Day 11 of the 2023 World Series of Poker saw a single bracelet awarded with the conclusion of the $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em freezeout, while another six events were in action, including the third flight of the Gladiators of Poker, the inaugural Badugi bracelet event and Day 1 of one of the highest buy-in tournaments on the schedule, the $50,000 High Roller 8-Handed event.

Konakchiev Ices Out the Competition in Freezeout

Just eleven players remained at the start of the final day of Event #19: $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout, and despite starting the day near the bottom of the counts, Bulgaria’s Valentino Konakchiev made his third cash of the series count, climbing past three WSOP bracelet winners on his way to his first WSOP bracelet and $435,924 in earnings.

After losing Byung Eun Shin ($26,926) to reach the unofficial final table, Floridian pro Timothy “TK” Miles busted his short stack to WSOP bracelet winner Niall Farrell to bust in tenth. Qiang Xu, who started the day with a healthy chip lead, was gone minutes later, jamming with two overs and a gutshot against the queens of Argentina’s Andres Korn and finding no help to finish a disappointing ninth.

Adam Swan was next to go in eighth place after ripping his last few chips into Alexandre Reard’s pocket aces, and the bustout parade continued shortly after, as Farrell ripped his last few big blinds in with from the big blind, but was felled by Konakchiev’s when the runout gave Konakchiev a straight. Farrell was humorously “humble” after his elimination:

7th in the 2500, would just like to take this opportunity to say how grateful I am for being able to play this game for a living and how lucky I am.

I’d like to but the truth is I deserve to outright win every tournament I play and it’s an absolute travesty that I don’t

Thanks

— Niall Farrell (@Firaldo87poker) June 9, 2023

It would be almost four hours of back-and-forth poker before Ankit Ahuja would bust in sixth, then Girish Reknar’s pocket fours couldn’t catch up to the sevens of Korn to fall in fifth. Ruben Costa made a valiant run, but a failed bluff left him with crumbs in the big blind, and no miracle came to leave bracelet winners Reard and Korn and Konakchiev as the final three players standing.

A blind-versus-blind battle saw Konakchiev open-shove for Reard’s last 20 big blinds, and Reard woke up with and called it off. Konakchiev’s paired up on the flop, and despite the turn giving Reard the nut flush draw, the left Konakchiev with a 5:3 chip lead going into heads-up play. Korn started out hot, however, and at one point held a 4:1 lead of his own, but a pair of doubles set Konakchiev up for victory on the final hand, where Konakchiev’s held against Korn’s on a board.

Bonomo Balls Out Late to Bag High Roller Lead

One of the biggest buy-ins on the WSOP schedule kicked off today, with 111 entrants ponying up a hefty sum to participate in Event #23: $50,000 High Roller (8-Handed). Three-time WSOP Bracelet winner Justin Bonomo snagged the chip lead at the finish line, cracking Ren Lin’s pocket jacks with a flopped set of fives for the biggest pot of the tournament at the wire, which left Lin eliminated and Bonomo with 2,024,000 in chips to bring back for Day 2, good for over 168 big blinds at day’s end.

A who’s who of high rollers are among the 48 players who made it through Day 1, including yesterday’s Event #16: $25,000 High Roller champ Issac Haxton (310,000), a controversial figure in defending champ Jake Schindler (678,000), white-hot 2023 two-time WSOP bracelet winner Chad Eveslage (303,000), and perennial high-stakes crushers Alex Foxen (1,236,000), Chance Kornuth (1,313,000), Chris Brewer (1,618,000) and Dan Smith (700,000), to name a few.

Daniel Negreanu fired a pair of bullets into the fray, but found no love on either and given the single re-entry nature of the tournament, will not be returning for Day 2 action. Erik Seidel, Adrian Mateos, David Peters, Stephen Chidwick and Nick Petrangelo were just some of the players who also failed to survive the day, though anyone who has only busted once can still rejoin the action tomorrow, as registration remains open through the start of Day 2.

WSOP Event #23: $50,000 High Roller (8-Handed) Top Ten Chip Counts

Another Massive Field For Gladiators of Poker

6,110 more entries jammed their way into the WSOP for their chance at a small buy-in, big payday bracelet event, and much like the previous two flights, a huge field was quickly shrunk down to a much more manageable 227, with notables such as former WSOP Main Event champs Jamie Gold and Greg Raymer and WSOP Bracelet winners Patrick Leonard, Allen Cunningham and Chris Moorman all failing to make their way through the minefield on their way to a bag.

Richard Gao and his 3,105,000 chips pace the Day 1c field at press time, a single 5k chip above Peter Lee’s 3,100,000. Timothy “TK” Miles (1,850,000), fresh off a tenth-place performance in the $2,500 No Limit Hold’em Freezeout, also managed a big bag, joining Melanie Weisner (1,625,000) as a pair of notables punching their tickets to Day 2.

WSOP Event #18: $300 Gladiators of Poker Day 1c Top Ten Chip Counts

Trio of Bracelet Winners Headline Limit Hold’em Championship

Just 46 players returned for Day 2 of Event #22: $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship, but another 28 jumped in to max late register, bringing the total field up to 134 entrants. Only 14 managed to survive through the day, with three-time WSOP bracelet winner Joe McKeehen in front with 1,445,000, a healthy amount ahead of a pair of four-time bracelet winners in Josh Arieh (1,170,000) and Nick Schulman (905,000).

Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, John Monnette, Shaun Deeb, and Chad Eveslage all have multiple bracelet wins, and all have another thing in common; they failed to reach the money in this prestigious event. After Eric Wasserson bubbled in 22nd, Koray Aldemir (21st – $16,000), Paul Volpe (20th – $16,000), Mori Eskandani (17th – $17,500) and Ian Johns (16th – $17,500) were a few of the notables to earn a payday before play came to a close.

WSOP Event #22: $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship Top 10 Chip Counts

Three Days Not Enough to Crown Badugi Champ

Ten hours of play wasn’t enough time to bring a field of thirteen players down to a winner in Event #20: $1,500 Badugi, meaning the first-ever winner of an open Badugi event will have to wait one more day to earn their bracelet. The final three are fairly close in chips, with Yingui Li (4,900,000) holding a thin lead over Michael Rodrigues (4,600,000), while Serhii Popovych (3,350,000) lurks a little over a million chips behind.

Terrance Chan (12th – $6,923), Jon Turner (11th – $8,754) and David “ODB” Baker (8th – $11,356) all fell short of the final table, while Lee Horton, WSOP bracelet winners Owais “oerockets” Ahmed and Danny Tang, and Matt Vengrin all busted out of the final table before the day came to a close.

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

Nahm in Control in PLO

A field of 117 remaining runners in Event #21: $1,000 Pot Limit Omaha was whittled down to just 13 during Day 2, and Stephen Nahm entered the clubhouse as an overwhelming chip leader, his 9,750,000 in chips good for nearly a quarter of the 40,340,000 in play. The Canadian already has one PLO cash on his resume this series, but the $15,700 he’s already locked up is far better than the $1,358 he earned for a 216th place finish in Event #13: $600 Pot Limit Omaha Deepstack.

Netherlands native Ronald Keijzer (5,965,000), who owns a $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed bracelet from 2018, sits in second, while two-time bracelet winner Mike Gorodinsky (930,000) and 2018 $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo champ Dan Matsuzuki (530,000) have their work cut out for them on the final day.

WSOP Event #21: $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Top Ten Chip Counts

Pisarenko Leads Largest Ever Live Razz Tourney

556 entrants sought to make the worst possible hand during Event #24: $1,500 Razz, crushing the previous WSOP record of 462 entrants in 2015. The resurgence in the stud poker format pumped up a prize pool of nearly three-quarters of a million dollars, and 170 players will return for Day 2 action looking to earn a chunk of the prize pool.

Maksim Pisarenko (251,500) bagged up the chip lead, and was joined by some heavy-hitters in bracelet winners Vasilis Lazarou (223,500) Yuval Bronshtein (207,000), Jeff Madsen (190,000), Michael Moncek (187,000) and David “ODB” Baker (185,500) in the top ten. Poker Hall of Famer Tom McEvoy (157,000), six-time WSOP bracelet winner Jeff Lisandro (94,000), and the Chainsaw himself, Allen Kessler (92,500) all managed to find a healthy bag. Kessler even managed to give out an apology to one of his signature complaints during the proceedings!

Another uptick in $1500 Razz.

46500 on 3rd break.

I made a huge faux pas during a hand and said

"As bad as you're playing I should call this street."

The player was a reg, and visibly upset, and I made a point to apologize on this break. pic.twitter.com/UDbHYX3sme

— Allen Kessler (@AllenKessler) June 10, 2023

WSOP Event #24: $1,500 Razz Top Ten Chip Counts

If you’ve ever felt this pain, on the rail or otherwise, you have our sympathy. It was the bag-tap heard ’round the world!

First ever bag-punch at the WSOP.

My GOD pic.twitter.com/3npnZx2sqf

— ? Hanks (@BuffaloHanks) June 9, 2023

Phil Hellmuth, a.k.a. The Poker Brat is ready for bracelet Number 17:

Hmmm…3 second place finishes in @WSOP since my 2021 Bracelet win. Each time I had the chip lead . . . Now I’m ready w brand new—just out the box—“17” hats. Wearing this one tonight for Razz tourney. Oh, and added my new Gucci top #POSITIVITY #PHNiceLife pic.twitter.com/boyZYZVrnX

— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) June 10, 2023

Ruben Costa returns the love from his deep run in the $2,500 Freezeout:

I can thank all of you enough for your support

The love I’ve gotten over the last two days has been incredible and I hope I get to feel it again

My heart is filled with joy right now

What an incredible experience

With regards to the bluff pic.twitter.com/71oUFOtFha

— Ruben (@wugwugwugwug) June 10, 2023

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