Daily Updates from the 2023 WSOP – June 29

Jason Mercier bagged his first big result of the series, and it was his sixth bracelet in the $1,500 Single Draw after defeating Canada’s Mike Watson heads-up for the second time in a big deuce bracelet event. They are down to 13 left in the Super Seniors, while the Ladies Event saw a record turnout with Canada’s Bernice McLennan leading after the opening day. Those stories and the rest of the action from Thursday at WSOP is below.

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

Single-draw deuce is considered by many players as poker in its purest form as players get no board information and have to rely entirely on draw patterns and physical reads for information on their opponent’s strength. And when the endgame of this one played out, it involved some of the best players ever to sit down with a stack of chips.

There were 548 entries to this massive turnout meaning they were playing for a total of $731,580. That was divided 83 ways with the earliest paid exits pocketing $2,404 and $151,276 up top for the winner. There were quite a few big names in this one, and among the notables to pocket some money before the final day were Barry Greenstein, Benny Glaser, Robert Patterson, Scott Bohlman, Alex Epstein, Daniel Tafur, Brian Hastings, Ryan Depaulo, Taylor Paur, Koray Aldemir, Jon Shoreman, Phil Hellmuth, Matt Vengrin, Robert Campbell, Maria Ho, and Ryan Moriarty who was recently runner-up in the mixed triple-draw game.

The final day of this one was a star-studded affair, so much so that rather than finishing the game out on Day 3 as was originally planned, once organizers saw the final field they decided to bag it up to return for a streamed final table. There were 18 bracelets seated in the final five players, though to be fair, Eric Seidel had 9 of them on his own. Jason Mercier was on five going into the final table, while Brad Ruben had four. And while neither Jon Turner nor Mike Watson have won a bracelet yet, a fairly incredible fact in the case of both of them, they would be routinely mentioned in the “Best without a bracelet” discussion, especially in a mixed game like deuce.

Seiel was the first to fall from the final five, earning just over $31k but falling short of bagging #10. Jon Turner and Brad Ruben followed afterward, setting up a reboot of the 2016 $10k Single Draw bracelet game where the same two players battled heads-up for the bracelet. After the game where Mercier bested Watson for the fourth time in late-stage play, the winner noted that he seems to have a good record against the Canadian. “I’ve been three-handed with him four separate times in major events and I’ve won all four. So he’s gotten second twice and third twice. But in particular, we played heads up for the no-limit deuce bracelet in the $10K in 2016. So it was definitely a bit of déja vu.”

Mercier hardly needs a bio as he has been one of the hottest players in the last decade and a half since crushing his first EPT title in 2008 with a sick hero call. He now has more than $20.7 million in wins on poker tables of all kinds with $5,469,749 of that coming from tables emblazoned with WSOP logos. This was his sixth bracelet is what looks to be his first major result from this year’s events, and given past indications, it’s very likely this isn’t the last we’ll hear from Mercier in this series.

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

There are just 13 players left in the Super Seniors game now after three days of play. It was another record field for this one, continuing the trend this year of both year-over-year increases and outright record field sizes. With 3,121 entries, they were playing for a total of $2,777,690 with 469 players getting some piece of that.

With just 13 players left, most of the paid spots have already been claimed, with late Day 3 exits including Elizabeth Bennett-Martin (who bubbled the final day), Kevin Durgin, David Icke, Jeanclaude Perrot, Dennis Underwood, and Jeffrey Mermelstein. Rassoul Malboubi is king of the hill going into the final day of play as the only player with more than 10 million. Farhad Davoudzadeh bagged up exactly 9 million for second while Ronald Lane and Arnon Graham each bagged slightly more than 6 million for Day 4.

The Super Seniors have an early-bird start time at 10 am on Friday for the final day and they’ll play to a winner for sure. Play resumes in Level 31 with blinds at 100k/200k/200k.

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

There are just five players left in the Mixed NLHE/PLO action after three days at the felt. David Prociak has a huge chip lead going into the final day with almost 21.5 million while the next biggest stack, belonging to David Simon has just shy of 12 million in it. Eric Pfenning, Tsuf Saltsberg, and Eran Carmi (who bagged the chip lead to start Day 3) round out the final five players.

One player that everyone returning is likely glad not to see on the final day was Robert Mizrachi. He’s been deep in a few games this year, sniffing at his fifth bracelet, and is one of the names players don’t want to see in their seat draw even when he’s not on a hot streak. No doubt all five of the players coming back for Day 4 were happy to see the elder Mizrachi brother bubble the final day of play. Among the other notables that came close to the final day were Upeshka De Silva, Pushpinder Singh, and recent Mixed Omaha winner William Leffingwell.

The final day of play kicks off at 4 pm and PokerGO will be streaming the endgame action live on delay with hole cards exposed. All the remaining players are guaranteed six-figure payouts with the earliest exit on Day 4 expecting to pocket $102,173.

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

There are just six players still vying for the $10k Stud Championship bracelet after three days of play. A total of 141 entries combined for prizes of more than $1.3 million with 22 players pocketing a piece of it. Ryan Miller has the biggest bag going into Day 4 on Friday with 2.23 million, but Bryn Kenney (who is one of a few players in action at this series who have had recent cheating allegations involving ghosting leveled against them) also bagged more than 2 million for second place. Maximilian Schindler, Andres Korn, David “Chino” Rheem, and Eddie Blumenthal round out the top six players in this one.

Among the players who came close to the final day but fell short was Mike Matusow, who finished 9th for $28,797. Matusow was heads-up for his first bracelet in a decade in the $1,500 Stud8 game earlier in the week and has now added another deep stud run to his resume, hinting that he could still have that fifth bracelet in him for this year. Also falling before the final day were Joao Vieira, Bruno Fitoussi, Calvin Anderson, Craig Chait, and “Crazy” Mike Thorpe.

The final six players in action will play down to a winner on Day 4.

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

There are 44 players still alive in the $600 Deepstack Championship out of the 4,303 original entries. They returned to action in the money with some of the earliest min-cashes paying out at the end of Day 1. Cade Lautenbacher leads the way into Day 3 as the only player with more than 7 million in a bag and Jonathan Fhima is second as the only player in the 6 million range. Four players bagged in the 5 million range while the remaining players in the top ten all bagged between 4 and 5 million.

Kristen Deardorff (427th for $1,200), Conrad Simpson (398th for $1,200), Martin Zamani (336th for $1,299), Matt Affleck (293rd for $1,418), and Daniel Sepiol (112th for $2,217) were among the players to cash out on Day 2 while Erik Cajelais, David Guay, and Sacha Choen were among the players to find final day bags.

Day 4 action gets going at 10 am on Friday, and the expectation is to play down to five players before they end the day and return to finish out the game on July 1.

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

When entries closed on Day 2 of this one, they ended with 1,199 total for a prize pool of $5,515,400 Those prizes were split 180 ways, and among the players to cash out early in this one were Eric Wasserson, Andrew Kelsall, Ryan Laplante, Taylor Paur, Alejandro “Papo MC” Lococo, Stephen Song, Santiago Plante, Jeff Platt, James Obst, Jack Hardcastle, Eliot Hudon, Punnat Punsri, Kenny Hallaert, Tom Middleton, and Matt Berkey.

Vitor Dzivielevski of Brazil is the chip leader going into Day 3, and fellow Brazilian Pedro Garagnani is the only other player with more than 3 million. Cody Jones and Chuanshu Chen both bagged more than 2.5 million for 3rd and 4th respectively. Danny Tang also bagged a top ten stack, while Leon Sturm, Nozomu Shimizu, Ian Matakis, Martin Finger, Fabrice Bigot, Kyle Julius, Scott Seiver, and David “Bakes” Baker are all among the Day 3 bags.

Day 3 action kicks off at 1 pm on Friday, and they’ll play as far as the final table on Day 3 with the final day of action and the bracelet expected to be on July 1.

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

William Kopp bagged up the chip lead at the end of two days of play in Event #66, and in part it was on the back of a bit of a controversial floor call. Kopp was heads up on the river against Mike Linster with Kopp holding the yacht against the smaller boat for Linster. Linster was facing a pot bet of 845k and he slid out a stack worth two million before verbally announcing call. As the stack was big enough to be deemed a raise, and the verbal declaration came late, the floor was called for a ruling with the final decision being call rather than raise. While that decision may have cost Kopp a few extra chips in that specific hand, he still ended as the massive leader with 7.5 million, more than 4 million ahead of second-place Michael Rodrigues.

For his part, the other half of the controversial hand bagged up a fourth-place stack of 3.1 million just behind John Goyette at 3.41 million. Yuval Bronshtein, Loni Hui (nee Harwood), and Anthony Zinno also bagged top ten stacks while Robert Campbell, Connor Drinan, and start-of-day leader Nick Guagenti were among the players to pocket cash.

There are 12 players returning to the action for Day 3 at 1 pm Friday, and they expect to award the bracelet when play stops.

Event #67: $1,000 LADIES No-Limit Hold’em Championship

The record-breaking fields continued in the Ladies Event as 1,295 entries swelled the prize pool to $1,152,550 and after the first day of play Canada’s Bernice McLennan has the chip lead with 276.5k. Katrina Lim, Talia Fligelman, Sharon Liss, and Tia Dulaney round out the top five counts for Day 2 play.

There are 331 ladies returning to the felt on Friday with only 195 of them expected to get paid when they leave. Among the notables McLennan will have to contend with on Day 2 are Veronica “Angry_Polak” Brill, Samantha Abernathy, Vanessa Kade, Kimberly Mcclymont, Maria Lampropulos, and Cindy Kerslake, all of whom have top 100 stacks and could easily be dangerous on Day 2.

The second day in the Ladies event gets going at 10 am on Friday with 10 levels on the schedule before they bag for the final day. It’s likely they’ll take a bit of time to play into the money spots today, but they’ll likely get there a few levels into Day 2 play.

Event #68: $1,000 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold’em

This was supposed to be a one-day event, but another huge field meant that they couldn’t quite make it in a single day. There were 2,842 entries putting more than $2.5 million into the prize pool. A total of 424 players got a piece of that and there are just 9 spots still unspoken for. The player with the best shot at the top prize of $228,632 and the bracelet going in is Gabriel Schroeder from Brazil with 13.675 million. Jordan Jayne is the only other eight-figure stack with 12.1 million, but Irish great Andy Black, who was fifth in the Main Event in 2005, is lurking near the bottom of the list and is always dangerous with chips.

The final 9 players will be back in action at 2 pm at the Horseshoe feature table and they’ll decide a winner for sure. With 20-minute levels and a big stack of just 34 big blinds to start the day, expect this Day 2 to live up to the Super Turbo name.

Event #69: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship

There were 126 entries at the end of the opening day in Event #69 but as with all Championship events, entries are still open for this one. The final field will be set when cards go in the air for Day 2, but right now there is already $1,171,800 in the prize pool. A total of 54 players bagged a stack at the end of the day, and the biggest of them belonged to Michael Moncek who bagged 542k, more than 150k above the second-place stack of Galen Hall. Jon Turner, Ryan Reiss, Jason Mercier (fresh off his $1,500 win in this discipline), and Paul Volpeare also among the top ten stacks in another star-studded field.

Day 2 of this Championship game kicks off at 1 pm on Friday, and the prize pool will be set when play begins. No doubt a few more crushers will add their names to the list vying for the Championship bracelet in a game many consider the purest form of poker.

Upcoming Events on June 30

Event #70: $400 COLOSSUS No-Limit Hold’em – Flight A

• Start: 10 am
• Late Entry: 12 Levels
• Start Stack: 40,000
• Reentries: 1 per flight

Event #71: $50,000 HIGH ROLLER Pot-Limit Omaha

• Start: 2 pm
• Late Entry: Start of Day 2
• Start Stack: 300,000
• Reentries: 2