WSOP 2023: Kornuth Takes Control of Super High Roller, Yuan Li Ships $2k NLHE Crown

Day 19 of the 2023 World Series of Poker at Paris and Horseshoe casinos in Las Vegas hosted just five bracelet events, but there was plenty for poker fans to sink their teeth into, with the bubble bursting in the $250,000 Super High Roller, a coveted WSOP gold bracelet awarded in the $2,000 No Limit Hold’em event, another gargantuan flight of the $1,500 Monster Stack, and the inaugural WSOP Big O event.

Kabrhel and Kornuth Steal the Show in the Super High Roller

The biggest buy-in on the WSOP docket, Event #40: $250,000 Super High Roller, had 14 players join the 37 that bagged on Day 1, but in a unique twist, one of the players who bagged actually exited the tournament instead! As reported by Connor Richards of PokerNews, Koon learned that his wife was in labor and requested that his stack be voided and refunded so he could be with his wife for the birth of their child. The request was granted, and Koon, who bagged 1,740,000 for just over starting stack, had his chips removed from play and left to go celebrate Father’s Day a day early.

Jason Koon (@jasonkoon) won't be in Day 2 of the @WSOP $250K Super High Roller as he voided his stack to be with his wife in labor with their second child. https://t.co/dGshFxGVSm

— Connor Richards – PokerNews (@crichards1995) June 17, 2023

After ten levels of action, Chance Kornuth, who started the day second in chips, managed to take over the top spot on the leaderboard with a stack of 22,450,000, good for just under 75 big blinds going into Day 3. Right behind the ChipLeaderCoaching founder is the talkative Martin Kabrhel, who used the gift of gab to spin a stack of 1,500,000 at the start of Day 2 up to 18,400,000, while Artur Martirosian (18,225,000) is the only other stack above 50 big blinds to start Day 3. Alex Kulev (12,600,000), Chris Brewer (8,525,000), Steven Veneziano (6,775,000) and Brandon Steven (3,225,000) will all be looking to make the Super High Roller their maiden WSOP gold bracelet, while former WSOP bracelet winners Dan Smith (7,800,000) and David Peters (4,925,000) will be looking to add to their collections.

With 50 players remaining from a total of 69 entries, the field had their eyes on a total prize pool that reached an eye-popping $17,181,000, with 11 players earning a minimum of $411,490, and the eventual champion receiving a cool $5,293,556 and the king of the WSOP nosebleed bracelets for 2023. In the early levels of the day, Justin Bonomo, Nick Petrangelo, Andrew Robl and Nick Schulman all fell by the wayside, and Phil Hellmuth had a trademark rant after paying off a value bet from Kornuth, before busting a short time later. Daniel Negreanu didn’t fare much better, calling off his last 18 big blinds on a runout with , but Alex Kulev had the goods with to send “Kid Poker” to the rail.

Day 1 chip leader Dustin Bailey, Kristen Foxen and reigning WSOP Main Event champ Espen Jorstad were the last to go before the redraw to the final two tables, and of the 14 players that registered on Day 2, just Kabrhel remained, while Martirosian and Smith were neck and neck for the chip lead. Short stacks Jonathan Jaffe and Christoph Vogelsang were the first to drop after the redraw, and 2021 WSOP Main Event champ Koray Aldemir would bust in 14th shortly after in memorable fashion, four-bet jamming his last 4,650,000 with and getting looked up by Kabrhel’s . A river would slam the door shut on Aldemir’s run while catapulting Kabrhel into the chip lead.

After Henrik Hecklen was eliminated to reach the money bubble, one of the most iconic players in all of poker would lay the unfortunate claim of the biggest bubble of the WSOP. Phil Ivey ripped his last 21 big blinds on the button with the , and Kahbrel was waiting in the big blind with and made the call. A dry runout left Ivey as the bubble boy, and Ben Heath (11th – $411,490) and Alfred Decarolis (10th – $411,490) squeaked into the money before play came to a close.

China’s Li Earns First Bracelet in $2k NLHE

Just 28 players returned for Day 3 action in Event #37: $2,000 No Limit Hold’em, and with $15,423 locked up, the goal for the returning players was the WSOP gold bracelet and the $524,777 that went along with it. A grueling 14-hour day ended with Day 2 chip leader Yuan Li as the champion, earning his first WSOP gold bracelet and pushing his lifetime live tournament earnings over the $2 million marker, good for 12th on China’s all time money list according to Hendon Mob.

Before the final table was reached, former WSOP bracelet winners Boris Kolev (27th – $15,423), Carlos Chang (23rd – $18,776) and Ankush Mandavia (14th – $23,105) would hit the rail, as would 2009 WSOP Main Event final tablist Antoine Saout (13th – $28,737). The official final table of nine kicked off with three quick eliminations, as Frank Weigel, Yuriy Boyko and James Kraetz were unable to spin up any short stack magic. Arguably the most accomplished player at the final table was next to go, as Mark Seif flopped top pair but was against the overpair of Jeremy Joseph, and no help came to bust the two-time WSOP bracelet winner in sixth.

The final five players were closely bunched up on the leaderboard, but Li managed to find some separation from the field after eliminating Patrick Truong in an aces versus ace-king cooler. Li kept the momentum going in busting Jeremy Joseph shortly after, with Li’s combo draw coming in against Joseph’s overpair. Jonathan Camara played the role of executioner next, piping Pavels Spirins with over in a preflop all-in confrontation. 

It took just over an hour of heads-up play for Li to get pocket jacks in preflop against the pocket eights of Spirins with all but a single 25,000 chip in the middle. Li flopped a set and turned a full house to end any suspense one card early, and Li claimed Spirins’ final chip one hand later to secure the bracelet and over half a million dollars in cash.

Glaser and Johansson Last Two Standing in 2-7 Triple Draw Championship

A third day of action in Event #38: $10,000 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Championship was not enough to cull the ten returning players down to a champion, as four-time WSOP bracelet winner Benny Glaser (4,940,000) and Oscar Johannson (2,860,000) will need a bonus day of play to determine if Glaser will be the fourth player to secure their fifth career bracelet this summer, or if Johannson will bring the WSOP gold back to Sweden.

While the two short stacks in George Alexander and Andrew Wilkinson were the first to go, Jason Papastavrou had an unfortunate run to go from fourth in chips to start the day to out in eighth. A trio of former WSOP bracelet winners busted next, as Joao Vieira, David “Bakes” Baker and Julien Martini all succumbed while Johannson and Glaser traded the chip lead. Sampo Ryynanen also managed to snare the lead at one point, but couldn’t catch up to Glaser in back to back hands to bust in fourth. Michael Rodrigues hung on for a few hours after Ryynanen’s elimination, but couldn’t catch Glaser’s nine-eight-seven with his nine-seven one card draw to bust on the final hand of Day 3.

8,318 Total Entrants Mash the Monster Stack

Another massive field of 4,375 entrants hit the felt for Day 1b of Event #39: $1,500 Monster Stack, bringing the total field to 8,318 over two flights. 1,473 players earned a bag for Day 2, with Tinay Aksoy on top of the charts with 795,000. Linglin Zeng (635,000), Kathy Liebert (575,000), Upeshka De Silva (454,500), Blair Hinkle (378,500), and Men “The Master” Nguyen (325,000) all managed to put a healthy chunk of chips away, while Jamie Gold, Ebony Kenney, Mustapha Kanit, Shaun Deeb and Chris Moorman all found their way to the rail before the day came to a close.

Ahmed and Engel Among Leaders of Inaugural Big O Event

The first standalone Big O event in WSOP history kicked off on Saturday with Event #41: $1,500 Big O, and any fears of a light crowd for this unique game of five card Omaha Hi-Lo were quickly assuaged, as 1,458 entrants churned up a healthy $1,946,430 prize pool. Just 219 players remained after Day 1, all of whom will return to Day 2 in the money. Xu Zhu will return tomorrow with 570,000 in chips, good for the chip lead, but WSOP bracelet winners Owais Ahmed (437,000) and Ari Engel (432,000) both bagged impressive stacks of their own. “Chainsaw” fans can also rejoice, as Allen Kessler (68,000) managed to squeak into the money as well for his seventh cash of the 2023 WSOP.

“KevMath” earned a sweet treat after another lengthy week on the floor working his social media magic for the WSOP:

The end of another week on the floor at the WSOP. It’s time. #cakeboys.

? courtesy of #cakeboys founder @JeffWalshPoker pic.twitter.com/b2AMFmL134

— Kevin Mathers (@Kevmath) June 18, 2023

Chance Kornuth has been scaring ’em silly as chip leader of the Super High Roller:

Day 2 WSOP $250K SHR

Dialed in pic.twitter.com/MjtHblD2iq

— Chance Kornuth (@ChancesCards) June 18, 2023

We have a pretty strong hunch which event Josh Arieh is leaning towards:

Hmmm what should I play tmrw? pic.twitter.com/B9bU38X7WU

— Joshua Arieh (@JoshuaArieh) June 18, 2023

Ari Engel just can’t shake Dan Zack:

Why does this always happen to me bigO edition pic.twitter.com/sBU6JkgpBv

— Ari Engel (@AriEngelPoker) June 18, 2023

PokerGO is the place to be for live streaming the World Series of Poker 2023. Sign up today and access all the action from Las Vegas, Nevada, the home of the WSOP.