Five players won bracelets on the busiest day of action at the WSOP so far in 2023. The summer caught fire in Las Vegas at both the Horseshoe Las Vegas and Paris casinos as Jans Arends took a thrilling high roller final table for his first-ever live WSOP win, denying another man his first bracelet in the process. With other big scores and four events progressing close to final table action, there was a mammoth day to go into the books when the last card fell in Sin City.

Jans Arends Wins High Roller for $2.5m

The biggest prize of the 2023 WSOP so far belongs to Dutchman Jan Arends after he saw off the competition in the $100,000-entry Event #29, a High Roller with the highest of quality in each seat. Arends got the better of Cary Katz heads-up to deny the popular PokerGO owner his first bracelet.

Chinese player Biao Ding was the first to bust, as he moved all-in with and was called by Chance Kornuth with , who had chipped up since the final table began. The flop of didn’t help Ding at all, and after the turn, the river confirmed his exit in sixth place for $469,464.

Out next was Jeremy Ausmus, who failed to join Shaun Deeb and Daniel Negreanu in the ‘Six Bracelet Club’. Severely short, Ausmus called off the other half of his stack after being in the big blind with and was drawing live with Adrian Mateos holding . The board of killed off all hope on the river as Ausmus missed his four-flush draw to cash for $619,919 in fifth.

Chance Kornuth busted in fourth after a rollercoaster ride in the final table of this event saw hi bottom of the counts going in but chip leader five-handed. Cashing for $833,854, Kornuth’s last chips went into the middle with and were dominated then defeated by Katz’ when the board ran out .

Adrian Mateos followed Kornuth’s lead… by going from being chip leader to on the rail. Three-handed, the Spanish three-time bracelet winner – still only 28 – had as many chips as Arends and Katz put together. No Limit Hold’em being as it is, he was out a short time later. All-in with , he lost his last to Arends’ when the board came and sent Mateos home with yet another seven-figure score of $1,142,147.

Heads-up, Arends had 44 million to Katz’ 11 million chips and made use of that advantage. Katz dropped to half that amount, then got a double, but couldn’t do so again, his losing to Arends’ with all the chips committed pre-flop. The board of gave Katz hope until the last card, but it was Arends who won out and claimed the top prize of $2,576,729 and his first live bracelet win.

John Monnette Wins Fifth WSOP Bracelet in Triple Draw Triumph

John Monnette created a little bit of family history as he won the fifth bracelet of his illustrious career. At a final table that saw him outlast stars such as overnight leader Benny Glaser (8^th), Allen Kessler (9^th) and British online phenom Patrick Leonard (3^rd), reaching heads-up was a success for Monnette against the dominant Christopher Chung.

Incredibly, Monnette was all-in and at risk three times with one card to come, but each time survived and battled back to win, denying Chung his maiden gold bracelet. As painful as that defeat was for Chung, it was a glorious victory for family man Monnetter, who dedicated his latest victory to his son.

“It’s dedicated to my son, because he’s the fifth too. I’m John Edward Monnette the fourth and he’s the fifth, so this one’s for my son, and Willow, my daughter I don’t want her to think I’ve forgotten about her. She’ll get the sixth.”

Monnette’s win, earning him $145,846, also puts him in a strong position to take a run at this year’s WSOP Player of the Year race, which after 30 events has seen the impressive Vegas resident Monnette reach the final five of three separate events, this time getting the win his dogged determination so richly deserves.

Ben Ector Bullies Freezeout Final to Claim Maiden Gold

Ben Ector slayed every single one of his final seven opponents to steamroller the Event #28 final table and claim the top prize of $406,403 in the $1,500 buy-in Freezeout event. Dean Hutchinson was the only player not to lose to Ector as he slid out in ninth place, but from there on in, Ector was in complete control.

The eventual winner took out two of his toughest opponents first. Dietrich Fast, the German professional with more experience than anyone at the table, lost with to Ector’s before the overnight chip leader Matthew Hunt got it in needing to hit with against Ector’s . The nine-high board did nothing for the Brit and he crashed out in seventh place for $59,468.

Ector had 22 million chips of the 51 million on the table with six players left and used his stack to brutal effect. Taking out the only other player to score an elimination at the table, Plante, next, Ector was unstoppable, making it to a heads-up clash with Adam Swan in total command of proceedings. Picking off a bluff, Ector wasn’t just getting lucky, he was playing the tournament of his life, and when Swan was down to 12 bigs with , he took a stand and shoved. Ector called it off with and the flop of proceeded a turn card of the that led to a delirious Ector being mobbed by his friends.

Dulaney on Fire in Mixed NLHE/PLO Event

Scott Dulaney is used to putting out fires for a living, being one of America’s proud firefighters. He turned his talent for staying cool in heated conditions to the poker table on Wednesday night as he saw off the opposition in the $600-entry Event #31, which mixes No Limit Hold’em with Pot Limit Omaha action.

Coming into the final table, only the British poker star Barny Boatman had won a bracelet before – OK, he’s won two – but an attempt at bracelet number three fell short in eight, as Boatman’s shove with was incorrectly called by the eventual runner-up Sridhar Sangannagari with . Fortune favored the caller, however, as the board cruelly ran out to deny Boatman the shot at bracelet number three and guarantee a new winner of the WSOP event.

That turned out to be Dulaney, who got the better of Sangannagari with a rivered straight to claim the gold. After the event, he said: “I take aggressive firefighting tactics and apply them to the poker table. I’ve always done that and now it’s paying off. I knew it was gonna happen and I plan on winning multiple Omaha bracelets this week.”

A fireman on a heater? Who’d back against him?

Ibanez and Ioli Star in Brutal Bracelet Battle

The last two players went head-to-head for two and a half hours in Las Vegas in Event #32 last night as the $3,000-entry NLHE Six-Max event played down to a winner. Mark Ioli was the man who won it, but not until after an almighty fight for the gold went right to the wire.

The six-handed final table saw two French players bust first. First Samy Boujmala lost in sixth place for $90,791 when his couldn’t catch Eshaan Bhalla’s , then Julien Sitbon’s were crushed by Johann Ibanez’ to send him home in fifth place for $123,992.

Bhalla went next for $171,874, his dominated and then beaten by Johann Ibanez’ , before Wing Liu had his wings clipped in third place for $241,767. Liu’s only had two overcards to the flop of when he shoved, called by Ibanez with for his second ‘pocket rockets’ of the final table.

Heads-up, the Colombian Ibanez had a not insignificant lead of 31,750,000 chips to Mark Ioli’s 17,900,000, but the American managed to lose the least he could to the Colombian’s pocket kings a short time later. ‘Money save is money earned’, as the saying goes and Ioli proved that correct, using the 16 million he had left to build back a stack.

It took him over two hours, but eventually, the masterful Ioli was in the lead after winning a flip for a 4:1 lead. The final hand saw him fortunate to get over the line, his good enough to beat Ibanez’ when the board ran out to give the winner trips. It was hard for the rail to see either man lose, but someone had to win and it was Ioli’s day. Ibanez showed that his play will earn him more shots at grabbing that gold on another day.

Shakerchi Shoots for Maiden Gold in Razz Championship

British hedge fund manager and high roller Talal Shakarchi has 1,104,000 and the chip lead in Event #33, the $10,000-entry Razz Championship, with Carlos Chadha-Villamarin (1,052,000) and Bryce Yockey (589,000) both in the top five of the remaining 13 hopefuls looking to lock up gold.

While John ‘World’ Hennigan (346,000) made the counts, albeit in 10^th place of 13 survivors, others failed to make the final day or the money, including superstars Daniel Negreanu, Shaun Deeb and Brian Rast.

Arieh On Top Again in Pot Limit Omaha

The 2021 WSOP Player of the Year Josh Arieh is on top yet again, after bagging the chip lead in Event #34, the $1,500 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha event. On a day where 1,355 players arrived to play, a prizepool of $1.8 million only has 98 players left to pay, with a min-cash of $3,002 far from Arieh’s thoughts. He’ll be shooting for the second bracelet of the series and this week as he fires tomorrow, aiming to take down the top prize of $298,192.

Leading with 1,196,000 chips, Arieh has close competition on the top ten of the leaderboard overnight. Matthew Parry will be hoping to avoid jokes about being in Friends by talking about his 1,102,000 stack in second place, while Eric Fields (1,015,000) in third knew how to climb the field on Day 1.

With perennial bracelet threat Rob Mizrachi (829,000) lurking in the top five and other stars such as Anson Tsang (708,000), James Chen (637,000), Daniel Negreanu (466,000) all still chasing gold, it won’t be a cakewalk for Arieh, but he’s the man to beat yet again when cards go in the air tomorrow for the final day.

Nate Silver and Loni Hui Chasing Secret Bounty Gold

The $10,000-entry Secret Bounty Event #35 got off to a fun start on Day 1 of the event, with 568 entries down to 142 survivors by the end of play. Aliaksandr Hirs (750,000) leads from Yang Wang (710,000) at the top, with Loni Hui (616,000) and Nate Silver (517,000) big names to make the top 10. Matt Glantz – he of the million-dollar bounty win last summer – is still in there with a chance of doing the same on Day 2 of this event when bounties come into play.

The final event of the evening on the list was Event #36, the $3,000-entry Nine Game Mix event. Chip leader Yashou Chin (622,000), was also joined in the top 10 by Argentinian professional Andres Korn (240,700) and Scott Bohlman (182,300) with Todd Brunson (174,800), Justin Liberto (152,500) and Ari Engel (136,700) all inside the top 30 of the 183 survivors. A total field of 361 entries has created a prizepool of just under a million dollars in the event.

Taking advice at the WSOP should always be done with a pinch of salt. This, however, does seem sensible.

Holy he'll the amount of times I've heard ppl justify bad plays this summer

I'm as big of a solver nerd as the next guy, but if a 110 year old on his death bed triple barrels it off and you have an okay bluff catcher

Maybe just maybe, consider folding

— Pokerguru740 (@RobKuhn_) June 14, 2023

Not everyone is happy with the Secret Bounty event changing structure on Day 1. Hey, the word Secret is in the name (we’re not serious).

The @wsop Top Secret Structure bounty lived up to its name on day 1 with the structure changing 3 times tonight mid tournament

Looking forward to all of tomorrows surprises! Maybe we’ll be playing PLO ??‍♂️

— Kane Kalas (@KaneKalas) June 15, 2023

Finally, trust Shaun Deeb to finally put the missing piece into place following yesterday’s spectacular space-based war of words between Daniel Negreanu and… Daniel Negreanu from the future??

It all makes sense now Eden is Daniel if he had his natural hair and didn’t have any poker success https://t.co/nGvuQWhubS

— shaun deeb (@shaundeeb) June 15, 2023

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