Alex Foxen
Alex Foxen put on a masterclass performance and took a monster chip lead in the $50,000 PLO High Roller.

It was a super-sized day at the 2023 World Series of Poker, as five bracelets were handed out to first-time champions, while eleven events were in play concurrently. This was fitting, as an absolutely mammoth field stormed into the Horseshoe and Paris casinos in Las Vegas for Day 1a of the Colossus and the highest buy-in PLO event in this year’s WSOP kicked off today, as well.

Miller Denies Kenney in $10k Stud 8

Just six players remained for Day 4 action in Event #63: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better, and a five-hour marathon heads-up match saw Ryan Miller overcome controversial pro Bryn Kenney to earn $344,677 and his first WSOP gold bracelet. Miller, who has cashes in the WSOP in three different decades, told PokerNews, “I’ve waited a long time and I wasn’t sure if it would ever come, but I’m super excited to get one.”

A trio of eliminations in the first two hours of play swiftly knocked the short stacks out and left Kenney with a healthy lead over Miller and Maximilian Schindler, who flirted with the chip lead before losing two large hands to get short. Kenney then made three deuces on sixth street shortly after, and Schindler put the last of his chips in on seventh with aces-up to fall in third.

Kenney started heads-up with a 6 million to 2.5 million chip lead, but Miller tied it up swiftly. Both players then had around 16 big bets left in their stacks, plenty of maneuverability, and despite Kenney getting Miller down to just over four big bets at one point, Miller clawed back and won a hefty pot with nines-up to bring Kenney to just over one big bet. One hand later, Kenney got his crumbs in on fourth street, but Miller made a pair of aces on fifth and Kenney couldn’t catch up to send the Pennsylvanian Miller his first WSOP bracelet.

WSOP 2023 Event #63: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Final Table Results:
Place Player Country Prize
1st Ryan Miller USA $344,677
2nd Bryn Kenney USA $213,027
3rd Maximilian Schindler USA $149,981
4th Andres Korn Argentina $107,824
5th Chino Rheem USA $79,189
6th Eddie Blumenthal USA $59,441
7th Yong Wang China $45,624
8th Joao Vieira Portugal $35,826

 

Christmas Comes Early For Klaus Ilk in Super Seniors

It took seven hours for the 13 remaining players in Event #61: $1,000 Super Seniors to play down to a winner, and Austria’s Klaus Ilk, who returned for the final day of action as the short stack, ended up an unlikely winner of his first WSOP gold bracelet and $371,603.

A swift march to the final table of nine saw Ronald Lane holding a commanding lead over the remaining field, and Ilk remained near the bottom of the counts as the short stacks were consumed by Lane and Farhad Davoudzadeh. Ilk started making his move after knocking Kevin Danko out in fifth, before Lane knocked Ronald Swain and Davoudzadeh out in short order to take a commanding 4:1 chip lead into heads-up play. 

Undeterred, Ilk doubled on one of the first hands of heads-up action, took the chip lead a few minutes later, and before much more than a half-hour could tick off the clock, Ilk called a three-bet shove on a 7s6h4c flop with 9d9s, and was up against the Tc8s of Lane. Ilk would fade the double-gutter and overcard on the 2s turn and 3h river, and took home Austria’s seventh ever WSOP gold bracelet, joining the likes of Stefan Lehner and Ivo Donev.

WSOP 2023 Event #61: $1,000 Super Seniors Final Table Results:
Place Player Country Prize
1st Klaus Ilk Austria $371,603
2nd Ronald Lane USA $229,685
3rd Farhad Davoudzadeh Iran $172,058
4th Ronald Swain USA $129,812
5th Kevin Danko USA $98,644
6th Federico Trujillo Argentina $75,503
7th Arnon Graham USA $58,213
8th Rassoul Malboubi USA $45,213
9th Richard Wallace USA $35,377

 

Simon Mixes it Up and Ships NLHE/PLO

It was a bonus day of play for Event #62: $1,500 Mixed No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha, and under the lights of the PokerGo livestream, David Simon was able to best start-of-the-day chip leader David Prociak for his first WSOP gold bracelet and $410,659.

After short stacks Tsuf Saltsberg and Eran Carmi were eliminated, Eric Pfenning made a run up towards Prociak’s big stack, but ultimately ran ace-queen into Simon’s ace-king to be left with a little over two big blinds, which were taken by Prociak one hand later. Simon started heads-up a little over a 2:1 dog in chips, and Prociak began applying pressure, grinding Simon’s stack down to just over 13 big blinds at one point. 

Simon began the rally from there, doubling in Omaha before putting the hammer down himself to bring Prociak down to around eight big blinds. Prociak got those chips in preflop with AhTh9d2c, and despite flopping a flush draw and turning a gutshot on a 8s5h3hQd7d runout, his ace-high would be no good against the QcJc6s4d of Simon.

WSOP 2023 Event #62: $1,500 Mixed No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha Final Table Results:
Place Player Country Prize
1st David Simon USA $410,659
2nd David Prociak USA $253,821
3rd Eric Pfenning USA $185,630
4th Eran Carmi Israel $137,058
5th Tsuf Saltsberg Israel $102,173
6th Robert Mizrachi USA $76,910
7th Upeshka De Silva USA $58,464
8th Guofeng Wang China $44,884

 

Kopp Second in Family to Earn WSOP Gold

Katie Kopp earned a WSOP gold Bracelet in the 2022 Casino Employees Event, but no longer has sole family bragging rights after her brother, William Kopp, topped Event #66: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better for $259,549 after surviving a tough final day field of twelve that included Yuval Bronshtein (10th – $15,395), Anthony Zinno (8th – $25,394), Loni Hui (6th – $44,391) and WSOP POY contender Michael Rodrigues, the eventual runner-up.

As has been a theme in today’s bracelet victories, Kopp started heads-up at a chip disadvantage, but Kopp couldn’t be stopped and dominated the heads-up contest with Rodrigues before the final hand, where Kopp flopped a queen-high straight and was against the nut flush draw of Rodrigues. Kopp improved to Broadway while Rodrigues bricked out, and Kopp joined his sister as WSOP gold bracelet winners.

WSOP 2023 Event #66: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Final Table Results:
Place Player Country Prize
1st William Kopp USA $259,549
2nd Michael Rodrigues Portugal $160,418
3rd Mike Linster USA $113,991
4th Sterling Savill USA $82,104
5th Joseph McCarthy USA $59,953
6th Loni Hui USA $44,391
7th John Goyette USA $33,335
8th Anthony Zinno USA $25,394
9th Aaron Wallace USA $19,627

 

Schroeder Top Cat in Super Turbo Bounty

One day was not enough to crown a champion in Event #68: $1,000 Super Turbo Bounty, so the remaining nine players returned to race to the finish line. Brazil’s Gabriel Schroeder ended up atop the charts, good for his first WSOP gold bracelet and $228,632 after a swift two-and-a-half hour Day 2.

Ryan Goindoo was the first to fall after a lengthy period of shoves and no action, then the floodgates opened, as five players including RunGood Ambassador Daniel Lowery all fell in the next three levels. Shortly after, the biggest hand in the tournament took place, with Schroeder getting it in with KcJs against Andy Black’s AhKs. Ireland’s favorite poker son couldn’t hang on with Big Slick, as the Jh appeared on the flop, and no help to Black sent him out in third, still in search of his first WSOP bracelet. Unlike the other four bracelets awarded today, the chip leader in heads-up emerged victorious, as Schroeder used his nearly 4:1 chip lead to quickly eliminate Joel Wertheimer for the glory and the gold.

WSOP 2023 Event #68: $1,000 Super Turbo Bounty Final Table Results:
Place Player Country Prize
1st Gabriel Schroeder Brazil $228,632
2nd Joel Wertheimer USA $141,298
3rd Andy Black Ireland $105,337
4th Elson Lima USA $79,142
5th Jordan Jayne USA $59,292
6th Daniel Lowery USA $45,741
7th Jose Brito Portugal $35,191
8th Jonathan Akiba USA $27,293
9th Ryan Goindoo Trinidad & Tobago $21,340

 

Foxen Locked In on Day 1 of $50k PLO High Roller

The highest buy-in PLO event on the WSOP calendar kicked off with Day 1 of Event #71: $50,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller, and a record 167 entries were recorded with registration remaining open through the start of Day 2. Alex Foxen, no stranger to high roller success, lapped the field with a mammoth 2,868,000 in the bag, over a million ahead of Krasimir Yankov’s 1,786,000. The remaining 70 players is a smorgasbord of poker talent, including Shaun Deeb (1,014,000), Chance Kornuth (971,000), Sam Soverel (720,000), Brian Rast (601,000) and Ben Lamb (298,000), among others.

WSOP 2023 Event #71: $50,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller Leaderboard:
Place Player Country Chips
1st Alex Foxen USA 2,868,000
2nd Krasimir Yankov Bulgaria 1,786,000
3rd Jesse Lonis USA 1,460,000
4th Zeki Soyirgaz Turkey 1,400,000
5th Michael Heritsch USA 1,400,000
6th Anthony Marsico USA 1,378,000
7th Jeremy Ausmus USA 1,291,000
8th Adam Hendrix USA 1,266,000
9th Michael Moncek USA 1,236,000
10th Robert Cowen United Kingdom 1,187,000

 

Dvorkin Leads the Ladies

Only 47 of the 331 players who returned for Day 2 of Event #67: $1,000 Ladies Championship managed to survive through the day, with Mary Dvorkin (1,420,000) and Eunji Park (1,400,000) neck and neck for the chip lead. Defending champ Jessica Teusl is still alive with a healthy 785,000, while Lisa Roberts (680,000), Sam Abernathy (325,000) and Pamela Balzano (216,000) will all return for Day 3 action.

WSOP 2023 Event #67: $1,000 Ladies Championship Leaderboard:
Place Player Country Chips
1st Mary Dvorkin United Kingdom 1,420,000
2nd Eunji Park Canada 1,400,000
3rd Shiina Okamoto Japan 1,225,000
4th Talia Fligelman USA 1,190,000
5th Bernice Mclennan Canada 980,000
6th Chrysi Phiniotis Cyprus 950,000
7th Tara Cain USA 915,000
8th Felisa Westermann Germany 915,000
9th Nam Nguyen USA 900,000
10th Marguerite Spagnuolo USA 820,000

 

Three Remain in DeepStack Championship

The 44 players that came back for Day 3 of Event #64: $600 No-Limit Hold’em Deepstack Championship could not get the field down to a winner today, leaving just three players to return for an extra day of action. John Taylor will return with a slight chip lead, while David Guay and Steven Stolzenfeld still have plenty of chips to work with. Howard Mash (13th – $15,830), Joe Ebanks (16th – $12,684) and Erik Cajelais (19th – $10,249) all failed to add to their lone WSOP gold bracelets along the way.

WSOP 2023 Event #64: $600 No-Limit Hold’em Deepstack Championship Final Table Results:
Place Player Country Chips/Prize
1st John Taylor USA 48,225,000
2nd David Guay Canada 46,000,000
3rd Steven Stolzenfeld USA 35,200,000
4th Jonathan Fhima France $93,795
5th Romain Kowalczyk France $71,018
6th Gaetan Balleur France $54,199
7th David Sebesfi Australia $41,694
8th Paul Hindmarch United Kingdom $32,332
9th Ahmed Karrim South Africa $25,276
10th David Stellmon USA $19,921

 

Rich Seeking First Women’s Open Bracelet Victory of 2023 WSOP

Event #65: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em (6-Handed) played down to a final table on Day 3, and while Norbert Szecsi holds the chip lead with 18,600,000, all eyes will likely be on the second place stack of Angelina Rich (14,000,000), who will be seeking to be the first female to claim a WSOP gold bracelet in an open event in 2023. WSOP POY leader Ian Matakis (7th – $114,210) just missed another final table appearance, while Danny Tang (11th – $66,192) and Ryan Leng (12th – $51,579) both made deep runs out of the 48 returning players.

WSOP 2023 Event #65: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em (6-Handed) Final Table Leaderboard:
Place Player Country Chips
1st Norbert Szecsi Hungary 18,600,000
2nd Angelina Rich Australia 14,000,000
3rd Weiran Pu China 10,475,000
4th Tyler Cornell USA 7,475,000
5th Vitor Dzivielevski Brazil 5,850,000
6th Pedro Garagnani Brazil 4,725,000

 

Dzivielevski Seeks Second Bracelet of Summer

Yuri Dzivielevski already has a WSOP gold bracelet from this year’s series, shipping Event #47: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E., and is in prime position to earn his fourth overall bracelet after bagging the chip lead after Day 2 of Event #69: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Single Draw Championship. Ryan Riess (792,000), Daniel Negreanu (595,000), Eli Elezra (484,000) and John Monnette (208,000) all are in the hunt out of the remaining 18 players.

WSOP 2023 Event #69: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Single Draw Championship Leaderboard:
Place Player Country Chips
1st Yuri Dzivielevski Brazil 1,288,000
2nd Young Ko USA 1,197,000
3rd Alex Livingston Canada 1,137,000
4th Ryan Riess USA 792,000
5th James Chen Taiwan 640,000
6th Daniel Negreanu Canada 595,000
7th Christopher Vitch USA 544,000
8th Eli Elezra Israel 484,000
9th Galen Hall USA 387,000
10th Brad Ruben USA 346,000

 

Colossus Lives Up to Lofty Name

A total of 7,705 entrants piled up for Day 1a of Event #70: $400 Colossus, and just 965 remained by the day’s end. Chengtzu Lai looks to be the unofficial chip leader at press time, while Bruno Politano (1,046,000), Will Kassouf (800,000), Melanie Weisner (719,000) and Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg (623,000) all bagged and tagged to end the day.

WSOP 2023 Event #70: $400 Colossus Leaderboard:
Place Player Country Chips
1st Chengtzu Lai USA 1,456,000
2nd Alan Chute USA 1,326,000
3rd Olga Iermolcheva Ukraine 1,125,000
4th Bruno Politano Brazil 1,046,000
5th Mike Keintschel USA 1,025,000
6th Will Kassouf United Kingdom 800,000
7th Melanie Weisner USA 719,000
8th Cuong Lieu Canada 664,000
9th Benjamin Spragg United Kingdom 623,000
10th Ian Steinman USA 609,000

 

“Spraggy” makes believers of us all:

DJ MacKinnon does his best @OhYouBlockhead impression:

Could the OG voice of High Stakes Poker be making a WSOP appearance?

Nate Silver points out what we already knew; poker’s boomin’ these days:

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