Action took place across record-breaking numbers on Day 27 of the 54^th annual World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. This year’s WSOP has seen a hike in numbers across the board and today was no different, with the Millionaire Maker and Salute to Warriors both confirming record fields in each of their events. With the H.O.R.S.E. Championship, the Seniors Championship and a PLO High Roller all in action too, it was a non-stop ride at the Horseshoe Las Vegas and Paris casinos.

Gorodinsky in Charge on Penultimate Day of H.O.R.S.E.

Mike Gorodinksy is firmly in the driving seat after the penultimate day of action in the $10,000-entry H.O.R.S.E. Championship, with seven players remaining in the hunt for a bracelet. Gorodinsky has an incredible 3.69 million chips, some way clear of all his opponents, his closest challenger being Alex Livingston in second place on 2.16 million.

With great names such as Brian Yoon (1.44m) and Scott Seiver (990,000) still involved, it won’t all be plain sailing for the impressive Gorodinsky, but he is in a great position with one day to come and will be looking to win his third WSOP bracelet in tomorrow’s final.

Players to bust late on Day 2 of the event included Phil Hellmuth, who fell 10 places short of completing his 17^th winning WSOP event. Hellmuth, known as the Poker Brat – at least in his more firebrand days – ended up finishing 11^th for $29,478, while David ‘Bakes’ Baker lost out in 10^th for the same amount. Earlier in the day, we lost players such as the former Poker Players Championship winner Phil Hui (18^th), John Racener (17^th) and Nick Guagenti (16^th), each of whom earned $20,442 for their weekend’s work.

Heimiller Leads Seniors After Sensational Hand Propels Push

Dan Heimiller took advantage of an incredible single poker hand to propel himself to the top of the overnights as seven made it through to the final day of Event #48 too. The $1,000-entry Seniors Championship saw Heimiller win an incredible 50 million-chip pot with pocket queens against Steve Festsch’s ace-king as the action got out of hand on the PokerGO stream.

??? HOLY MOLY! ???@danheimiller is now chip leader in the @WSOP $1,000 Seniors Championship after this absurd hand against Ron Fetsch. pic.twitter.com/wmFDsPBXjU

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) June 26, 2023

Heimiller ended the night on 59.1 million and grabbed the headlines, but Lonnie Hallett (55.3 million) will be equally happy after a sensational day at the felt. Everyone else has way less than half of either of those top stacks, but below the two runaway leaders, all the focus is on 82-year-old Billy Baxter. The poker legend could win his eighth WSOP bracelet if he can see six more opponents bust from a total field of 8,180 runners.

Weissman Tops Record Millionaire Maker Field after Day 2

An incredible total field of 10,430 entries in the Millionaire Maker Event #53 made it a record attendance in a $1,500 buy-in live poker tournament on Sunday night. When the dust settled on a fast and frenetic Day 2 of action, just 327 players remained in their seats, with Joey Weissman top of the shop on over 3.7 million chips.

Others to excel on the day included Safwane Bari (2,880,000), Thomas Cazayous (2,405,000) – both of whom are from France – and stars such as Leo Margets (1,440,000), David ‘ODB’ Baker (1,410,000) and Triple Crown winner Roberto Romanello (1,270,000).

PLO High Roller Top 10 Features the Poker ‘World’

‘Johnny World’ Hennigan and Chance Kornuth both made the top 10 chipcounts in the PLO High Roller Event #57, as only 149 players made Day 2 of the event. Costing $25,000 to play, 10 levels of action was enough to reduce the field from a total pool of 357 entries, with Firas Kashat (1,203,000) the chip leader.

Behind the leader, Chinese player Yang Wang (1,120,000), and Hungarian Norbert Szecsi (1,071,000) are the only two other players to amass a million-plus stack on the day. Both six-time WSOP title holder John Hennigan (818,000), and three-time WSOP bracelet winner Chance Kornuth (762,000) will be huge threats on Day 2, as will perennially brilliant poker players such as Sam Soverel (692,000), Jeremy Ausmus (568,000), Ben Lamb (474,000), Erik Seidel (461,000), Anthony Zinno (398,000), along with the most recent two WSOP Players of the Year, 2021’s Josh Arieh (354,000) and 2022’s Daniel Zack (271,000).

Seven Card Stud Final 18 Reached, Matusow Midway

With only 18 players left in the $1,500-entry Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Event #55, poker legend Mike Matusow (890,000) made the final day in seventh place on the leaderboard.  With a $155,275 top prize up for grabs after 566 entries in the event, 183 players saw their number shorn by 90% of the Day 2 field by the close of play.

Leading the way into the final day of action is Qibang Cheung (1.8m), with Kao Saechao (1.25m) and Patricia Yannuzzi (1,240,000) fighting hard just behind him. Big names such as Brian Rast (870,000) are still in the hunt, while Shaun Deeb was the last player to bust as he cashed in 19^th place for $5,630.

Wayne Newton on Hand for Salute to Warriors

“Supporting our troops has always been a passion of mine, so this event holds a special place in my heart.” ~ Wayne Newton

A record-breaking field, a Hollywood legend and one of the best Shuffle Up and Deals of the Series so far were on the menu in Event #56, the $500-entry Salute to Warriors tournament. With an incredible 4,303 entries, 654 made the cut in the popular event which donates a portion of its prizepool to U.S. veteran charitable causes.

Kicking off proceedings in style was ‘Mr. Las Vegas’ himself, Wayne Newton, who said the following before play began.

“Supporting our troops has always been a passion of mine, so this event holds a special place in my heart. I am proud to help kick off this event, and I am sure the veterans participating will make me proud. Thank you to the WSOP for their generous donation to the USO. Let’s get ready to… shuffle up and deal!”

The chip leader at the close of play on Day 1 was Charlemagne Benjamin (1,300,000), with Ryan Eriquezzo (1,216,000), and Kyle Miholich (1,121,000) close in attendance. Others such as Ali Shahni (726,000), Ari Engel (also 726,000), and Yeuqi Zhu (685,000) all did well, but the winner on the day was poker itself according to Jack Effel, the WSOP Vice President.

“We have people from a hundred different countries around the world, thousands of people every single day, it’s poker paradise,” he said. “To be able to have someone like Wayne Newton come here to the World Series of Poker to support the troops and wish everyone some good luck, I think it was just a special moment and one we are going to remember forever.”

Newton presented a $100,000 check to the USO, but the winner of his event will take home more than double that as the top prize was confirmed as being $217,921… and the bracelet too, of course.

Mizrachi, Ho and Bach All On Song in Six-Max

The final event to close on the night was Event #58, the $3,000-entry No Limit Hold’em Six-Max event, with 263 entrants boiling down to just 115 survivors with the chip leader being Greg Josephson (241,000).

Others to star on the day included Daniel Maczuga (217,500) and Kyle Dilschneider (194,500), with luminaries such as Justin Lapka (176,000), JJ Liu (165,000), Michael ‘Grinder’ Mizrachi (163,000) Kosei Ichinose (149,500), Maria Ho (126,000) and David ‘Gunslinger’ Bach (101,000), all making sure they finished in the top half of the remaining field.

Phil Hellmuth may have fallen a few fences from the end of play in this year’s H.O.R.S.E. Championship, but he still thinks he has the races left to amount a stack of bracelets.

And . . . 11th place in @WSOP $10,000 HORSE. Playing fantastic poker; I may just win 2 or 3 Bracelets in the next 4 weeks ?‍♂️?‍♂️?‍♂️ #POSITIVITY #PHNiceLife

— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) June 26, 2023

Two poker legends who many thought might not even turn up at this year’s WSOP… sitting next to each other?

You don’t see this every day at the @WSOP pic.twitter.com/g5lJc2krmS

— Connor Richards – PokerNews (@crichards1995) June 26, 2023

Lou Garza’s proposal to his then-girlfriend and now fiancé might be the most wholesome photo album you’ll see from Vegas this summer.

Immediately following his victory, Garza proposed to his girlfriend who was on the rail for his win.

“Don’t think any other time would be right besides now because I don’t think I would even be right here without her.” https://t.co/HDaO3nzwNQ pic.twitter.com/dZ4BT1jbgc

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) June 25, 2023

Finally, one player thinks that he’s found the ultimate way of making sure his cards don’t accidentally overturn during a hand. At least, we *think* that’s his reasoning.

I have to protect myself somehow. pic.twitter.com/1T2jITUhm2

— Bitty (@Jack_Bittker) June 23, 2023

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