It was another super Sunday at the 2023 World Series of Poker from Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas on June 11, with four players reeling in WSOP bracelets, and another handful of events making big strides towards awarding their poker gold.
Josh Arieh won the first bracelet of Day 13, which happened to be the fifth of his long and illustrious career. The 2021 WSOP Player of the Year, Arieh took down Event #22: $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship for $316,226 after defeating Daniel Idema of Canada heads-up.
Leon Sturm secured a whopping $1,546,024 payday and their first gold bracelet after coming out on top of Event #23: $50,000 High Roller (8-Handed). Some of the biggest names in tournament poker were among the 124 players who started the event, but it was Sturm who shone the brightest over the course of three intense days of poker, and they became a worthy champion.
Event #24: $1,500 Razz also crowned its champion, and David “ODB” Baker is the player who will forever be known as the 2022 winner. Baker was one the ropes at one stage of the heads-up battle with Justin Liberto, but fought valiantly to claw his way back into contention, before going on a late tear and emerging with the victory and one of the greatest comeback stories in poker history.
The fourth bracelet of the evening went to Gary “SaquonNYG26” Belyalovsky in Online Event #5: $400 No-Limit Hold’em 8-Max. Belyalovsky found themselves heads-up against 2020 Domestic WSOP Main Event champion Joseph “Kolebear” Hebert, and came out on top to become a WSOP champion for the first time.
Deeb Flies High on Day 1 of the $1,500 Eight Game Mix
Five-time WSOP bracelet winner Shaun Deeb has done his chances of capturing a sixth bracelet no harm at all by bagging up the Day 1 chip lead in Event #27: $1,500 Eight Game Mix.
Deeb finished Day 1 with 311,200 chips, and was the only player to finish with more than 300,000 chips. Finland’s Sampo Ryynanen (282,000) is Deeb’s nearest rival, while Kao “Chill” Saechao (279,500) bagged up the third largest stack. Among Saechao’s stack are chips that once belonged to PokerNews’ Chad Holloway.
Among the 218 survivors are a plethora of top-tier poker players. David “Bakes” Baker (238,000), Anthony Zinno (177,800), Dario Sammartino (154,000), Allen Kessler (100,700), the legendary Phil Hellmuth (84,700), and Daniel Negreanu (63,900) to name just a few.
A certain Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (47,500) also made an appearance, but he returns on Day 2 with plenty of work to do.
Play resumes under the watchful eyes of the PokerNews live reporting team from 1:00 p.m. local time on June 12. We will see you there.
Event #27: $1,500 Eight Game Mix Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shaun Deeb | United States | 311,200 |
| 2 | Sampo Ryynanen | Finland | 282,000 |
| 3 | Kao Saechao | United States | 279,500 |
| 4 | Chad Campbell | United States | 263,400 |
| 5 | Daniel Vargas | United States | 261,700 |
| 6 | David “Bakes” Baker | United States | 238,000 |
| 7 | Hugh Joiner | United States | 211,800 |
| 8 | Nicolas Barthe | France | 208,800 |
| 9 | Paul Martino | United States | 205,600 |
| 10 | Ryan Roeder | United States | 202,600 |
Only 14 Warriors Remain in the Gladiators of Poker
Event #18: $300 Gladiators of Poker is entering its final phase, with only 14 of the 23,088-field remaining. Eric Trexler is the player to catch, having finished Day 2 with 97,400,000 chips. Brazil’s Caio Sobral (94,000,000) occupies second place at the restart.
None of the remaining 14 players have captured a bracelet before, but that is set to change for one of them by the time the curtain comes down on Day 3 proceedings. Each of the returning players is guaranteed $23,298 for their efforts, with a final table appearance boosting this to $46,051, and the champion taking home a cool $499,852.
The third and final day shuffles up and deals at 12:00 p.m. local time on June 12 and play continues until only one player has all 692,640,000 chips in their stack. Stay tuned to PokerNews to find out who that champion is.
Event #18: $300 Gladiators of Poker Final Day Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eric Trexler | United States | 97,400,000 | 39 |
| 2 | Ciao Sobral | Brazil | 94,000,000 | 38 |
| 3 | Kfir Nahum | Israel | 83,600,000 | 33 |
| 4 | Jason Simon | United States | 77,800,000 | 31 |
| 5 | Jonson Chatterley | United States | 66,300,000 | 27 |
| 6 | Bohdan Slyvinski | United States | 55,200,000 | 22 |
| 7 | Wade Wallace | United States | 41,400,000 | 17 |
| 8 | Salvatroe Boi | Italy | 37,300,000 | 15 |
| 9 | Wesley Cannon | United States | 36,000,000 | 14 |
| 10 | Bien Nguyen | Australia | 31,200,000 | 12 |
| 11 | Tim Williams | United States | 28,400,000 | 11 |
| 12 | Joshua Rotherberg | United States | 23,400,000 | 9 |
| 13 | Thomas Reeves | United States | 13,600,000 | 5 |
| 14 | Willie Smith | United States | 9,500,000 | 4 |
Seidel is in the Top 3 Going Into Day 3 of the Omaha Hi-Lo Championship
Erik Seidel has a realistic chance of joining an exclusive club of players that have won at least ten WSOP bracelets when he returns for Day 3 of Event #25: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship. Seidel finished Day 2 with 1,010,000 chips, enough for third place out of 21 returning players.
Should Seidel get the job done, he would join Johnny Chan, Phil Ivey, and the late Doyle Brunson on ten bracelets. Of course, he’d still be some distance behind Phil Hellmuth and his haul of 16 pieces of WSOP hardware.
Seidel was one of four players to cram seven figures worth of chips into an overnight bag. Chip leader Jay Kerbel (1,065,000), two-time bracelet winner Jose Luis Velador (1,040,000), and Johannes Becker (1,010,000) are that trio.
Others still in contention include Kyle Cartwright (880,000), Ben Lamb (630,000), John Hennigan (630,000), Brad Ruben (570,000), and Sammy Farha (225,000).
The remaining 21 players return to their seats from 1:00 p.m. local time on June 12, and PokerNews will be with you every step of the way.
Event #25: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds | Big Bets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jay Kerbel | United States | 1,065,000 | 53 | 27 |
| 2 | Jose Luis Velador | Mexico | 1,040,000 | 52 | 26 |
| 3 | Erik Seidel | United States | 1,010,000 | 51 | 25 |
| 4 | Johannes Becker | Germany | 1,010,000 | 51 | 25 |
| 5 | James Chen (US) | United States | 925,000 | 46 | 23 |
| 6 | Kyle Cartwright | United States | 880,000 | 44 | 22 |
| 7 | Robert Yass | United States | 650,000 | 33 | 16 |
| 8 | Ben Lamb | United States | 630,000 | 32 | 16 |
| 9 | John Hennigan | United States | 630,000 | 32 | 16 |
| 10 | Aaron Kupin | United States | 595,000 | 30 | 15 |
$800 No-Limit Hold’em Field Decimated
Romania’s Cosmin Joldis (2,040,000) captured the Day 1 chip lead in Event #26: $800 No-Limit Hold’em Deepstack, as the 4,747-strong field was decimated over the course of 22 levels. Only 339 players bagged chips at the close of play.
Joldis finished as runner-up to Young Sik Eum in the 2022 Mini Main Event at the WSOP, a result that netted him $367,233. Joldis would beat that career-best score if he triumphs in this tournament because first place comes with a $402,588 payday, and the all-important WSOP bracelet.
Although Joldis bagged the only two-million stack, there are some superb poker players in the chasing pack. Thomas Boivin (1,575,000), JJ Liu (1,245,000), Ryan Riess (1,025,000), Joe Serock (810,000), Ben Yu (685,000), and Bryn Kenney (575,000) are just a handful of names to look out for on Day 2.
Cards are back in the air from 10:00 a.m. local time on June 12, and PokerNews will be providing updates from the first pitched cards to the bagging up of chips.
Event #26: $800 No-Limit Hold’em Deepstack Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cosmin Joldis | Romania | 2,040,000 | 68 |
| 2 | William Pappas | United States | 1,680,000 | 56 |
| 3 | Stefan Rolfe | Canada | 1,655,000 | 55 |
| 4 | Daniyal Gheba | United States | 1,655,000 | 55 |
| 5 | Thomas Boivin | Belgium | 1,575,000 | 53 |
| 6 | Wade Fink | United States | 1,520,000 | 51 |
| 7 | Nanhua Jin | United States | 1,450,000 | 48 |
| 8 | Christopher Battenfield | United States | 1,410,000 | 47 |
| 9 | Sriharsha Doddapaneni | United States | 1,380,000 | 46 |
| 10 | Tamas Lendvai | Hungary | 1,365,000 | 46 |
What to Expect on Day 14 of the 2023 WSOP
Hold onto your hats because Day 14 is going to be a busy one at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. As the 2023 WSOP hits the two-week mark, Event #18: $300 Gladiators of Poker will conclude, as will Event #26: $800 No-Limit Hold’em Deepstack.
Attempts will be made to whittle the Event #25: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship field as much as possible, and we will have a clearer picture of who the champion of Event #27: $1,500 Eight Game Mix will be.
Day 14 also sees three new evens shuffle up and deal! Event #28: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em should see yet another huge field, while Event #29: $100,000 High Roller is set to bring poker’s elite players out of the woodwork. Event #30: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw sees the first draw poker tournament event commence.
Of course, PokerNews is reporting live from all the events mentioned above, so join us on June 12 and throughout the 2023 WSOP for all of the action as it happens.