Anton Morgenstern was one card away from nearly bubbling a high roller at the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP), but a lucky one-outer on the river kept him alive.

In Event #23: $50,000 High Roller (8-Handed), with 21 players remaining, Morgenstern was down to just 12 big blinds. That put him in a tough position because only 19 of the 124 who began the tournament would be paid.

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Quads to Stay Alive

PokerNews live reporting caught the action on a flop of 5♣4♠7♣, and the aforementioned poker player was all in with 4♦4♣. You might think given his short-stack situation he would have been ecstatic to get it all in, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth.

His opponent, Micah Raskin, had flopped top set with the 7♥7♦ and appeared on the verge of collecting a 26 big blind pot.

The turn was the K♥, leaving the Morgenstern down to just one out to stay alive, and the 4♥ on the river gave hims quads and the full double-up.

Raskin was still left with 15 big blinds, so he was still alive. Unfortunately, for the poker pro, he’d suffer yet another bad beat against Bill Klein moments later when the short stack moved all in with Q♦Q♣ against A♥Q♠. As you probably guessed, yes, the Ax hit on the flop and Raskin was out in 21st place, two spots short of a min-cash, which pays $81,983.

If there’s any consolation for Raskin, at least he didn’t bust on the stone-cold bubble. Chance Kornuth, however, can’t say the same thing. The Chip Leader Coaching founder was felted in 20th place by his CLC pal Alex Foxen when pocket aces were cracked by a flopped two pair that held up.

Justin Saliba then busted in 19th place ($81,983) before Foxen’s wife, Kristen Foxen, was sent to the rails in 18th place ($81,983) after losing a race to Jans Arend.

At the time of publishing, there were 17 players remaining. Foxen, Klein, and Justin Bonomo were among the chip leaders. First place will pay $1,546,024 on Sunday. The final table will be live-streamed on PokerGO beginning at 5 p.m. PT.

So Many Epic Hands in One Poker Tournament

Day 2 of the $50k High Roller has provided a plethora of entertaining hands, not just the ones already mentioned. Erik Seidel also ran into quads against Daniel Rezaei, who had Q♥Q♠ on a 2♠Q♣Q♦5♥4♥ board.

The Poker Hall of Famer would fold to a river shove — his cards were never exposed — but lost a sizable pot. Seidel would fall short of the money in the 23rd event of the 2023 World Series of Poker.

Bonomo was another player involved in a memorable pot on Saturday. On a flop of 4♠9♦5♠, poker’s all-time winningest tournament player, who was holding 5♦5♣, called a 65,000-chip bet from Ren Lin, who had J♦J♥ in the hole.

Lin was in deep trouble with an over pair against a set. Both players checked the 6♦ turn and then Bonomo would put his opponent all in for 800,000 following the 4♦ on the river. It took Lin only a short moment to make the call to find out the bad news that he was out of the tournament prior to reaching the money.

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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 chip leader 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 chip leader 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.