The 12^th day of action in the 54^th annual World Series of Poker saw the $50,000-entry High roller Event #23 reach the final five, as Justin Bonomo crashed out in sixth place to leave two men battling at the top of the chipcounts in Las Vegas. There were three bracelets won in other events, with Michael Rodrigues and Stephen Nahm both taking WSOP titles for the first time.

Foxen On Top as Bonomo Busts Last

The penultimate day of the $50,000-entry High Roller Event #23 saw all the drama as play went into the money, to the final table and reached just five combatants in style on Day 12 of this year’s WSOP. The highest profile entry by far was that of Phil Ivey who once again max late-regged as he slid into his seat for the start of Day 2.

Ivey, who has won 10 WSOP bracelets, second in the all-time list behind Phil Hellmuth, got it in extremely good, shoving with ace-ten and being called by Brian Rast with ace-six, but the latter overtook Ivey and busted him. Ivey was not the only big name to get unlucky, as Isaac Haxton, the recent $25,000 High Roller winner, struck out when his pocket kings were overtaken by Kristen Foxen’s pocket jacks, a jack coming on the river for maximum pain.

The money bubble was good for Foxen’s husband and the eventual overnight leader, Alex Foxen. On a flop of , Foxen had and managed to get all the chips into the middle against Kornuth’s . The turn of was followed by a river that sent Kornuth home with nothing and Foxen to the top of the leaderboard.

By the close of play, that’s exactly where it sat, with Alex Foxen on top with 13.4 million chips and the lead. Close behind him was the player who sent Foxen’s wife Kristen from the felt in 18^th place, Dutch professional Jans Arends. When the all-time money list leader Justin Bonomo was busted in sixth place by Alex Foxen, the latter grabbed the lead and took out his most dangerous opponent. We’ll have to wait and see until tomorrow to find out how important that elimination really was.

Rodrigues Represents Underdog in Badugi Victory

It probably wasn’t intended to be the case but Inter Milan shirt-wearing Portuguese player Michael Rodrigues stuck up for the underdog on Saturday night as he won the 20^th event of the 2023 WSOP as he took down the World Series’ first Badugi event for a top prize of $144,678.

As Inter Milan were beaten 1-0 by Manchester City in Istanbul, Rodrigues was coming out on top in Sin City, taking the gold bracelet after Yingui Li from China was defeated in second place. Overnight leader Serhii Popvych finished in third place for $59,879, while the former WSOP event winner Danny Tang slid in fifth for $28,270.

Nahm Gets It Good in PLO Event

Stephen Nahm was the victor in Event #21 as the Canadian won a five-handed battle with four Americans to come out on top and claim one for the maple leaf in Las Vegas. At a top-quality final table, Zachary Peay lost out in fourth place before a three-way all-in produced a double elimination and the winning result.

All-in with what would turn into the high straight, Nahm was the winner when he busted Amir Mirrasouli in third place for $123,060 and Kevin Rand in second place, as the American, who has now reached three WSOP podiums without receiving gold, just missed out on the win again.

Idema on Top but Arieh Chasing Fifth Bracelet

Josh Arieh is the short stack but is still well in with a shout of winning his fifth WSOP bracelet tomorrow. That’s because the four-time WSOP winner and the 2021 Player of the Year has 1,060,000 in the Limit Hold’em Championship in Event #22, and with only Daniel Idema (4.4 million) and Nozomu Shimizu (2,385,000) between him and gold, this could yet be Arieh’s time to shine. Either way, it’s a hugely impressive kick-off to the WSOP this year.

Elsewhere at the final table, which was originally scheduled to finish on Saturday night, Joe McKeehen (4^th for $107,540) and Nick Schulman (6^th for $48,198) both put in strong performances on the day.

Other Events Wrap Up Busy Days at the Felt

In Event #18, the $300-entry Gladiators of Poker did battle until only 320 of the 8,467 players who pitched up to play were still in seats. That means that overall, just 827 players remain, among them stars of the felt such as Daniel Negreanu, who finished fourth in chips after Day 1a and remains in the upper limits of the overall leaderboard.

On Day 1d, Marcy Jo Phillips was the top scorer, ending the day with 2,965,000, with others such as Robbi Ko (2,865,000) and Casey Tidwell (2,650,000) also making the top five chip stacks.

In Event #24, the $1,500 buy-in Razz event saw William Burke (2,450,000) the top player of just 15 survivors to Day 3 of the event. Burke was the only player to end with over two million chips, with Justin Liberto (1,870,000) and Jeff Lisandro (995,000) both highly experienced players chasing him down and Dzmitry Urbanovich hoping to end his long wait for a WSOP bracelet.

In the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Championship, it is Connor Drinan who leads after a busy Day 1, with 188 entries reduced to just 102 players overnight. Drinan’s stack of 340,000 is some way clear of Damjan Radanov (299,000) and David Williams (293,000) in the podium places, while other big names such as Erik Seidel (162,000), John Hennigan (161,000) and Nacho Barbero (147,000) all ended the day well above average in the top 25 stacks.

Ask Josh Arieh what he has to do in order to take down his fifth WSOP bracelet tomorrow and ‘Golfer Josh’ has a pretty simple answer.

Josh Arieh is at the $10K Limit Championship final table with 7 remaining and told us, “There’s not much to Limit Hold’em” ? pic.twitter.com/YtoW5e2ZQk

— Poker Org (@pokerorg) June 11, 2023

Shane Schleger may be the first player to directly reference the movie with which Event #18 has plenty in common.

Bricked out here and questioning if I have the stamina to keep fighting this 10-handed battle all day. #WSOPGladiator https://t.co/UHVoECBXo2 pic.twitter.com/6cWM32ewVi

— Shane Schleger (@ShaneSchleger) June 10, 2023

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