Daily Updates from the 2023 WSOP – June 30

There were a flurry of first-time winners on Friday with Klaus Ilk winning the Super Seniors, David Simon taking down the mixed two/four-card game, Ryan Miller taking down Bryn Kenney in the big Stud8 game, William Kopp joining his sister as a bracelet winner, and Gabriel Schroeder bagging brazil’s third in the Super Turbo Bounty. Meanwhile, the brothers’ Dzivielevski are both deep in events on Saturday and the Ladies event returns with 47 players left alive. Details on these stories and more are below in the latest recap of WSOP action.

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

It took four grueling days of poker for the oldest player field in the series to make it through to a winner, but Austria’s Klaus Ilk survived the marathon and ended up with all the chips at the end. He had to make it through 3,121 entries in another record-breaking field for his $371,603 share of the $2,777,690 in total prizes.

This was a monster cash for Ilk, with his previous best score at just $11k and lifetime earnings on Hendon Mob of around $31k. The $310k first prize in this one was basically a 10x bump on his lifetime earnings before the game and now gives him a little more than $400k in total winnings. This was Ilk’s first bracelet and only his second outright win on the felt according to Hendon.

The final day of play in this extended Super Seniors game saw 13 players return to the felt with everyone guaranteed at least $22,148. The final day lasted about 7 hours before the winner was showing off his new bracelet, and the endgame was pretty interesting. Ilk actually started the final day dead last in chips with just 8 big blinds to his name. He managed to ladder up with a few early busts and then hold on to the bottom rung until a big hand five-ways when Ilk spiked Barry for a bigger two pair and a huge pot to send Kevin Danko to the cage for fifth-place money.

That put gas in Ilk’s tank and he never looked back. At that point, Farhad Davoudzadeh was still in the lead, but that would change when he ran ace-jack into runner-up Ronald Lane’s pocket kings three-ways which gave Lane a huge lead going into heads-up play. That’s where Lane’s run would end, however, as Ilk rarely lost a pot during the heads-up phase, Ilk spiked cards when he needed to, chipping up into the lead, and the money eventually went in with Ilk on the big stack holding pocket nines on a flop that gave Lane a double-gutty draw that bricked, sending the pot, the win, and the bracelet over to Ilk.

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

David Simon had to make it through 2,076 entries to take down his first bracelet in the Mixed PLO/NLH game, and in the process, he pocketed $410,659 out of the $2,771,460 total prize pool. That crushed his previous biggest score of around $18k and he noted that his friends in the poker community helped him with his confidence.

“I’ve played with a lot of people who have always been super positive with me and just been like, ‘It’s gonna happen for you at some point,'” said Simon. “I don’t know if I myself really believed that, but during this event in particular I just felt incredibly calm and locked in.”

There were just five players left in the game for the final day of play after the exits of players like Bart Lybaert, scandal-plagued Martin Kabrhel, recent winner of the Mixed O8 bracelet William Leffingwell, Pushpinder Singh, and Upeshka De Silva on the penultimate day of action. The final exit before the last day was a player that likely everyone was happy to see hitting the cage, Robert Mizrachi.

That set up a final five that started very similarly to how it ended. David Prociak and David Simon were one-two in chips going into the day, and ended up finishing two-one in the standings. The final phase started as the day had, with Prociak holding a two-to-one lead, and at one point, he was all in at risk for his final 8 million needing to hit a river to survive. The river salvation came for a double-up and Simon was able to reverse the start of day standings.

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

There were 141 entries in the Stud8 Championship game and Ryan Miller outlasted them all to take down his first bracelet and $344,677, the biggest share of the $1,311,300 that was split 22 ways. It wasn’t an easy run for him either as the game was chock-full of top poker talent.

Miller had to face down Bryn Kenney’s bracelet and nearly $60 million in wins heads-up, but that was far from his only challenge. Among the other players on the final day were Maximilian Schindler, Andres Kron, and Chino Rheem, while Joao Vieira, Mike Matusow (who was already heads up for a stud bracelet this year and is looking for his fifth bracelet), Bruno Fitoussi, Calvin Anderson, Craig Chait, “Crazy” Mike Thorpe, Dzmitry Urbanovich, and Daniel Negreanu figured in the earlier cashing spots. And that’s just a selection of the big names that were in the hunt for this bracelet.

The final day started with six players, and action went quickly with Eddie Blumenthal exiting on the first hand while Chino Rheem quickly followed during the first level of play. Things slowed down a bit after that, with the rest of the final table taking about nine hours to finish.

The truth is, most of that time was spent heads-up between Miller and Kenney. Maximilian Schindler ended his stellar run in third just before 5 pm, and it would be after 10 pm when Miller finally held his new bracelet. Kenney came to heads-up with a two-to-one lead. Miller managed to chip into the lead, but the two then clashed with the lead moving back and forth, but Miller eventually ground the 2nd-highest earning poker player ever to the felt for his first bracelet.

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

They couldn’t quite make it to the end on Day 3 of Event #64, so there are three players coming back to finish it out on Saturday. John Taylor leads the way with 48.225 million but David Guay is close behind with 46 million even. Steven Stolzenfeld rounds out the final-day field with 35.2 million.

There were 4.303 entries in this one which combined for prizes of $2,194,530. Most of that has already been handed out but the three payouts that remain are the only ones with six digits in them. Among the standout players on Day 3 were Jonathan Fhima (5th, $93,773), Paul Hindmarch (8th, $32,324), Cade Lautenbacher (12th, $15,827), and Erik Cajelais (19th for $10,247).

The final three players return for an unscheduled Day 4 at noon on Saturday and they’ll play to a winner for sure.

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

Just six players are left in the game now as the six-handed event goes into an unscheduled Day 4. The game started with 1,199 entries and a prize pool of $5,515,400 and as the final day dawns, Norbert Szecsi has the chip lead with 18.6 million. He leads second-place Angelina Rich, making her first WSOP final table appearance, by about 4.5 million. Weiran Pu of China is the only other player with more than 10 million to start the final day while Tyler Cornell, Vitor Dzivielevski, and Pedro Garagnani. If the name Dzivielevski sounds familiar, that’s because Vitor’s brother is Yuri Dzivielevski, who has already bagged a bracelet in 2023, and now his brother is looking to match him.

Among the big names to fall during Day 3 play were Ian Matakis, Artur Martirosian, David “Bakes” Baker, Ren Lin, Leon Sturm, and Scott Seiver. The remaining six players are all fighting for the top prize of $938,244, and they’ll be back in action looking for it starting at 4 pm Saturday afternoon.

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

William Kopp bagged his first bracelet on Friday night, joining his sister, Katie Kopp, as a bracelet winner. She won last year’s Casino Employees event, and now her brother has picked up the PLO8 bracelet for a family pair. Kopp won $259,549 along with the bracelet, the biggest share of the $1,501,875 that was created from the 1,125 entries.

The third day of action started with a few big names vying for the title, including Anthony Zinno and Loni Hui. Zinno ended up bowing out in 8th, while Hui managed to ladder a short stack up to 6th place for a score of $44,391.

Kopp started heads-up play against Michael Rodrigues with the chip lead and never looked back. In a key heads-up pot, Kopp quartered Rodrigues when he hit a six high straight and the nut low and it all came to an end for Rodrigues a few hands later.

This was Kopp’s best live score by about $100k, but he had more than $1 million in wins going into this event so he’s no stranger to winning money in poker MTTs. This bracelet marks his first win in full WSOP action, but he was already the proud owner of two Circuit rings and this win marks his 49th cash in WSOP-branded events.

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

Mary Dvorkin from the UK is leading the final 47 ladies as they go into Day 3 of the Ladies Championship. Day 1 leader Bernice McLennan is still alive and kicking with the fifth-best stack to start Day 3 and the biggest bag with less than 1 million in it. Eunji Park, Shiina Okamoto, and Talia Fligelman round out the top-five spots between Dvorkin and McLennan.

Among the other players still fighting for the bracelet on Day 3 of this record field will be Jessica Teusl, Priti Patel, Maria Lampropulos, and Samantha Abernathy. They are all fighting for $192,167 for first place along with the bracelet and all players coming back for Day 3 will earn at least $3,860. They’ll get underway again at 10 am on Saturday and the plan is for play to continue until there are five players left in the game with the bracelet expected to be handed out on Sunday.

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

Brazil is now tied with Canada for third place in a national bracelet count, behind China and the USA, with both countries on 3 bracelets after Gabriel Schroeder outlasted a field of 2,824 for the win in the Super Turbo Bounty. Schroeder is primarily an online player whose biggest live score previous to this was about $142k, but he also recently bagged almost $100k after fourth place in a Venetian tournament.

Schroeder got a heads-up against Joel Wertheimer after about two hours of play, and the final two players didn’t last long as the big action happened three-handed. Irish crusher Andy Black was among the nine players to return and he managed to chip up into the lead three-ways but then took a brutal beat when his dominating king lost out to Schroeder when the latter smashed his kicker and held. That left Black on fumes, and he exited in third shortly after, before immediately rushing over to enter the Colossus.

Heads up lasted for only a few hands as Schroeder never gave up the lead he picked up from Black. Immediately after the win, Schroeder’s first response was to kiss a picture of his wife and daughter, who are scheduled to join him in Vegas next week.

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

There were 154 entries for the Deuce Championship before the cards got in the air on Day 2 and there are now just 18 players left vying for the bracelet in the game many consider the purest form of poker. Leading the way into the second day of play is Yuri Dzivielevski, who is half of a brother act here at WSOP this year as his brother Vitor is currently deep in Event #65.

Brother Yuri is the one leading #69 though, with 1.288 million in his bag after two days of play. He leads two other players, Young Ko and Alex Livingston, with more than 1 million to start day 3. Ryan Riess, James Chen, Daniel Negreanu, Christopher Vitch, Eli Elezra, Galen Hall, and Brad Ruben round out the top 10 of this stellar field that also includes the winner of the $1,500 version of this event, Jason Mercier, as well as Chris Brewer, Matt Vengrin, John Monnette, and David “ODB” Baker to name but a few and essentially every name still on the list has a long resume of poker success and could easily emerge the winner of this game.

Day 3 is expected to be the final day of play, and with just 18 players returning, that seems like a decent bet. But given the way previous events have gone, don’t be surprised to see a few of these players coming back for the endgame on Sunday.

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

The opening flight of the Colossus certainly lived up to its name with 7,705 entries for the first flight, and just 965 of those entries left alive at the end of the day. Chengtzu Lai bagged the big stack for Day 1a with just under 1.5 million but there are 15 players with 1 million or more after the opening day.

While the total prizes are still yet to be determined for this one, some players will still be getting paid on Day 1 flights. Small min-cashes will be handed out at the end of both starting flights, while the bulk of the prizes will move forward to the final phase. When the game is over, cashers from both starting days, as well as the rest of the game, will be combined for a final results sheet.

Among the players to catch a Day 1a cash was Marle Spragg, who was in this one with her husband Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg. Spraggy managed to find a bag with just over 600k in it at the end of the night, so he’ll be moving on, while Mrs. Spragg can take another shot in Saturday’s Day 1b.

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

There were 167 entries on Day 1 of the PLO High Roller and that puts nearly $8 million into the prize pool so far. Neither of those numbers is final however as entries remain open into Day 2 for this one. Alex Foxen bagged the biggest stack after Day 1, and it was a monster compared to the rest of the field. Foxen’s bag swelled to 2.868 million, while second-place Krasimir Yankov has just 1.786 million. Jesse Lonis, Jeremy Ausmus, Adam Hendrix, and Michael Moncek are among the other top-ten stacks after the opening day.

Robert Cowen, the defending champ of this event, also bagged a top-ten stack, though just barely while Dylan Weisman and Shaun Deeb are also still in the hunt. The final numbers for this one will be set when the cards go in the air for Day 2 at 1 pm on Saturday.

Upcoming Events on July 1

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

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

Event #72: $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold’em

• Start: 12 noon
• Late Entry: 8 Levels
• Start Stack: 60,000
• Reentries: 0

Event #73: $2,500 Mixed Big Bet Event

• Start: 2 pm
• Late Entry: 8 Levels
• Start Stack: 35,000
• Reentries: 2