A dramatic day of action at the 2023 WSOP saw a slew of tournaments in progress as three bracelets were won on the day, two in the live arena and one online. In the online event, it was a great day for ‘Suki_The_Sav’, while the 2013 WSOP Main Event winner Ryan ‘BitC0in’ Riess came third for $100,740. There was another very prominent player in the top five, but you’ll find out all about that later, as we head to the live felt and catch up on two first-time WSOP gold bracelet winners.

Jason Daly Crushes Limits to Book First Bracelet

Jason Daly won his first-ever WSOP title for a top prize of $165,250 as he defeated Brent Mutter at an all-American final table in Las Vegas. With six players starting the final table, the brilliantly named Mavrick Yoo departed first when his fell to Daniel Young’s , a seven on the flop only giving Yoo false hope before a jack on the turn did the damage.

After Young himself exited to Freddy Sageer, the latter was hoping it would give him the impetus he needed to kick on up the leaderboard but the reverse was true as he busted in fourth place for $52,056. Short-stacked, Sageer lost when dominated by Daly, and that gave the chip leader even more ammunition.

Another big win with two-pair and Daly was clear of the pair chasing him. Amassing 9,785,000 chips, his opponents Nick Pupillo and Brent Mutter, had only a tenth of Daly’s stack between them and after Pupillo busted, Mutter laddered into second as Daly completed a routine ending to a dream final table. In winning his first-ever WSOP bracelet, Daly also claimed the $165,250 top prize, the second largest of his career after his runner-up spot in this Spring’s The Lodge Championship series in Round Rock.

Fireman Genovese Gets Gold in Salute to Warriors

“If I can do it, you can do it.” ~ Steven Genovese

The popular retired firefighter Steven Genovese charmed his way to victory in the $500-entry Salute to Warriors event and enjoyed a similarly dominant close to proceedings as Daly did. Winning $217,921 up top, Genovese, used to fighting fire in his career, was able to stay cool in the heated atmosphere of a final table where a WSOP bracelet was on the line.

Initially, Genovese was ‘laddering’ but following the exit of the only previous bracelet winner in Dejuante ‘DJ’ Alexander in ninth place, Genovese stepped into the breach. Building a decent lead by the time Ali Alawadhi busted in fourth place, Genovese eventually went into the final heads-up battle with an unassailable 18:1 chip lead. Completing his mission, he paid tribute to serving members of the U.S. after declaring himself delighted.

“It feels amazing!” he told PokerNews in the aftermath of victory. “I was pinching myself the whole time. I’m going to be smiling for days. You can do it, too. If I can do it, you can do it.”

In emotional scenes, the much-loved Genovese was asked what it meant to him to finally win a WSOP bracelet after so long playing the game. A one-word answer laced with the tremulous rhythm of a man on the verge of tears said it all.

“Everything.”

Pavel Plesuv Leads Millionaire Makers to the Final Dance

Moldovan player Pavel Plesuv leads the final seven players into action on the final day of the Millionaire Maker determined to end his wait for a bracelet. All seven at the final have failed to claim WSOP gold so far in their careers, but perhaps none as high=profile as the Moldovan, who will begin play on the last day with 70.3 million chips, some way clear of closest challengers Florian Ribouchon(46m) and Myles Mullaly (43.6m).

Everyone else has less than half of Plesuv’s stack, with his aggression, that’s enough to make him a firm favorite to win the $1.2 million top prize. If everyone else was playing for second – they’re not yet – then another seven-figure score will drive them on, as that stands at a cool million dollars.

German player Andreas Kniep may be one to watch, starting in fourth place, the middle pin, with 34.8 million, almost exactly half of the chip leader. The maverick entertainer will be fun to watch as the final chips – and cards – fall.

Hong Kong’s Lau Leading Light in PLO

Hong Kong player Ka Kwan Lau also has a huge lead to take into the final day of action, this time in Event #57, the $25,000-entry PLO High Roller. Trailed by everyone, Lau has 28.2 million, some 10 million plus more chips than his closest rival, Sergio Martinez Gonzalez (17.45m).

With stars of the PLO felt such as Dylan Weisman (10^th for $126,938), Chance Kornuth (9^th for $161,585) and Jeremy Ausmus (8^th for $209,392) all falling short of the final seven, Lau is favorite to claim the $2.29 million top prize. Norwegian Mads Amot (12.8m) and two short-stacked Americans, Roger Teska (6.4m) and Andjelko Andrejevic (3.4m) will all be hoping their luck changes on the final day.

Wisbrod on Top in Freezeout as Lonis Lurks

Israel’s Barak Wisbrod leads the way in Event #59, as the $3,000-entry NLHE Freezeout event reached its final 18 players from 240 starters on Day 2 of the event. Wisbrod’s stack of 6.4 million chips is almost a million clear of Macedonian Ilija Savevski (5,435,000), with Kenny Smith (5.17m), Robert Burlacu (5.14m) and Frederic Normand (5.06m) completing the top five.

On a day where players such as Niall Farrell, Dimitar Danchev and Angela Jordison all busted just outside the final two tables, other big names survived, with Jesse Lonis (4.45m) and Brock Wilson (2.85m) both sure to be threats to the title on the final day.

Moriarty and Guagenti Reaching Heights in Lowball

Ryan Moriarty (1,035,000) and Nick Guagenti go into the final day of action in the top two from just 24 players – the survivors after two days play from 548 entries in Event #60, the $1,500-entry NL 2-7 Lowball Draw event. Elsewhere in the top ten, Jonathan Glendinning  (835,000), Richard Ashby (800,000) and Adam Friedman (720,000) were strong while the nine-time WSOP event winner Erik Seidel (680,000) is also still chasing the top prize of $151,276.

Durgin Leading Super Seniors, Bonyadi and Perry Close By

Event #61 broke records, as the $1,000-entry Super Seniors kicked off with an incredible 3,121 players. Only 808 players survived to Day 2 with Kevin Durgin (392,000) top of the leaderboard with Greg White (384,000) just behind. The top three was completed by French player With Christian Guittier (366,500) but plenty of other big names lurk close by, with Farzad Bonyadi (261,000), David Perry (198,500) and Daniel Orr (198,000) all inside the top 5% of the remaining bracelet hopefuls.

Two More Events Close on Day 1 After Massive Fields

Event #62 saw a new record attendance of 2,076 a massive increase of over 800 extra players on last year’s total, and with a prizepool of $2,771,460and a top prize of $410,659, 259 players remained in the hunt – and in the money – as Day 1 concluded.

Justin Jones ended the opening day’s play with the lead, holding 756,000 when the bags came round to be filled up. Close behind him was Philip Wiszowaty (708,000), with others such as David Prociak (518,000) and Belgian Bart Lybaert (481,000) all making the top 10.

Last but by no means least, some stellar names gathered in the $10,000-entry Seven Card Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship, otherwise known as Event #63 of 95 this summer. France’s Bruno Fitoussi (355,000) led the field in his quest to win a bracelet for the first time, but he was pursued by several legends who survived with above-average stacks.

Six-time WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu (264,000) was fourth in chips of the 57 players who survived from 124 entries, while Scott Seiver (218.500) and Dzmitry Urbanovich (216,500) both made the top ten too.

The atmosphere at any WSOP final table is electric but possibly never more so than at the Millionaire Maker so far in 2023.

A full house watching the Millionaire Maker final table at the Horseshoe Event Center pic.twitter.com/eigiGbJFnA

— Kevin Mathers (@Kevmath) June 28, 2023

Poker professional Max Silver thinks he’s hit on the perfect way to buy and sell action (might stick to using PokerStake’s Staking Platform ourselves!)

Buying WSOP main event action, any markup you quote you must be willing to buy 5% from me at .1 less, ie you want to sell me the main at 1.5, i say no and force you to buy 5% at 1.4

— Max Silver (@max_silver) June 27, 2023

Phil Galfond decided that enough time has elapsed for him to give his thoughts on alleged poker cheat… wait, Justin Bonomo?

I see this question a lot.

What @JustinBonomo did ~17yrs ago was nothing like what Jake and Ali did.

This is true even if he'd done it in 2023, but when accounting for the landscape:

It's like your grandpa being sexist in the 60s vs. you committing sexual assault today.… https://t.co/iNETxhOMV6

— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) June 27, 2023

The Moreno household decided to turn their WSOP luck around by.. not leaving the house. It worked!

The Moreno household has been losing all @WSOP. We decided to stay home today & play online. I binked a Main Event seat & ran deep in the online event to profit around $10K today. @Amo4sho outdid me of course and took 5th for an over $51K profit today. Both nearly unstuck now! ?

— Johnnie VIBES (@JohnnieVibes) June 28, 2023

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