Daily Updates from the 2023 WSOP - July 2 - PokerListings (2024)

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• Daily Updates from the 2023 WSOP – July 2

Phil Hellmuth extended his lead in the bracelet race with his astonishing 17th win on WSOP felt in a marathon $10k Super Turbo Bounty. Canada and China battled for second in the national bracelet standings with China staying ahead after both countries bagged bracelets on the weekend, with Canada's David Guay appropriately bagging his on Canada Day. Tamar Abraham took the Ladies bracelet while Jesse Lonis crushed the field in the $50k PLO and Chris Brewer took the $10k Deuce Championship. To top it off, Monday marks the opening flight of the Main Event as the series rounds the final bend into the endgame.

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

Oh Canada, eh! It was pretty appropriate for David Guay to bag Canada's fourth bracelet of the series on Saturday, as July 1 is Canada Day, the day when the northern nation was founded back in 1867. He made it through a big field of 4,303 to briefly tie Canada for second place in the national bracelet standings with China, but China then pulled ahead later in the weekend with their fifth, as detailed below. However, the fourth bracelet keeps Canada in sole possession of third in that race.

There was $2,194,530 to play for in this one, with the winner's share set at $270,972, but they had to play an extra day to get to the winner. That meant this bracelet wasn't originally supposed to be awarded on Canada Day, but rather the day before, so it makes the Canadian victory all the sweeter.

In the end, it took around 3 hours on the final day to decide the bracelet between the final three players and the eventual winner was nearly on the rail in 3rd place. He snapped off a four-bet shove from chip leader John Taylor but found himself in a gross spot with jacks into aces. The Canuck spiked his jack on the flop, however, and doubled into second place.

Three-handed play took most of the final day, with the heads-up phase lasting just a few hands after Steven Stolzenfeld ended his run in third. The final two players took a short break before heads up, then promptly finished it almost immediately upon their return to the felt. Taylor got his money in good but Guay spiked a six for a pair and held for his first bracelet. Guay now has a bit more than $1.5 million in total earnings from poker with almost $1.2 million of that from WSOP events.

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

There is a fierce battle for second place in the national bracelet standings developing between Canada and China. Within hours of David Guay bringing Canada even with China at 4, Weiran Pu upped the ante with China's fifth, keeping the Asian powerhouse ahead of the Great White North. Pu had to best 1,199 entries in this one for his share of the $5,515,400 prize pool.

Pu's share was almost $1 million for the win after he defeated Hungarian Norbert Szecsi heads up. Among the other players to make the final day of this one was one half of a brother act. Vitor Dzivielevski was looking to join his brother Yuri as a bracelet winner but came up short after being the first exit from the final day of play. Another notable to make the final table was Circuit ring winner Angelina Rich making her first WSOP FT and bringing her total earnings up to just shy of $900k.

This is Pu's first bracelet and pushes his WSOP cashes to just over $1 million while his total lifetime earnings sit at almost $1.65 million. Pu said he only really started traveling for live poker this year and while he has Hendon Mob results going back as far as 2017, the bulk of his entries have happened since 2020, so Pu looks like a player on the rise.

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

The Ladies event was another game that took an extra day to complete but on the fourth day of play, American and Women's Poker Association (WPA) member Tamar Abraham won nearly $200k and her first bracelet from the all-female game. She defeated a hot-running Shiina Okamoto in the heads-up phase to bag the bracelet, leaving the Japanese runner-up with $118,768.

There were 1,295 entries in this game, continuing a trend this year of record field sizes and prize pools. There was a total of $1,152,550 to play for and 195 ladies split up that money between them. There were just seven of them left on Sunday when they returned for the final day to decide the winner.

Early on, it looked like Okamoto might run away with the game. She was very aggressive on the final day, but found herself at quite a disadvantage to Abraham when they got heads-up. Abraham had about a 4:1 lead on the Japanese player, but she managed to hold on and survive for around an hour of two-handed play. She was able to double a few times to claw some back, but never managed to get closer than about 2:1 down before Abraham took it down for her first bracelet. The win marks her first win on the live felt and her biggest score by a large margin.

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

Event #69 was yet another game with a big field that required an extra day to complete, but on the fourth day Chris Brewer was the player holding the bracelet, his second bit of WSOP hardware so far. He bagged his first bracelet earlier this series in Event #40, the $250k Super High Roller. That bracelet marked the biggest score of his career, but this one barely made the top ten. Still, the $367,599 top prize brings his lifetime earnings to almost $16 million.

There were 154 entries in this one by the time the desk closed meaning they were playing for $1,432,200 with 24 paid spots. Just three players survived that field to start the fourth day and Brewer was the meat in a sandwich between leader David "ODB" Baker and third-place Alex Livingston.

Despite being one of the best mixed game players in the world, "ODB" wouldn't have the cards on his side for Day 4. He gave up the lead early to Brewer when he called Brewer's shove but had to concede the pot to the ninety-seven. Just one level later, the rest of Baker's chips were in the middle, and once again Brewer got there with an eighty-seven while Baker paired up to hit the rail.

Brewer had a decent lead on Livingston to start heads up, but the Canadian bracelet winner is no slouch when it comes to poker. They traded some early pots during heads-up, but Livingston was unable to put together a run and he had to settle for $227,193 for second place.

Event #70: $400 COLOSSUS No-Limit Hold’em - Day 2

When the dust settled on entries on Day 1b, there were nearly 16,000 total entries in the Colossus, putting more than $5 million into the prize pool. The winner of the game can expect to pocket just over half a million dollars and six players will pocket six-figure payouts at the end of this one with a total of 1,986 getting some money either late on Day 1a, or on later days.

At the end of the opening flights, there were still 1,980 players that returned to the felt for Day 2 on Sunday, but just 80 bags were collected at the end of the day. Jesse Kertland has more than 26 million in his bag for the lead, while Colin Robinson also bagged a 20+ million stack for Day 3. Among the other players to find a bag at the end of Day 2 were Francesco Micucci, who had two final table appearances in Calgary late last year, Prabakaran Sivabalasundaram (aka Praba Siva), and Ashkan Razavi while players to cash out on Sunday included Michael Bosma, GGPoker streamer Kevin Martin, Allen Cunningham, and Benjamin "Spraggy" Spragg.

The final 80 players return to the felt at 10 am on Monday to compete for the bracelet and the $501,120 top prize.

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

There were 200 players even for the $50k PLO High Roller game, putting $9,550,000 into the pot with 30 players carving out a piece for themselves. When the final 11 players returned for Day 3, Jesse Lonis went on a tear, crushing the final day for his second bracelet. Lonis sat down for Day 3 and then proceeded to dispatch every single one of his 10 opponents on the final day for the decisive victory.

After the win, he admitted this was his first $50k event. "I can't start better in the high rollers," he understated. Lonis started the final day second in chips, but that didn't last long as he dominated from the very beginning of the day. With play at the final table, he and runner-up Tyler Smith controlled more than half the chips in play, but it was really all Lonis, all the time on the final day.

It was 44 million to 16 million once Lonis dispatched the rest of the table and faced down Smith heads up. In the end, it took a bit more than half an hour for Lonis to take the final chips in play when he spiked two pair against top-top for Smith to take it all down. This was Lonis' best cash by far and was his seventh live win recorded on Hendon Mob, bringing his total earnings to $5,366,397. This was his second bracelet after he won some online gold last year.

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

What can you say about Phil Hellmuth? After winning his astonishing 17th bracelet very early Sunday morning, Hellmuth extended his lead over some of the best in the game. No other player in the history of the game has managed to win more than 10 bracelets, with greats Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, and Johnny Chan sitting on the decade, so Hellmuth's achievement isn't just a case of "leading the field" but instead nearly lapping some of the best in the game.

In this event, the unquestioned king of WSOP events had to make it through 642 entries for his first NLHE bracelet since 2018. In 2012 he won the WSOP-E Europe, making him the only player in history to win both versions of the Main in their career, but those two bracelets are his only NLHE hardware prior to this one since 2007. Before 2007, he was seen as a hold'em specialist, with all of his first nine bracelets coming in some form of two-card poker. However, since 2007, he's been scoring more often in mixed games including razz and deuce.

Hellmuth won $803,818 to bring his lifetime earnings to just shy of $30 million and it ranks fifth on his list of top scores. He defeated Justin Zaki heads-up for the title, but he also had to get through Tom Kunze and Phil Ivey at the final table, as well as players like Joseph Liberta, Tom Middleton, Maxx Coleman, and Andre Akkari, to name a few. There are still a few more events left in the series, and no doubt Hellmuth already has a cap with #18 on it waiting in his bag. With bracelets in each of the last five decades and two already in the 2020s, Hellmuth shows no signs of slowing down, which is an ill omen for all the greats watching him pull away in the distance.

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

There are just 24 players left in the Big Bet Mix after two days of play, and Jon Turner is an unsurprising leader going into what should be the final day. There were 377 total entries for this one, combing for prizes of $838,825. A total of 57 players will share in the money with 57th place pocketing $4,021 late on Day 2.

The final 24 players are all guaranteed at least $5,938, but there will be a pay jump to $7,199 after the first elimination on Day 3. Two players will bag six-figure payouts, while 9 players will get five digits with 10th and 11th paying $11,398.

Turner is facing some stiff competition in the final 24. Joining him in the top ten are Erick Lindgren, Benny Glaser, and Hye Park while Jon Shoreman, Steve Zolotow, Anthony Zinno, and Bryce Yockey are among the players lurking with a smaller stack for the final day. Day 3 action goes at 2 pm on Monday and the plan is to finish the game with a winner decided.

Event #74: $1,000 MINI Main Event No-Limit Hold’em

The Mini Main saw a huge turnout of 5,257 entries before entries closed on Day 1, putting $4,678,730 into the kitty. A total of 789 players got a share of that, and more than 300 payouts were recorded before they bagged up for the night after the opening day of play.

Avneesh Munjal leads the way into Day 2 with 3,250,000 and he is the only player with 3 million or more. The rest of the top ten stacks are all in the 2 million range with Liran Betito bagging the second stack with 2.785 million. Ramiro Petrone, JJ Liu, Stephen Song, Kyle Chang, and Ben Underwood bagged stacks for Day 2 as well.

They come back to the felt at 10 am on Monday with the plan to end the night with five players remaining, so there will be a lot of poker to get through on Day 2 of this one.

Event #75: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship

There are 247 entries in Event #75 when Day 1 closed, but entries are still open until the start of Day 2, so none of the numbers are set yet. Right now, there is about $2.3 million in prizes, but that will certainly increase before cards go in the air later today for Day 2.

Michael Banducci leads 116 players to bag chips after the opening day with the biggest of four stacks in the 300k range. Taylor Paur is another one of those 300k+ stacks while Cliff Josephy, Dylan Weisman, and Dzmitry Urbanovich are among the players looking to strike from 250k or more. Maxx Coleman, Scott Bohlman, Paul Volpe, Phillip Hui, Jared Jaffee, and Scott Baumstein are among the players lower down the list of Day 2 stacks.

The field will be set when cards go in the air at 1 pm on Monday. They'll play ten levels on Day 2 before they bag up for what should be the final day on Tuesday.

Online Event #12: $500 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack

• Entries: 1,754
• Prizes: $1,210,950
• Paid: 371
• 1st Place: $176,919.79
• Thomas "lultaxpayers" Hall

Upcoming Events on July 3

Event #76: $10,000 MAIN EVENT No-Limit Hold'em World Championship - Flight A

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

Online Event #13: $5,300 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller Championship - Hybrid Event

• Start: 3:30 pm
• Late Entry: 5 Hours
• Start Stack: 25,000
• Reentries: 1
• Final Table: Jul 5 at Noon live in Las Vegas