Main Bubble
The Main Event 'Bubble' is always one of the most dramatic moments of the summer in Las Vegas... and this year was no different.

There was drama from start to finish on the 42nd day of this year’s World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. The Horseshoe and Paris casino floors were filled as players battled in four bracelet events, in particular the WSOP Main Event, where the money bubble burst and players reached the money places. In other events, the $25,000 H.O.R.S.E. event got off to a flyer and two more events got closer to finding the latest WSOP bracelet winners.

Main Event Drama as Bubble Bursts

This year’s record-breaking WSOP Main Event saw its 10,043 entries whittled down to just 441 survivors on Day 4 of the drama at the Horseshoe and Paris casinos. With play now likely to be confined to the former of those two great cardrooms, a day of action saw the remaining 1,518 players play for 100 minutes until 11 players busted and the bubble sent the remaining 1,507 players into the money, guaranteeing them a $15,000 payday.

Three players busted in the same hand on the bubble, meaning they shared the first two $15,000 minimum payouts, neatly giving each man his $10,000 stake back. There was still the matter of the bubble gift of another $10,000 prize to give away – a seat into next year’s WSOP Main Event and it was Jeppe Bisgaard who took that honor after a flip held at a separate table once all three men had vacated the main tournament area.

Other players made the money but went no further on the day, as former world champions Jamie Gold, Johnny Chan, Joe Cada and Scott Blumstein all departed along with stars such as Doug Polk, Jason Mercier, Alexandra Botez, Allen Kessler, ‘Boston Rob’ Mariano, Stephen Chidwick, and Michael Mizrachi.

When play ended on Day 4, American player Ryan Tosoc (5,120,000) held the chip lead, with the 15th-place finisher from two years ago, Mitchell Halverson (5.1 million), and Scott Berko (4.7m) the closest challengers.

Legends of the felt such as John Racener (3.71m), Chance Kornuth (3.2m), Daniel Weinman (2.85m), ‘Bartstool Nate’ Silver (2.29m), Nick Marchington (2.19m), John Duthie (2.03m), Ludo Geilich (1.97m) and Kyle Cartwright (1.95m) all bagged up top 100 stacks of the 441 who remain. Others former champions Chris Moneymaker (435,000) and Joe Hachem (1,485,000) both made the cut with varying degrees of success…. more on Moneymaker’s dip later.

This incredible fold was just one example of the level of play in evidence on Day 4.

Nicholas Rigby bagged up a 3.65 million stack, good for 12th place as his antics continued to dominate the drama. Two years ago, Rigby scored his best cash ever as he finished in 52nd place for $130k. With a stack that has been in the top dozen on each of the last three tournament days and only 440 players between him and the $12.1 million top prize, Rigby will be hoping to go further into the tale this year.

WSOP 2023 Event #76 $10,000 Main Event World Championship:
Place Players Country Chips
1st Ryan Tosoc United States 5,120,000
2nd Mitchell Halverson United States 5,100,000
3rd Aditya Systla India 5,075,000
4th Scott Berko United Kingdom 4,700,000
5th Bradley Moskowitz United States 4,145,000
6th Juan Maceiras Lapido Spain 3,985,000
7th Jon Cohen United States 3,815,000
8th Gabi Livshitz Israel 3,800,000
9th John Racener United States 3,710,000
10th Quan Zhou China 3,705,000

 

Josh Arieh the Leader in H.O.R.S.E. Race

The opening day of action got under starters orders in the $25,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. Event #80 and it was a familiar filly who raced into the lead. WSOP Player of the Year from 2021 Josh Arieh (621,500) ended Day 1 clear of poker legends such as Nacho Barbero (504,000), Matt Glantz (463,000), Andres Korn (461,000) and Michael Moncek (415,000) in the top ten, while others such as Allen Kessler (341,500), Mike Matusow (309,000), Viktor Blom (319,500), Jason Mercier (262,000) and Phil Hellmuth (213,000) all bagged top 30 stacks.

The 11th-placed Arieh, along with 8th-placed Chance Kornuth are two players who are also hopeful of finding a deep run to challenge for this year’s WSOP Player of the Year title, with Shaun Deeb and Chris Brewer still chasing the tail of the current leader Ian Matakis. Arieh is closing in on a ridiculous 15th cash of the World Series this summer, and with a bracelet in his pocket already from earlier in the Series, would be a big POY threat if he bags another in this event.

WSOP 2023 Event #80 $25,000 H.O.R.S.E. High Roller Leaderboard:
Rank Players Country Chips
1st Josh Arieh United States 621,500
2nd Motoyoshi Okamura Japan 565,000
3rd Yehuda Buchalter United States 511,000
4th Nacho Barbero Argentina 504,000
5th Hal Rotholz United States 478,000
6th Matt Glantz United States 463,000
7th Andres Korn United States 461,000
8th Max Hoffman United States 451,000
9th Michael Noori United States 445,000
10th Michael Moncek United States 415,000

 

Lucky 7’s Led to Final Table by Scarborough

The final five players in Event #77 have been confirmed. Playing for a top prize of – you guessed it – $777,777 in the $777 buy-in Lucky 7’s event, it is the American player Anthony Scarborough who bagged a top-scoring 140 million in the event with one day remaining. Scarborough’s lead is a vast one, with all five players challenging for what would be a maiden bracelet, with second-placed Julien Montois (70.7 million) some way back.

American Shawn Daniels (47.4m) will be hoping that he has the experience to deal with the final table ‘vibe’ best, with Hungarian Istvan Briski (32.4m) with Charles La Boissonniere (13.4m) bringing up the rear with nothing to lose and everything to gain at what should be a superbly entertaining final table.

WSOP 2023 Event #77 $777 Lucky 7’s Leaderboard:
Rank Players Country Chips
1st Anthony Scarborough United States 140,000,000
2nd Julien Montois France 70,700,000
3rd Shawn Daniels United States 47,400,000
4th Istvan Briski Hungary 32,400,000
5th Charles La Boissonniere Canada 13,400,000

 

Davies the Destroyer on Day 1 of $2,500 NLHE Event

Seth Davies crushed many players’ dreams on the opening Day 1 session as he dominated the $2,500-entry Event #79. His stack of 1,113,000 was clear of second-placed Ramon Fernandez (1,025,000) with only those two players topping a million chips on the day.

Big names Alex Lindop (858,000), Galen Hall (743,000) and Brent Shaffer (615,000) survived to the final 310 from 2,068 entries, as did luminaries such as fellow former bracelet winners Renan Bruschi (493,000) and David Miscikowski (394,000) with two more days to go in this three-day event.

WSOP 2023 Event #79 $2,500 No Limit Hold’em Leaderboard:
Rank Players Country Chips
1st Seth Davies United States 1,113,000
2nd Ramon Fernandez Spain 1,025,000
3rd Alex Lindop United Kingdom 858,000
4th Valentyn Shabelnyk Ukraine 776,000
5th Daniel Rudd United Kingdom 774,000
6th Diego Vazsorgatto Brazil 757,000
7th Galen Hall United States 743,000
8th Alex Greenblatt United States 739,000
9th Elias Fisz Netherlands 690,000
10th Ignas Jasinevicius Lithuania 682,000

 

How desperate/smart was one player for that Main Event min-cash?

There’s a sandwich shop in Vegas that named a speciality after the Poker Brat. Bet you can’t guess what it is.

Chance Kornuth was not happy about a player at the table calling the clock on him in the hand before the dinner break.

The WSOP offer of 30 years of Main Event buy-ins into the big one is sure to attract a lot of attention until the winner is announced tomorrow afternoon at the Horseshoe.

Chris Moneymaker isn’t a fan of pocket aces, pass it on.

The ‘Jeff Platt Curse’ might be real. Watch out if you’re still in the Main Event.

Ryan Leng provided yet more evidence…

… while Platt’s colleague Brent Hanks met with an unfortunate accident… or did he?

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