Phil Galfond has yet to make an appearance at the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP), and as he told PokerNews, right now he has no plans to play live.

“But who knows, plans change,” added Galfond, who has been playing online at WSOP.com.

While Galfond hasn’t been at the WSOP – well, at least Phil as his wife, Farah Galfond, has been competing – the three-time bracelet winner is still weighing in by his relatively new newsletter “PG’s Takes of the Week.”

One of the topics the online poker legend, who prior to the WSOP inserted himself in some drama involving Doug Polk and Charlie Carrel with a pointed letter, was that of the Poker Hall of Fame. Right now, the public is being solicited for nomination.

“The nominations for the Poker Hall of Fame are now open, presenting voters with a familiar dilemma: there are simply too many great options to choose from,” Galfond wrote before giving his picks.

Builder Category

First, he addressed the “builder” side of things by noting last year’s nominees in Matt Savage, Isai Scheinberg, and famed WSOP commentating duo Norman Chad and Lon McEachern, the latter of which was a recent guest on PokerNews’ The Chad & Jesse Poker Show.

“I think all of these legends are deserving, but my vote would go to Isai Scheinberg,” Galfond wrote. “He and PokerStars grew the game an incredible amount over the past two decades. Since his departure from PokerStars and the online poker operator space, it’s become more and more obvious to me that he made many decisions for the betterment of the game, even when it may have been to the detriment of his bottom line.”

Sign up for Galfond’s Newsletter Here!

His Player Pick

As for players, they must meet the following criteria if they’re to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame:

• A player must have played poker against acknowledged top competition
• Played for high stakes
• Be a minimum of 40 years old at time of nomination
• Played consistently well, gaining the respect of peers
• Stood the test of time

For Galfond, Brian Rast is the player the most deserving, at least from the list of last year’s nominees.

“The only argument I see against Rast is that he is younger than most candidates, but Brian’s career has spanned the two most competitive decades in poker history, and he’s been competing at the top for the entire time,” wrote Galfond before citing Rast’s tournament accomplishments, which includes five gold bracelets, a Super High Roller Bowl win, and nearly $24 million in lifetime earnings according to The Hendon Mob.

Galfond continued: “Most importantly, for anyone familiar with the high-stakes poker world, he did all of this while primarily being a nosebleed cash game player. He battled in the nosebleed NL games out in Macau, and he’s been a staple in the big Bobby’s Room game for as long as I can remember.”

“He may be the best all-around player in today’s game.

“
Galfond then pointed to the late Doyle Brunson’s 2018 endorsement of Rast as further proof of his accolades.

“He may be the best all-around player in today’s game,” Brunson had said.

Galfond concluded: “Brian has proven himself at high stakes time and time again over the past two decades, and not as a single-game specialist, but at every discipline he decided to take seriously.”

Brian Rast on Poker Hall of Fame: “I Belong in Next Year”

Changes Needed?

One of the major grips about the Poker Hall of Fame is that there exists a backlog of deserving players and builders given there’s just one inductee. In fact, this was a point of debate on the latest episode of The Chad & Jesse Poker Show featuring Poker Hall of Famer Jack McClelland.

In his newsletter, Galfond pointed out that a lot of the stars from the online poker boom, many of who are towards the top of poker’s all-time money list, will soon turn 40 and become eligible, thus complicating the backlog even further.

“If something doesn’t change, there will be a lot of deserving talent who never make poker’s Hall of Fame – Not just these ‘young guns’ but all of the older generation who’ve not yet made it in,” Galfond correctly pointed out.

So, what’s the solution? For Galfond, it would help if the WSOP went back to inducting two people per year instead of one, something they actually did prior to 2020.

“Time to switch it back,” said Galfond. “Two players per year!”

For those wondering, Galfond will become eligible for the Poker Hall of Fame on January 16, 2025, when he turns 40 years old. If something doesn’t change, he could very well find himself in the logjam, though many would consider “OMGClayAiken” a first-ballot Hall of Famer!

Check out Galfond’s 2023 WSOP bracelet hunt, which has thus far been limited to playing online:

Poker vloggers looking to film a cash game session or a tournament run at ARIA Resort and Casino, Bellagio and other MGM Resorts International properties in Las Vegas will now be able to do so thanks to a new policy that came just in time for all of the summer’s poker action, including the currently underway BetMGM Poker Championship taking place as part of the 2023 ARIA Poker Classic.

The policy allows content creators to film poker, table games and slots provided they go through an approval process and follow certain guidelines (including not filming to faces of dealers and other players and never live-streaming poker). Those interested in being approved can simply fill out a streaming request form and await approval.

MGM Resorts Director of Poker Strategy Sean McCormack announced the policy on Twitter last month and noted that it was part of MGM’s broader guest technology use policy.

PokerNews spoke with McCormack about the new vlogging policy and what he sees as an opportunity for further collaboration between casinos and content creators.

Follow The Action in The 2023 BetMGM Poker Championship!

Two Years in the Making

McCormack, formerly director of Poker Operations at ARIA, said the vlogging policy had been in the works for nearly two years.

“We’re forward-thinking with a lot of things, and when we see people get a lot interest in something like vlogging … and stuff like that, we want to get behind it,” McCormack said in an interview on June 7. “But also, working for a big corporation, these things take time, of course.”

Casinos and card rooms have had a difficult time adapting to the ubiquity of cell phones rise of poker vloggers who rely on poker rooms to get content. Without clear-cut guidelines in place, vlogging approval has typically been left up to the discretion of individual poker rooms and managers.

“There’s never been real rules behind what you can and can’t do, except that it went from this age of ‘Oh my god, you can never pull out your camera in a casino’ to ‘Oh my god, you can totally pull out your camera,'” said McCormack.

Those rules are now in place at MGM Properties after several months of drafting and having conversations with relevant gaming control boards and legal compliance teams.

“It was a lot of moving parts, but we’re super happy to have it now,” McCormack said.

The Future of Poker Vlogging

As a “huge content nerd” when it comes to gambling, McCormack emphasized that the vlogging policy applies not only to poker vloggers but also slot and table game content creators.

“That’s kind of a guilty pleasure of mine is watching these huge slots streamers, table games streamers, stuff like that,” he said.

That said, McCormack noted that “90% of the requests have been poker” since MGM Resorts rolled out the policy earlier this summer.

For now, the vlogging policy is only for MGM Resorts properties in Las Vegas and not other properties in places like Atlantic City. But McCormack hopes the policy will expand and said it may even lead to partnerships between casinos and content creators.

“It can grow into something even bigger … There’s a road to where we monetize this for the content creators,” McCormack said. “We can partner to showcase our amenities while you also create the content and monetize it on your side. So it’s double win-win for the content creators and then a win for the casino.”

McCormack also noted that other casino operators are starting to starting to put out their own vlogging policies, “which is telling us that the casinos, one, know that this is an important bridge we need to gap for the future, but two, that we need to have a standardized way of how we do this and make sure that we’re keeping the guests safe at all times and keeping the casino and operators safe at all times.”

Day 12 at the 2023 World Series of Poker at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas was another action-packed day.

The last three players returned to finish up the Event #20: $1,500 Badugi final table. Unfortunately, Event #22: $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship had a similarly drawn out Day 3, and so will be returning tomorrow.

Event #21: $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed crowned a bracelet winner, and three other events continued their mid-game parade. These events were the Event #24: $1,500 Razz, Event #23: $50,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em, and Event #18: $300 Gladiators of Poker No-limit Hold’em which completed its last Day 1 flight.

Only one new WSOP event kicked off on Day 12 — Event #25: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship

The Only Badugi Bracelet of the Year

After yesterday’s final table was dragged out to level 35, the final three players in Event #20: $1,500 Badugi returned today to play down to a winner.

Michael Rodrigues of Portugal won the bracelet in the end. He defeated the start of day chipleader Yingui Li and Serhii Popovych to take down $144,678, the largest live tournament cash of his career.

That wraps up this year’s only all-Badugi tournament. Hopefully, there will be more of this variant on the schedule next year.

Event #20: $1,500 Badugi Final Table Results

Stephen Nahm’s Beer-Fuelled Bracelet

By Day 3 of the Event #21: $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed, Stephen Nahm had fine-tuned his drinking schedule, telling the wait staff to bring him a new Corona every 18 minutes.

Fifteen beers (or about 4.5 hours Imperial) later, he was the proud owner of his first WSOP bracelet, along with $267,991 for first place.

Nahm had to outlast 2,071 entries to get there, and he still had fuel in the tank to go out on the town to celebrate.

Event #21: $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed Final Table Results

Gladiators of Poker Hits 23,102 Entrants After Final Day 1 Flight

After the dust settled on Day 1d of Event #18: $300 Gladiators of Poker No-limit Hold’em, there were 8,467 entrants and 320 survivors.

When combined with the previous three flights, that makes 23,102 total entrants for the event and 827 players returning for Day 2.

A few notablesurvivors from Day 1d were two-time bracelet winner Anatolii Zyrin (1,450,000), Timothy Little (705,000), and bracelet winner Ian Steinman (855,000).

Marcy Jo Phillips bagged the biggest Day 1d stack, though Patrick White leads the field overall with 3,405,000.

Day 2 of the Gladiators of Poker will shuffle up and deal at 10 a.m. on June 11, when the field will play an additional 17 levels.

Event #18: $300 Gladiators of Poker No-limit Hold’em Day 1d Top Ten Chip Counts

Daniel Idema Leads Final Three In Limit Hold’em Championship

Another hard-fought final table has tipped over into a fourth day of play. Nozomu Shimizu returns tomorrow to take on three-time bracelet winner Daniel Idema and four-time bracelet winner Josh Arieh in Event #22: $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship.

Idema has a considerable chip lead, but with blinds catching up to stacks, the swings are likely to be big and fast tomorrow.

Play is scheduled to resume at 12 p.m. on June 11. Blinds will be at 50,000/100,000 blinds with limits of 100,000/200,000. Breaks will be at the discretion of the players.

Event #22: $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship Chip Counts Of Final Three Players

Big Names Dominate Final Table of $50k High Roller

Day 2 of Event #23: $50,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em saw the field whittled down to just five players.

Day 1 chip leader Justin Bonomo ended the day when he bust in 6th place for $295,169.

He left behind five players — Alex Foxen (13,340,000), Jans Arends (10,300,000), Leon Sturm (4,850,000), Bill Klein (4,675,000), and Seth Davies (3,940,000).

Play resumes at 4 p.m. on June 11 and will be live-streamed on PokerGO on a one-hour delay. There is currently $1,546,024 up top for whoever wins the bracelet.

2023 WSOP Event #23: $50,000 High Roller (8-Handed) Final Table Results

Event #24: $1,500 Razz

From a record-breaking field of 556 players, just fifteen remain in Event #24: $1,500 Razz.

Yuval Bronshtein was among those who fell on Day 2, along with Michael Moncek, Jeff Madsen, Hoyt Corkins, and WSOP Hall of Famer Tom McEvoy.

William Burke (2,450,000) leads the final fifteen into the action at 1 p.m. on June 11. Burke will be joined by players like Jeff Lisandro (995,000) and Dzmitry Urbanovich (630,000).

Event #24: $1,500 Razz End Of Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts

Event #25: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship

Event #25: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship attracted many of poker’s elite. Notables such as Erik Seidel (162,000), John Hennigan (161,000), and Brad Ruben (137,000) survived the first day of four-card action.

They will be joined tomorrow by other big-name survivors like David “Bakes” Baker (134,000), Brandon Shack-Harris (103,000), Sammy Farha (139,000), Todd Brunson (100,000), and Jen Harman (47,000).

WSOP bracelet winners Anthony Zinno and Anson Tsang failed to make Day 2, which will kick off at 1 p.m. local time on June 11.

Event #25: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship End of Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts

What to Expect on Day 13 of the 2023 WSOP

Tomorrow, the WSOP will return with three live final tables Event #24: $1,500 Razz, Event #23: $50,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em, and the last few players in the Event #22: $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship. There will also be a one-day online event — Online Event #5: $400 No-Limit Hold’em 8-Max.

Event #18: $300 Gladiators of Poker No-limit Hold’em and Event #25: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship will both continue with a Day 2.

Most importantly, two new events will kick off — Event #26: $800 No-Limit Hold’em Deepstack and Event #27: $1,500 Eight Game Mix 6-Handed.

The PokerStars Summer Festival is underway with a two-month action-packed poker and casino extravaganza for PokerStars US players in New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, running from June 1 – July 31.

A variety of promotions and events are slated throughout June and July with Summer Stacks and Bonus Bonanza headlining, in addition to plenty of other festivities to take part in such as Happy Hours, Exclusive Throwables, Summer Slots, and more.

You’ll be able to win exclusive merch through giveaways, and other exciting events on the schedule include Spin & Go Jackpots, Card Hunter, Freerolls, and Half Price Sundays. Special surprises and mystery prizes are also in store as the festival continues.

Summer Stacks

Summer Stacks is a poker tournament series running from June 9 to June 26, featuring 100 events all for $100 or less. Summer Stacks PA offers $1.25M in total guaranteed prize pools, while Summer Stacks MI-NJ features $1.5M in total guaranteed prize pools.

With buy-ins ranging from $10 to $100, it’s a fantastic series for low and mid-stakes players. There will also be opportunities to qualify for even less, with traditional satellites and $1 Spin & Go’s giving players other ways to get in on the action.

Fans of mixed games will be happy to know there will also be offerings of variants other than Hold’em, such as PLO, PLO8, H.O.R.S.E, 8-Game, Badugi, and Razz.

The $100 Main Events will be two-day tournaments starting on June 25th, with a $100,000 guarantee in Pennsylvania and a $125,000 guarantee in the merged market of Michigan and New Jersey. Additionally, players can win exclusive merchandise as a “trophy” in select events, including the Main Event.

Summer Stacks Series Highlights

Bonus Bonanza & More

Bonus Bonanza runs June 13-19 and will offer 100,000 free spins to players in Michigan, 100,000 free spins to players in Pennsylvania, and 10,000 free spins to those in New Jersey.

All you need to do to grab a piece of the promo is opt in and wager at least $10 on slots during the week to complete the challenge. The number of bonus spins awarded to each player at the end of the week depends on how many players complete the challenge.

Head over to PokerStars blog for updates with more information on additional Summer Festival events and chances to win some epic prizes in the coming weeks.

Event #20: $1,500 Badugi at the 2023 Word Series of Poker (WSOP) at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas attracted an astounding 516 runners, generating a total prize pool of $688,860. On Saturday, June 10th, the last three players returned for an unscheduled fourth day, all vying for the $144,678 first place prize and coveted WSOP gold bracelet accompanying it.

After less than one hour of play, Michael Rodrigues of Portugal came out on top, defeating start of day chipleader Yingui Li in heads-up play to secure the largest live tournament cash of his career. A visibly emotional Rodrigues lifted his hands to the sky as the last, title clinching pot was shipped his direction.

For Rodrigues, the win was especially meaningful as it means he will go down in history as the person to win the first-ever bracelet event dedicated entirely to badugi, so at least until next year, he can credibly claim to be the best badugi player in the world.

2023 WSOP Event #20: $1,500 Badugi Final Table Results

Day 3 Final Table Action

Day 3 was originally slated to be the last day of the tournament and began with 13 players. It took several hours for the field to be cut down to the unofficial final table of seven. Shortly after, the official final table was set courtesy of Lee Horton‘s elimination in 7th place.

The first casualty of the final table was Owais Ahmed after he was unable to improve his three card hand against Rodrigues.

From that point, play continued five-handed for an incredible four hours before one-time tournament chipleader Danny Tang finally succumbed to eventual runner-up Li in fifth place.

Unlike many of the other players at the final table, Matt Vengrin never really established himself as a clear chip leader, instead finding various ways to stick around and outlast his competitors. His run did, however, come to an end in fourth place after getting his last few chips into the middle against Serhii Popovych prior to the first draw.

Momentum for each of the final three players ebbed and flowed over the course of the last few levels of the night before the tournament director chose to intervene, halting play at the end of Level 35 to set up a Day 4 showdown for the bracelet.

Final Day Action

Popovych entered Day 4 as the short stack and struggled to get much going, exiting in 3rd place after running into Li’s better three card hand to setup a heads-up match between Li and Rodrigues.

Li came into heads-up play with a slight chip advantage but quickly relinquished his lead after Rodrigues picked off a bold bluff. From that point, everything seemed to go the Portuguese pro’s way as he took down several pots to leave Li short. It did not take long for Rodrigues to finish the job, ultimately securing the win after being dealt seven badugi.

Although Li will undoubtedly be disappointed he was not able to clear the final hurdle, he can look for consolation in the form of the $89,415 runner-up prize to add to his $805,515 in career earnings.

Congratulation to Michael Rodrigues on winning Event #20: $1,500 Badugi! Be sure to keep it with PokerNews as its live reporting team continues to provide comprehensive coverage of all bracelet events at the 2023 World Series of Poker at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.

It was a long three days here at Event #21: $,1000 Pot-Limit Omaha hosted by the World Series of Poker at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. 2,071 entries were tallied amongst the many hopefuls who entered this eight-handed tournament. This eclipsed last year’s entries of 1,891, a roughly 10% increase comparatively.

All things said and done, it was Stephen Nahm who conquered the massive field. Sixty beers and $267,991 later, he could hardly believe it. He won just after the dinner break in a massive hand that scored a double knock out of runner-up Kevin Rand and Amir Mirrasouli, who busted in third.

Upon rivering the winning hand, Nahm could be heard saying: “Is that it, do I win? Did I win the tournament?!” No matter how many libations he had over the last three days, this was the first time he was slow to read the board.

It was true, this was real life, and he did win; he received the lion’s share of the $1,795,130 prize pool. He might need to pinch himself in the morning, though, as he had at least 15 beers today and his rail insisted on going out to celebrate after. A less seasoned player may have needed a nap, but this seemed par for the course for Nahm.

PokerNews got the opportunity to grab an interview with Vancouver’s newest bracelet winner just after his winner’s photo and he had this to say: “Every poker player, obviously, comes here—you dream of this shit, right? I kinda made my dream come true a little bit; I’m not going to lie.”

Everyone’s new favorite Canadian was having a bit of trouble communicating at this point, but he did say he’d be back to play the NLH/PLO mix and that he’s predominantly a cash game player. Nahm was all laughs as he joined his rail in celebration. This is his first-ever bracelet win.

Final Table Results

Final Day Action

At the end of Day 2, only 13 players remained in contention but short stacks were quick to put their chips in the middle.

Nicolas Gola and Thomas Zanot were soon left without chips, both thwarted by the aces of Dan Matsuzuki. Paul Clotar fell in 11th place for $19,678 and Mike Gorodinsky came short of the final table with a 10th place finish for the same prize as Clotar.

Thomas Taylor had a valiant effort but was first to fall in ninth place. Despite all the noise and his competitors’ antics, Taylor remained even keel the entire tournament. Taylor recently won the C$1,100 Pure Poker Tour Main Event for C$53,000. He also final-tabled the $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo here at the WSOP in 2022. He’ll be one to watch, moving forward this summer.

Jonathan England had the time of his life and was thrilled at the end of Day 1 just to have bagged. He worked a short stack almost the entirety of Day 2 and the same was true here on Day 3. Ultimately, he had just under four big blinds when he got it all in against Matsuzuki’s aces. He won an additional $500 because he had a side bet he had to complete if he made the final table. Mission accomplished.

Gheorghe Butuc never made much noise at this final table, gliding under the radar as his opponents clashed. Ultimately, he lost a flip off a short stack and was eliminated in seventh place. Butuc also cashed in the $600 Pot-Limit Omaha event that happened just a few days ago, having fallen in 41st place for $4,763.

Ronald Keijzer won the $2,200 5-Card PLO event at the PGT PLO series in March for $43,700 and promptly followed that up with a runner up in the $10,000 PLO event at the U.S. Poker Open for $146,300. To say that Keijzer was playing with confidence is an understatement, but he’ll have to keep chasing the gold this summer, as he fell in sixth place when the wrong card paired for him against Kevin Rand.

Dan Matsuzuki, who won a bracelet in 2015, came into the final table with the chip lead. Everything seemed to be going according to plan for him when he won a nice pot against Mirrasouli and Peay. After losing some small and medium pots, Nahm ended up getting the better of him when he rivered two-pair, sending Matsuzuki to the payouts in fifth place.

Zachary Peay won a big hand on Day 2 that helped carry him to the final table. He had a stack like a yo-yo at this final table as he went from short stacked to tripling up, back to a short stack over his time during the course of competition. He also won a big hand against Nahm that featured quite the Rounders impersonation. The number of pay jumps he ended up making due to his patience was quite the sight to behold, but eventually his luck ran out and was left to settle for fourth place. This is Peay’s biggest recorded payday and nothing to sneer at in this massive field.

Amir Mirrasouli was in his zone, quietly pecking away at his opponents, without many hands going to showdown. It was hard for him not to catch some attention as he started to rise in the chip counts. Mirrasouli managed to battle and stay in contention, despite doubling Nahm in a crucial spot. Mirrasouli was eliminated in the final hand, being awarded third place because he was the shortest stack when the river card fell. We’ll explore that final hand with the story of our runner-up.

Heads Up Action

Kevin Rand was fresh off the final table of the $600 PLO Deep Stack with a ninth place finish for $21,221; a score he was able to best today with an incredible runner-up. Coming off of two deep runs in massive fields, Rand let PokerNews know that he’s hungrier than ever and looks forward to making more deep runs this WSOP. Day 2 had a huge hand catapult Rand into the counts and he didn’t let it go to waste, riding his stack to the final table. He did have to get lucky against the eventual winner to make it as far as he did, but that’s always the case in tournaments. In the end, his hopes were dashed when his set was cracked on the river by Nahm.

Stephen Nahm had a clear-cut strategy that he executed seamlessly during this event. He entered the field each day sober as a bone and steadily drank Coronas from there on out.

It was reported by another player that he had over twenty beers on Day 2 and according to Nahm, he probably did close to the same on Day 1. By Day 3, he had it down to a science and he pre-tipped the service team, requesting that he be brought a new beer every 18 minutes. They did their best to oblige and by the end of it, he only had one eye open, but that was all he needed to see he had a big draw and spot a rivered straight.

Nahm had a great time, going as far as doing Joe Pesci impersonations with Dan Matsuzuki. Nahm entered the final day as the chip leader, but lost it somewhere along the way at the final table. The momentum shifted back his way in a big hand against Mirrasouli and he got back to playing big pots.

Nahm played fearlessly and ran well when it mattered most. The moment he said “let’s go” and put both players at risk three-handed, the tension was palpable and, despite all the beers, he was first to call out the winning hand.

Congratulations again to Stephen Nahm, who won the final hand with a straight on the river.

The 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) kicked off back on May 30, and now bracelet winners are being minted every day. The PokerNews Live Reporting Team has been busy capturing all the action in our live updates, and they’ve witnessed some hands go down that proved to be either entertaining, game-changing or just flat out brutal.

Below is a look at some of the best hands of the week from the 2023 WSOP!

Polk Spikes a Two-Outer to Take Massive Lead

On Day 3 of Event #8: $25,000 Heads-Up NLH Championship, it was down to the final four and the blinds were 10,000/20,000 when reporter Adam Lamers caught a huge hand.

Doug Polk raised to 45,000 on the button and Chris Brewer three-bet to 180,000 out of the big blind. Polk responded with a four-bet to 490,000. Brewer thought for a minute and then five-bet shoved all in. Polk snapped off for the smaller stack and the cards were on their backs.

Doug Polk: Q♠Q♥
Chris Brewer: K♠K♥

The flop came 8♥6♠5♣ and Brewer was still in a dominating lead with his pocket kings. The 5♠ on the turn left Polk drawing to just two outs. The Q♦ peeled off on the river and the rail erupted as Polk did a double lap to give everyone high fives. Polk collected a massive double-up and left Brewer on just a few big blinds.

Polk went on to win the match and make the finals against Chanracy Khun.

Khun vs. Winter

Speaking of Khun, he won a big hand in his final four match in another hand reported by Lamers. With the blinds at 6,000/12,000, Sean Winter opened to 30,000 on the button and Khun reraised to 125,000 in the big blind. Winter called and the flop of 7♥4♣2♦ was spread across the felt.

Khun led out with a bet of 55,000 and Winter raised to 220,000. Khun just called and the 6♠ landed on the turn. Khun checked this time and Winter sized up a bet of 370,000. Khun called and the 5♣ completed the board.

Khun checked again and Winter pushed out a bet of 520,000. Khun used one of his time banks before jamming all in as the bigger of the two stacks. Winter took his shades off as he pondered his decision and mumbled to himself for a bit.

“I think ace-five is the only hand I can beat,” he continued to think. After using a time bank of his own, Winter eventually called off his last 1,100,000 chips. Khun turned over 8♠7♠ for an eight-high straight while Winter was left with Q♥3♥ for a seven-high straight.

Khun advanced to the finale with what turn out to be Polk.

Click here to see who won the final match between Polk vs. Khun!

Eveslage Coolers Racener

On Day 2 of Event #10: Dealer’s Choice Championship, reporter Connor Richards caught a cooler five-card draw hand. In Level 13, John Racener opened to 8,000 in early position, and Chad Eveslage three-bet to 34,000 in the small blind. Racener four-bet all-in and Eveslage called with a bigger stack. Eveslage stood pat and Racener drew one.

John Racener: A♠A♣3♦3♠/2♥
Chad Eveslage: J♠10♣9♣8♠7x

Eveslage was ahead with a straight against the two pair of Racener, who peeled his final card and couldn’t improve to a full house to be eliminated.

“A pat hand versus aces up,” Mike Gorodinsky said in disbelief.

Eveslage Went on to Win the Tournament for his 2nd Bracelet of the 2023 WSOP!

Tull Stays Alive After Accidental Reveal

In another hand by Richards, which took place in the same tournament but in Level 16, a wild set of circumstances in a Pot-Limit 2-7 Triple Draw hand allowed one player to avoid becoming the bubble boy.

It happened when Ryan Goindoo raised in the cutoff and Larry Tull called on the button as they respectively drew two and one.

After the first draw, Goindoo checked, and Tull bet pot with just 27,000 behind as Goindoo went deep into the tank before calling. Goindoo drew one and Tull stood pat.

After the second draw, Goindoo led out with a bet and Tull called off before Goindoo briefly tabled 7♠6♣5♣4♥2♥ without realizing there was another draw.

“F***,” Tull reacted after the misunderstanding that gave him additional information.

After the final draw, Goindoo tabled his hand again and the table waited in suspense as Tull had 6♠4♣3♦2♦ and peeled his final card as he risked going out on the money bubble. Tull revealed the 7♣ and the table erupted in screams as Tull made the best hand to stay alive after breaking what was an eight-six.

Rollercoaster Hand to End $25,000 High Roller

In the final hand of Event #16: $25,000 High Roller, which took place in Level 25 (200,000/400,000/400,000, our reporter Liam Gannon reported the following.

Ryan O’Donnell called on the button and in the big blind, Isaac Haxton moved all in for 11,300,000 effective which saw O’Donnell snap call.

Ryan O’Donnell: A♦10♥
Isaac Haxton: A♣J♠

The flop of 10♣3♥3♦ put O’Donnell in the lead as his rail watched intently. The turn of Q♦ gave Haxton some more outs in the form of a king and the river peeled off a J♦ to give Haxton jacks and threes to best O’Donnell’s tens and threes. Haxton shook hands with O’Donnell who finished with a career-best score of $1,049,577.

Read about Ike Haxton winning his first gold bracelet here!

Mattioda Loses Cards, Wins Pot

On Day 1d of Event #3: $1,000 Mystery Millions, it was Level 14 (3,000/5,000/5,000) when reporter Geoff Paul wrote an interesting hand. As told by Paul Mattioda, action opened with the player under the gun raising to 5,500. A player in middle position called. Mattioda, in the hijack, then went all in for 6,500. Both players called.

As the 9x5x2x flop was being dealt, the player in middle position wished Mattioda luck. “Thanks,” he said, “it’s been a long day.”

Mattioda then looked down to see that he had no cards in front of him, and that his cards appeared to have been placed on top of the muck. Tournament staff was called over, and it was determined that the dealer had accidentally mucked Mattioda’s cards. After a lengthy discussion and video review, a tournament official pulled Mattioda aside and asked if he could name his exact two cards.

“Ace of hearts, ace of clubs,” said Mattioda. The staff retrieved the top two cards from the muck (out of view of other players still in the hand) and returned them to Mattioda. With action restarted, the player under the gun bet 10,000, and the player in middle position folded.

Paul Mattioda: A♥A♣
Opponent: 10♣10♠

The turn and river ran clean, and Mattioda tripled up.

Bonus Royal Flush Video

Finally, here is a bonus hand as tweeted by Nikki Limo:

2023 WSOP Hands of the Week: Runner-Runner Royal Flush; a Hellmuth Slowroll?