behind a top-ten stack and there’s little doubt he’d love to join Michael Mizrachi in the triple club. Recent five-time bracelet winner Josh Arieh, OG legend Lyle Berman, Dzmitry Urbanovich, and Nacho Barbero are just a few of the other players with top-ten stack while Matthew Ashton, Maxx Coleman, John Monnette, John Racener, past PPC champ Elior Sion and 16-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth are just a few of the other players outside the top ten but looking for a chance to strike on Day 3.

Entries were open for a few levels to start Day 2, and once the gates came down there were 99 entries on the board for a final prize pool of $4,727,250. See below for a look at the payouts for the PPC.

Place	Payout (USD)
1	$1,324,747
2	$818,756
3	$573,679
4	$411,824
5	$303,071
6	$228,793
7	$177,294
8	$141,125
9	$141,125
10	$115,477
11	$115,477
12	$97,209
13	$97,209
14	$97,209
15	$84,255

Event #44: $3,000 No-Limit Holdem

Argentina’s Ramiro Petrone is the chip leader after the opening day of Event #44. He led the 1,511 entries recorded on Day 1, but there will be a few more players in this one with entries open for two levels on the second day so the $4,034,370 current prize pool is expected to grow. Petrone is one of five players with 300k or more and there are a few marquee names still alive in this field including Kristen Foxen (98,000), Maria Ho (97,500) and Daniel Negreanu (72,000).

Day 2 action starts at Level 11 and players will be able to enter until the end of Level 12 with the first hand being dealt at 10 am on Tuesday.

Event #45: $1,500 Mixed Omaha Hi Low

It’s officially a trend at the 2023 WSOP for events to crush their 2022 numbers. There were 1,091 entries for Event #45 before the desk closed, more than 300 entries above the 2022 number of 771. That means the pie contains $1,456,485 and will be cut into 164 different-sized pieces. Scott Clements bagged the second-biggest stack of Day 1 with 274k, but that’s still miles behind the leader, Yusheng Lin of Taiwan with 455k.

Among the other players to bag a stack for Day 2 were Shaun Deeb, on the hunt for his seventh bracelet and second in this series alone, as well as Sam Farha, recent winner Jerry Wong, and Ben Lamb. The second day of play gets underway at 1 pm on Tuesday with bracelet winners galore littering the field.

Upcoming Events on June 20

Event #46: $500 Freezeout No-Limit Holdem

• Start: 10 am
• Late Entry: 11 Levels
• Start Stack: 25,000
• Reentries: 0

Event #47: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E.

• Start: 2 pm
• Late Entry: 9 Levels
• Start Stack: 25,000
• Reentries: 0

Online Event #8: $3,200 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller

• Start: 3:30 pm