Day 23 of the 2023 World Series of Poker at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas saw three bracelets awarded, and Phil Ivey come close to bagging the 11th bracelet of his career. It was not meant to be for Ivey, but the following players are either celebrating epic victories, or could be over the next few days.
The first bracelet awarded on Day 23 went to Jay Lockett in Event #46: $500 No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout. Lockett outlasted 5,431 opponents on his way to victory, a result that bagged the champion a gold bracelet plus $262,526. Amazingly, this win was only the second time Lockett has finished in the money places in a live poker tournament; talk about living the poker dream!
Braxton Dunaway also became a WSOP champion after he triumphed in Event #39: $1,500 Monster Stack. Dunaway became an instant millionaire thanks to the monster-sized $1,162,681 top prize. There is no doubt we shall see Dunaway again during the second half of the series.
William Leffingwell took down Event #45: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better after a long, arduous day at the tables. The final three players were going to bag and tag for the night and come back for an unscheduled fourth day, but Carlos Guerrero busted on that last hand before that happened. Zhen CaZhen Caii and Leffingwell chose to play on, and Leffinwell came out on top to become the tournament’s champion.
Ivey Busts From the $50K PPC Shakerchi Leads the Final Five
The field of Event #43: $50,000 Poker Players Championship has been cut down to only five players as the race towards this event’s bracelet and $1,324,747 top prize continues.
A bunch of superstars were among the final 12 players that returned to the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas for Day 4, including the legendary Phil Ivey, who was chasing his elusive 11th bracelet. Unfortunately for Ivey and his legion of fans, he bowed out in sixth place.
Talal Shakerchi (10,170,000) is the man to catch going into the final day’s action, and is the only player with a stack larger than 10 million chips. Two former winners of this event, Matthew Ashton (7,380,000) and Brian Rast (4,545,000) are keeping tabs on the leader. Should Rast take down this event, he will join Michael Mizrachi as a three-time PPC champion.
James Obst (5,100,000) and Kristopher Tong (2,500,000) make up the rest of the final five, but are not there to make up the numbers.
Play resumes at 1:00 p.m. on June 22 with a one-hour delay due to PokerGO streaming the finale. PokerNews will have all of the live text updates you can handle on Day 5 of the $50,000 Poker Players Championship.
Event #43: $50,000 Poker Players Championship Final Day Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Talal Shakerchi | United Kingdom | 10,170,000 |
| 2 | Matthew Ashton | United Kingdom | 7,380,000 |
| 3 | James Obst | Australia | 5,110,000 |
| 4 | Brian Rast | United States | 4,545,000 |
| 5 | Kristopher Tong | United States | 2,500,000 |
Is Shorr’s Bracelet Drought About to End?
Shannon Shorr appears the list of best poker players without a bracelet every year. Indeed, this very writer has predicted Shorr would get the proverbial monkey off his back for the past three WSOPs. Shorr has arguably his best chance yet of capturing some WSOP hardware because he is second in chips with only 15 remaining in Event #44: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em.
Shorr returns to battle with 8,750,000 chips, or 44 big blinds if you prefer. Only Aram Oganyan (9,900,000) has more betting tokens than the American grinder.
Anyone that reaches this stage of a major live event has done so on merit, so Shorr and Aganyan have plenty of work ahead of them if they are to emerge from the fray victoriously.
Such luminaries as Ankush Mandavia (4,800,000), Jon Van Fleet (3,800,000), Australia’s Alex Lynskey (3,650,000), and Aliaksandr Hirs (2,975,000) are still fighting fit and ready to mount a charge for the $717,879 top prize.
The 15 surviving players return to their seats for Day 4 of this event at 11:00 a.m. local time on June 22, and will play until a champion is crowned. Stay locked to PokerNews to discover who that champion is.
Event #44: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em Final Day Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aram Oganyan | United States | 9,900,000 | 50 |
| 2 | Shannon Shorr | United States | 8,750,000 | 44 |
| 3 | Yang Zhang | China | 6,875,000 | 34 |
| 4 | Aleks Dimitrov | Bulgaria | 6,500,000 | 33 |
| 5 | Levente Szabo | United States | 5,150,000 | 26 |
| 6 | John Marino | United States | 5,100,000 | 26 |
| 7 | Ankush Mandavia | United States | 4,800,000 | 24 |
| 8 | Kartik Ved | India | 4,500,000 | 23 |
| 9 | Jon Van Fleet | United States | 3,800,000 | 19 |
| 10 | Alex Lynskey | Australia | 3,650,000 | 18 |
| 11 | Aliaksandr Hirs | Belarus | 2,975,000 | 15 |
| 12 | Samy Boujmala | France | 2,525,000 | 13 |
| 13 | Aliaksandr Shylko | Czech Republic | 2,375,000 | 12 |
| 14 | Frederic Normand | Canada | 2,000,000 | 10 |
| 15 | Justin Chu | Taiwan | 1,175,000 | 6 |
Vamos! Dzivielevski Leads By Several Lengths in the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E.
Brazilian superstar Yuri Dzivielevski (2,020,000) hold a commanding lead going into Day 3 of Event #47: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. as he hunts down a third WSOP bracelet. Dzivielevski has almost 700,000 chips mor than any of the other 27 remaining players, but six of those players are WSOP champions, so it is not job done just yet for the Brazilian.
Gershon Distenfeld (1,300,000) returns in third place. You may recall Distenfeld has a habit of donating his poker tournament winnings to charity.
Andrew Barber (950,000), Frankie O’Dell (905,000), Denis Nesterenko (845,000), Randy Ohel (805,000), and Anson Tsang (440,000) are the other returnees that already have some poker jewelry in their collection.
Play resumes on June 22 at 1:00 p.m. local time with PokerNews in the saddle and updating you on the goings on throughout the third and final day.
Event #47: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yuri Dzivielevski | Brazil | 2,020,000 |
| 2 | Stephen Savoy | United States | 1,345,000 |
| 3 | Gershon Distenfeld | United States | 1,300,000 |
| 4 | Thor Morstoel | Norway | 1,145,000 |
| 5 | Michael Parizon | United States | 1,105,000 |
| 6 | Bill Short | United States | 955,000 |
| 7 | Andrew Barber | United States | 950,000 |
| 8 | Jeff Shulman | United States | 910,000 |
| 9 | Frankie O’Dell | United States | 905,000 |
| 10 | Scott Epstein | United States | 900,000 |
Seniors Turn Out in Force for Day 1A of their Championship Event
Popular grinder Frank “Skullman” Harrington (445,000) soared into an early lead after Day 1a of Event #48: $1,000 Seniors Championship. Some 3,692 players bought into the first of two flights, but only 730 of those starters bagged and tagged after the completion of 11 levels.
Rayesh Goyal (429,000) came close to claiming the chip lead. As did Christian Munk (427,000), and Jose Obadia Chocron (403,500), but the night belonged to Harrington.
Mark Seif (355,000) and Dieter Dechant (301,000) found themselves bagging up top ten stacks; both have already won bracelets during their careers.
Others to look out for on Day 2 from the Day 1a field include Lee Markholt (243,000), Ted Forrest (181,500), Victor Ramdin (167,500), Billy Baxter (155,000), Andy Frankenberger (152,500), Mike Matusow (117,500), and Barry Greenstein (82,500).
Day 1b shuffles up and deals at 10:00 a.m. on June 22. As always, PokerNews‘ live reporting team will be on the tournament floor throughout.
Event #48: $1,000 Seniors Championship Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Frank Harrington | United States | 445,000 | 178 |
| 2 | Rajesh Goyal | United States | 429,000 | 172 |
| 3 | Christian Munk | United States | 427,000 | 171 |
| 4 | Jose Obadia Chocron | Spain | 403,500 | 161 |
| 5 | Joshua Mountain | United States | 383,000 | 153 |
| 6 | Mark Seif | United States | 355,000 | 142 |
| 7 | Guy Cicconi | United States | 328,500 | 131 |
| 8 | Zal Irani | United States | 305,000 | 122 |
| 9 | Radwan Khuri | United States | 303,000 | 121 |
| 10 | Dieter Dechant | United States | 301,000 | 120 |
Super Turbo Whittles 2,226 Entrants to Final 9
Event #49: $1,500 Super Turbo Bounty was scheduled to conclude after a single day’s play, but there are still nine players in the hunt for the tournament’s bracelet and the $270,700 top prize. Thirty-three fast-paced levels proved not enough to bring the curtain down fully on proceedings, thanks to a bumper crowd of 2,226 turning out for this event.
The final nine return to their seats at 2:00 p.m. local time on June 22 to crown the champion. Team PokerStars’ Alejandro Lococo is the biggest stack with 15,550,000 chips (39 big blinds), while Frank Lagodich has 1,750,000 chips (4 big blinds). The rapidly increasing blinds and shallow stacks could and should create an explosive final table. Follow that final table’s action right here at PokerNews.
Event #49: $1,500 Super Turbo Bounty Final Table Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alejandro Lococo | Argentina | 15,550,000 | 39 |
| 2 | William Linden | United States | 8,850,000 | 22 |
| 3 | Chen-An Lin | Taiwan | 7,700,000 | 19 |
| 4 | Danny Scott | United States | 5,250,000 | 13 |
| 5 | Michael Burns | United States | 5,000,000 | 13 |
| 6 | Tony Gargano | United States | 4,325,000 | 11 |
| 7 | Pengfei Wang | United States | 3,925,000 | 10 |
| 8 | Kenneth Maurer | United States | 3,400,000 | 9 |
| 9 | Frank Lagodich | United States | 1,750,000 | 4 |
Yockey Fifth in Chips on Day 1 of the $10K PLO
Some 688 players bought into Event #50: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha (8-Handed) Championship, surpassing last year’s total by five with late registration still open until the start of Day 2!
Daniel Aharoni (535,000) bagged up a tournament-leading stack, while Bryce Yockey (479,000) has enough chips for fifth place at the restart.
Also safely through to the second day’s play are the likes of Roman Hrabec (391,000), six-time bracelet winner Jeremy Ausmus (279,000), Luis Velador (203,000), Anthony Zinno (172,500), Joao Vieira (172,000), and Nick Schulman (169,000).
2:00 p.m. local time on June 22 is when the players return to their seats and discover who has flicked in $10,000 for a 24 big blind stack. Stay tuned to PokerNews if PLO is what gets you all hot and bothered!
Event #50: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Aharoni | United States | 535,000 | 214 |
| 2 | Motoyoshi Okamura | Japan | 500,000 | 200 |
| 3 | Jay Harwood | United Kingdom | 494,000 | 198 |
| 4 | Johann Ibanez | Colombia | 484,500 | 194 |
| 5 | Bryce Yockey | United States | 479,000 | 192 |
| 6 | Caleb Furth | United States | 418,000 | 167 |
| 7 | Gabriel Andrade | Ecuador | 405,000 | 162 |
| 8 | Jonas Kronwitter | Germany | 396,000 | 158 |
| 9 | Elliott Kampen | United States | 393,500 | 157 |
| 10 | Dylan Smith | Canada | 393,000 | 157 |
What to Expect on Day 24 of the 2023 WSOP
You need to keep your internet browser locked to the PokerNews live reporting pages on June 22, which is the 24th day of the 2023 WSOP.
Event #43: $50,000 Poker Players Championship will crown its worthy champion, as will Event #44: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em, and Event #49: $1,500 Super Turbo Bounty. Someone will also win a bracelet in Event #47: H.O.R.S.E. and in Online Event #9: $1,000 PLO Championship.
There will also be action from Day 1b of Event #48: $1,000 Seniors Championship, Day 2 action from Event #50: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship, while Event #51: $1,000 Tag Team and Event #52: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw will shuffle up and deal for the first time!