Daily Updates from the 2023 WSOP – July 6

It’s officially the biggest live poker game ever, and it wasn’t even close. The field is now more than 500 entries higher than the 2006 record field and it’s still growing until Saturday. The Ringmaster and his lion made their entrance on Day 1d, but only Ringmaster Hellmuth found a bag as the lion Cates was relegated to the rail. Nicolas ‘Dirty Diaper’ Rigby is the Day 2 chip leader, bagging more than 400k on 1d while the Hachems found father and son bags and Brittney Stout went on the run of her life. Finally, another record was set on Thursday when Gene Calden became the oldest player to ever compete in the Main Event at 100 years old.

Event #76: $10,000 MAIN EVENT No-Limit Hold’em World Championship – Flight D

The opening flights of the Main Event are now complete and it’s a doozy this year. With entries remaining open until Day 2, the field still isn’t set for the 2023 Main Event, but it’s already the biggest live poker game ever. Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas were bursting at the seams on Thursday’s Day 1d with more than 4,100 entries for the final flight. Added to the early starting flights, that means there are now 9,337 entries and counting for the 2023 Main Event, blowing the 2006 record of 8,773 out of the water. While the total prizes are yet to be posted, the numbers so far should put the total well in excess of $80 million so no matter how you slice this pie, it’s the biggest live poker game ever.

Nicolas ‘Dirty Diaper’ Rigby is the Day 2 chip leader now after bagging the biggest stack of Day 1d. He was the only player from any of the starting flights to bag more than 400k so he’ll be the clear leader going into the second day of play. Brittney Stout had a stellar 1d, amassing a huge stack early in the day with more than 200k already in Level 3. She ultimately bagged the second-best 1d stack with 375.5k which puts her in 4th place for the combined Day 2 standings. She was so excited about her run she took to social media with a series of tweets detailing her day.

Final break of the day! 266.5k coming back to 600bb! pic.twitter.com/TSsasBxsR8

— Brittney (@britstoutpoker) July 7, 2023

With so many chips in play on Day 1d, it’s hardly a surprise that most of the top ten list comes from the final starting day. In fact, the Day 1b chip leader, Jean-Pierre van der Spuy with 287k, doesn’t even make the list. Chris Hunichen, sitting in 4th place after 1d and 7th overall, will be a dangerous Day 2 player with that many chips, and while he’s not quite in the top-ten, heads-up beast Doug Polk bagged the 4th-best stack on Day 1a and is coming to Day 2abc with almost 300k himself.

Player	Starting Flight	Chips
Nicholas Rigby	1d	408.8k
Yehuda Dayan	1a	389.9k
Christopher Brammer	1c	386.1k
Brittney Stout	1d	375.5k
Shota Nakanishi	1a	360.1k
Neel Murthy	1d	323.1k
Chris Hunichen	1d	321.2k
Carlos Leiva	1d	318.7k
Brandon Mincher	1d	317k
Jeffrey Weil	1d	308.1k

Three Ring Circus

While for most players Day 1d is the final chance to take a shot at the biggest tournament of their lives, for 17-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, there’s always more to it than just poker. Hellmuth has been one of the more flamboyant personalities on the felt for his entire career and in recent years has been making “Grand Entrances” to the Main Event during the final opening flight of the storied tournament. Among his past entrances were stints as a Roman Gladiator, and a less-than-successful attempt to arrive in a NASCAR vehicle.

This year, The Poker Brat teamed up with another big personality in the game, Dan “Jungleman” Cates, to create a circus atmosphere for their entrance. With Hellmuth dressed as the Ringmaster and the “Jungleman” appropriately dressed as his lion, the pair arrived just before the second break of Day 1d trailed by 17 models, one for each of Hellmuth’s bracelets.

Only the Ringmaster will be moving on to Day 2, however. While Hellmuth spent the day on the feature table and ended up bagging almost 110k at the end of the day, his jungle cat compatriot wasn’t so lucky. It’s unclear if the makeup and lion paws affected his game, but the king of the jungle, Cates, was felled shortly after dinner and so won’t be competing for his first Main Event bracelet.

Ended Day 1 of @WSOP Main Event w 105,800. Cool picture!!

My haters, not many, (feels like 98% like me) get blocked by me on Twitter. Then they ask me to unblock them! I guess they can’t see my tweets anymore w/out some effort. I always unblock when they ask in person… pic.twitter.com/ObE3xMMaU4

— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) July 7, 2023

Bucket Lists and Families

While the Main Event is all about the poker and the big prizes at the end, it’s also something of an “event” in the poker world that draws all kinds of people from all over the world. In some cases, poker is a family affair, and that’s certainly the case with the Hachem family. Dad Joe won the Main Event back in 2005 during the early boom, but his son Daniel has been on the felt for the past few years now often playing in the very same games as his dad. They were both in action on Day 1d, and they both bagged chips for Day 2, though father Joe ended the day with the biggest family bag.

For other people, the Main Event is a bucket-list item, something they have to participate in at least once in their lives. Gene Calden got that chance during Day 1d and in the process became the oldest player ever to buy into the Main Event, at 100 years old. Calden got a huge round of applause when he arrived in the game, and got the same when he sadly busted during the day.

At the age of 100, Eugene Calden kicks off the final starting day of the 2023 @WSOP Main Event with @CMONEYMAKER! He also became the oldest player to participate the Main Event in history! #ShuffleUpandDeal

Photo Credit: @drew_amato pic.twitter.com/tfuBw420rs

— Moneymaker Tour (@MoneymakerTour) July 6, 2023

Players can still get into the Main Event before Day 2 begins, so the record-breaking numbers aren’t even complete yet. Expect the record to keep climbing until the gate finally comes down on entries on Saturday’s Day 2d. Among the other players to make it through to the second day were Men Nguyen, Ari Engel, Brad Sailor, Joseph Liberta, Nick Guagenti, and Mathieu Boucher. While the Day 1 flights are now complete, Friday is when the first three starting flights combine for their Day 2, while the 1d players have a day off today and return for their Day 2 on Saturday. Sunday is when the full field finally combines on Day 3.

Upcoming Events on July 7

Event #76: $10,000 MAIN EVENT No-Limit Hold’em World Championship – Day 2abc

• Start: 12 noon
• Late Entry: 7 Levels
• Start Stack: 60,000
• Reentries: 0

Event #77: $777 Lucky 7’s No-Limit Hold’em – Flight A

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

Event #78: $1,500 BOUNTY Pot-Limit Omaha

• Start: 2 pm
• Late Entry: 9 Levels
• Start Stack: 25,000
• Reentries: 2
• Bounties: $500/player