Daily Updates from the 2023 WSOP – June 27

The Salute to Warriors game raised more than $200k for veterans with Steven Genovese winning his first bracelet. Jason Daly got his first bracelet in the 6-handed limit game while records were crushed in the Super Seniors field and a stellar field is amassing in the Stud8 Championship game with play going into Day 2.

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

After four days of play in the Millionaire Maker, Moldovan Pavel Plesuv leads the way into the final seven players in the game. There were 10,430 entries to start this game over two starting days that combined for a prize pool of $13,905,360. Plesuv bagged up more than 70 million at the end of Day 4, nearly 25 million more than second-place Florian Ribouchon, and one other player, Myles Mullaly, has more than 40 million.

The remaining seven players are all guaranteed at least $222,749, but two of the players from Day 5 will walk away with seven-figure payouts as both first and second place are worth more than a million. Plesuv is looking for his first bracelet in this one, and with such a big lead, it seems likely he could get there today.

The final day of play is expected to be streamed on PokerGO with live action kicking off at 1 pm and the stream picking up the action on a 30-minute delay starting at 1:30.

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

Steven Genovese was the last player standing in the Salute to Warriors game, bagging his first bracelet and $217,921 in the process. He bested the starting field of 4,303 for the biggest share of the $1,936,350 prize pool. He defeated Canadian Kelly Gall heads up for the title after some pretty quick action throughout the game.

Day 1 ended less than 20 off the 646 paid spots, and it blistered through the money bubble and raced down to the final 14 players before the second day ended. The final day took less than 6 hours to decide a winner from the final 14 players but heads up lasted for barely two hands.

With play still three-handed, there was a massive all-in that involved all three players and all the chips. Genovese found himself in a dream spot holding pocket queens after a raise from third-place William Butcher and a shove from runner-up Kelly Gall. Genovese called to set up a huge confrontation where his queens were looking to hold against ace-king for Butcher and ace-ten for Gall.

Hold they did, and Butcher was sent to the rail in third place while Gall was left on fumes with around three bigs to work with. That lasted for just a couple of hands after Gall was able to double back once, but couldn’t climb the steep hill. Genovese has been playing poker for many decades since he was a teenager, and he was emotional about the win. When asked what it means to him, his response was simple – “Everything”.

In addition to making Genovese’s poker dreams come true, the tournament raised more than $200k for veterans, so no matter how you slice this pie, it was a good few days.

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

With 449 entries, this $25k PLO High Roller has set a record for the biggest live PLO MTT prize pool in WSOP history with $10,551,500 in total prizes. A total of 68 players got a piece of those prizes and Gergo Nagy was the first player to walk out with cash to the tune of $40,179. Among the other players to cash out so far in this one are Isaac Kempton, Kane Kalas, Sean Winter, Sam Soverel, Paul Volpe, Josh Arieh, Joao Vieira, Dylan Smith, Ben Lamb, Chad Eveslage, Isaac Haxton, Dylan Weisman, Chance Kornuth, and Jeremy Ausmus.

With five players returning to the felt for Wednesday’s final day, it is Ka Kwan Lau that leads the way with 28.2 million. He has more than 10 million more than second-place Sergio Martinez Gonzalez while Mads Amot, Roger Teska, and Andjelko Andrejevic round out the final five players. The record-breaking prize pool in this one means that the winner of the game today will pocket $2,294,756, while second place can expect $1,418,270 and everyone who returns for the final day is guaranteed at least $505,588.

The final day of play resumes at 4 pm on Wednesday and they’ll play down to a winner for sure. PokerGO will have cards-up coverage of the event starting at 5 pm on delay for fans of nosebleed PLO tournament action.

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

Jason Daly was the last player standing out of a starting field of 263 entries in this one. That put the prize pool at $702,210 with $165,250 reserved for the winner and 40 players sharing a piece of it. Daly came back to face 17 challengers on the final day of play and among them were recent bracelet winner Nick Pupillo, mixed game beasts David Bach and Tom Koral, Dan Shak, Daniel Idema (who was runner-up in the $10 Limit Hold’em Championship earlier in the series) and former Main Event winner Joe McKeehan.

Daly was the chip leader to start the final day of play, and he basically went wire-to-wire to take down his first bracelet, but this wasn’t his first close call. Last year, he was third in the $1,500 HORSE and earlier this year he booked a ninth-place finish in the O8 Championship and he had another deep run in Mixed Triple Draw Lowball in 2021, so it’s clear Daly knows how to manage games other than no limit hold’em.

The win pushed him to more than $400k in WSOP earnings and his Hendon Mob earnings to more than $900k.

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

There are still 18 players left in contention in Event #59 with play entering the third day. A total of 240 players came back for Day 2, which was exactly the number of players that got paid from the starting field of 1,598. That field put the total prizes at $4,266,660 with $675,275 reserved for the winner.

Barak Wisbrod is leading the pack for Day 3 play with 6.4 million, almost a million ahead of Ilija Savevski’s second-place stack. Canada’s Frédéric Normand, who has had a couple of deep runs already this series, also bagged a top-five stack for the final day. Jesse Lonis and Julien Sitbon are among the other players to bag in the top ten while Dario Sammartino and James Mendoza will bring smaller stacks to Day 3.

The returning players are all guaranteed $28,739 now but the top six finishers will all get six-figure payouts, so there is still a lot of money left to be won in this one. Action from what should be the final day of play starts at noon on Wednesday with play in level 28 and blinds at 60,000/120,000/120,000.

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

No limit Deace to Seven Single Draw is considered by many to be the purest form of poker, and some lowball GOATs came out to play in Event #60. The huge field of 548 entries combined for $731,580, and Ryan Moriarty is sitting pretty to take the $151,276 winner’s share after two days of play. He was the only player who bagged up seven figures at the end of the day, though second-place Nick Guagenti came very close with 990k.

Moriarty is showing his lowball chops recently, coming second to Nick Pupillo in the recent Mixed Triple Draw Lowball game, and it appears he’s just as familiar with the single draw variety of deuce as he apparently is with triple. That said, he has some serious contenders facing hin down for the bracelet on Wednesday, not least of whom is Erik Seidel, the nine-time bracelet winner who already has two no-limit deuce bracelets in his collection.

Joining Seidel with their sights set on Moriarty’s stack are five-time winner Adam Friedman, former PoY Champion Robert Campbell, Chad Himmelspach, Maria Ho, Jason Mercier, Brad Ruben, Matt Vengrin, and Mike Watson. Action for Day 3 will get going at 1 pm and they expect to play down from the 24 returning players to a winner before they end the day.

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

It seems to be the year of the records so far in 2023 with the Super Seniors, reserved for players 60 years of age or older, blowing past 3,000 entries for a record 3,122 and a prize pool worth $2,777,690. That means the winner of this game will have an extra $371,603 in their pockets after play is complete, and 469 of the Super Seniors will end up with some sort of cash in hand when they leave.

After the opening day, there are still 808 players remaining in the game, quite a ways from the money spots. Kevin Durgin leads the way into Day 2, but he’ll need to navigate through almost 400 players before they are even in the money, so there’s still a lot of poker to be played in this one. Among the other players with stacks for Day 2 are Michael Thorpe, Farzad Bonyadi, Raymond Dube, Daniel Orr, Barbara Enright, Humberto Brenes, and runner-up in the Seniors event, Billy Baxter. Dan Heimiller, third in the recent Seniors event, tried but failed to bag.

They return to the felt for ten more levels of poker starting at 10 am Wednesday, and no doubt the money bubble will burst at some point on Day 2, but with more than 800 players returning and just 469 cashing spots, don’t expect them to get there quickly.

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

It was another record field in Event #62 with more than 2,000 entries. With the previous record at 1,234, that didn’t just set a new record, but obliterated the old one. There will be 312 players sharing in the $2,771,460, and some of those early payouts have already been awarded as there are 259 players returning to action on Wednesday’s Day 2.

Justin Jones bagged the big stack after one day of play as one of two players in the 700k range. Philip Wiszowaty joins him in that range, while the next biggest stack is Eric Pfenning’s 585k. David Prociak and Bart Lybaert also bagged top ten stacks in this one while Motoyoshi Okamura, Jay Harwood, Christian Harder, Dan Heimiller, and Brandon Shack-Harris are among the top 40 stacks for Day 2.

Cards go in the air for Day 2 of this one at 1 pm on Wednesday, and while all the returning players are guaranteed at least $2,628, they will all be salivating over the $410,659 up top.

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

There were 123 entries on the opening day of the Stud8 Championship, but that number isn’t fixed yet as Championship events remain open until the start of Day 2. A total of 57 players bagged a stack after one day and at the moment, they are looking at a prize pool of $1,143,900 but ultimately there will be more than that once the cards are live.

Daniel Negreanu is among the chip leaders to start Day 2 with a fourth-place stack of 264,000, but as can be expected from a Championship event, he’s far from the only familiar face in the crowd. Bruno Fitoussi leads the way into Day 2 with 355k and Max Schindler also has more than 300k. Dan Coploys is in third just above Negreanu, and Connor Crinan is sniffing at the Canadian/Romanian’s butt in fifth with 246k. They head a top ten that also includes Ryan Miller, Qibang Cheung, Eric Rodawig, Scott Seiver, and Dzmitry Urbanovich. Plus there are boatloads of crushers below the top ten like Jen Harman, Todd Brunson, Chad Eveslage, and John Monnette to name but a few.

Day 2 kicks off at 1 pm on Wednesday, and the prizes will be set once cards are in the air. The plan is to play 7 levels of poker on Day 2 before bagging up to return for Day 3 on Thursday.

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

• Entries: 1,050
• Prizes: $1,343,200
• Paid: 248
• 1st Place: $227,000.80
• Winner: “Suki_The_Sav”

Upcoming Events on June 28

Event #64: $600 Deepstack Championship No-Limit Hold’em

• Start: 10 am
• Late Entry: 9 Levels
• Start Stack: 30,000
• Reentries: 1

Event #65: $5,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em

• Start: 12 noon
• Late Entry: Start of Day 2
• Start Stack: 30,000
• Reentries: 1

Event #66: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better

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