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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