WSOP 2023 Start Digest

Welcome back and thanks for taking the read of the first recap of the action in the 2023 World Series of Poker!

Right now the fourth day has ended, nine events have already started, and four events have already ended, so let’s jump in!

Event #1: $500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em

The traditional Casino Employees event has welcomed 1,015 casino employees, the third largest in the history. In the end, Peter Thai wrote his 9th Hendon mob result since his first in 2014 and pocketed $75,535.

Peter Thai

Event #2: $25,000 High Roller Six Handed No-Limit Hold’em

Open to everyone, this $25k High Roller attracted 207 players. Last year, the comparable event #8: $25k 8-Handed gathered 251 players, so slightly down this year, but that could be due to the early place in the calendar.

The tournament still had a huge prizepool of $4,8M, of which $1,2M went to Alexandre Vuilleumier. The Swiss is pretty much exploding these last 9 months as he made more than 75% of his total live earnings with 3 results above $200k.

Alexandre Vuilleumier

He battled Chance Kornuth in the heads-up, who took home $751,463.

Event #5: $1,500 Dealers Choice 6-Handed

The events had 456 entries in total. It’s the American poker pro Chad Eveslage who came up first to win $131,879. It’s the second bracelet for the player, who came first in the $25k said event #8 last year. WSOP’s veteran John Racener came fourth and bagged $36,953.

Event #6: $5,000 Mixed No-Limit Hold’em; Pot-Limit Omaha

The event attracted 568 players this year, which is significantly less than the 788 of last years, but the event was number 53 and could have profited from more affluence in the series.

Nonetheless it made quite a big event with a prizepool of $2,6M. Michael Moncek took the bracelet and the nice $534,499 paycheck. The player declared his ambition for the year: “It means a lot and now I have a decent shot at going for Player of the Year”. Moncek is now a 2 time bracelet holder, largely crossing the $1M mark in total live earnings with this win.

Michael Moncek

Here are some notables finishes in these events:

PlayerPlaceEarningsEvent
🇺🇸 Chance Kornuth2nd$751,463Event #2: $25,000 High Roller Six Handed No-Limit Hold’em
🇺🇸 Andrew Lichtenberger10th$80,314Event #2: $25,000 High Roller Six Handed No-Limit Hold’em
🇪🇸 Adrian Mateos14th$62,763Event #2: $25,000 High Roller Six Handed No-Limit Hold’em
🇺🇸 Cary Katz19th$50,000Event #2: $25,000 High Roller Six Handed No-Limit Hold’em
🇨🇦 Daniel Negreanu22nd$50,000Event #2: $25,000 High Roller Six Handed No-Limit Hold’em
🇺🇸 Justin Bonomo29th$43,750Event #2: $25,000 High Roller Six Handed No-Limit Hold’em
🇺🇸 John Racener4th$36,953Event #5: $1,500 Dealers Choice 6-Handed

And that’s it for this first recap! Many more tournaments have started, including the Event #8: $25,000 Heads Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship with lots of famous name, including Anthony Zinno, Landon Tice, Doug Polk and Chance Kornuth!

Thanks for reading, and please come back if you want more. Also, don’t hesitate to comment and give your feedback on the format!

Sources: www.wsop.com, www.thehendonmob.com


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