WSOP 2023: “Sweet Lou” Ships PLO Championship and a Fiancée, Pupillo Breaks Through in Mixed Triple Draw

After a single day with no bracelets handed out, the 2023 World Series of Poker was back to shipping out hardware on Saturday night, with a trio of events coming to conclusion and a pair of longtime grinders finally finding WSOP gold. The H.O.R.S.E. Championship reached the money, and the second flight of the Milly Maker, Day 3 of the Seniors Championship and the start of the $1,500 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo event were all on tap at Horseshoe Las Vegas and Paris casinos.

Garza Goes From Worst to First to Ship PLO Championship

It took a little under seven hours for a champion to be crowned in Event #50: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship, and while overwhelming chip leader Stanislav Halatenko looked to be the favorite coming into the final day, it was start-of-the-day short stack AP “Lou” Garza who shimmied and shook his way with signature flair to his first WSOP gold bracelet, a $1,309,232 payday, and in the process also took home another prestigious title; fiancé!

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

It took almost three hours for the first casualty of the final five, as Peng Shan got his last ten big blinds in preflop with against Halatenko’s . Much like most of Day 3, Halatenko would have little sweat (for an Omaha hand, anyways) on a runout to knock Shan out in fifth. Travis Pearson was out next a short time later, ripping in for 13 big blinds and failing to catch up to Garza’s on a board.

With three players remaining, Halatenko and Garza were nearly even in chips, while Arthur Morris was well behind with just around 12% of the chips in play. A confident Morris was undeterred, and despite being left with just six big blinds at one point, quickly rallied up to the chip lead at one point. A limped pot would then send Morris’s fortunes up while crushing the dreams of Halatenko in one fell swoop. 

An innocuous looking flop saw Halatenko check-raise a 1.5 million chip bet from Morris, who instantly went all in for around 13 million. Halatenko called with for nines-up, but was actually an underdog to the of Morris, who told his rail, “I just whipped it in; never folding this hand!” Halatenko was looking to fade the overs and open-ended straight draw, but the immediately sent Morris’s rail into a “HOLD! HOLD! HOLD!” chant. Their wish was granted on the river, and Halatenko’s charge fell two spots short of a bracelet in third.

Morris took a slight lead into heads-up play in the battle of the Texans, and with 72 big blinds left between them, a fair amount of jostling for position ensued. Garza pulled away for a bit before an audacious bluff by Morris with just a pair of fives that set the room abuzz:

This bluff by @KillabugPKR is just nasty. pic.twitter.com/2wEiWLLXtL

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) June 25, 2023

The final hand came a few hands later, when Morris got his last 20 or so big blinds in on a flop with the for top pair, but had to fade the world against Garza’s for a gutshot, nut flush draw, and a live pair. The kept Morris in front, but a plunked off on the river to leave Morris with a hefty consolation prize of $809,167 and send Garza his first WSOP gold bracelet and push his lifetime tournament earnings to over $3.5 million.

Pupillo Grinds His Way to Long-Awaited First Bracelet in Mixed Draw

With a staggering 348 cashes listed on his Hendon Mob, it may come as a shock to players who see Nick Pupillo on the grind that he doesn’t have a WSOP gold bracelet to his name. His 24th recorded victory finally saw the Arizona grinder achieve one of the last accolades left missing in his coffers, as he dominated Day 3 of Event #52: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw to earn $181,978 and his first WSOP gold bracelet. Pupillo flashed the cameras a photo of his family, including his young daughter, and told PokerNews, “I’m thankful for everyone that supports me and roots for me. I’ve had ups and downs, but I’m just grateful.”

The march to the final table of six saw notables Cary Katz (18th – $6,948), multiple WSOP bracelet winners Robert Mizrachi (17th – $8,495), John Monnette (16th – $8,495) and Joao Vieira ($10,690), and Ray Henson (9th – $13,834) all fall by the wayside, while two-time WSOP bracelet winner Anatolii Zyrin (7th – $18,398) just missed the official final table of six when his ninety-six was bested by the eighty-seven of Brant Hale in 2-7 Triple Draw.

Despite the elimination, Hale would be first to go at the final table, unable to push Pupillo off an eighty-six in 2-7 Triple Draw. Hye Park would then fall down the counts, finally succumbing when he ran into the wheel of Ryan Moriarty. Pupillo would go back on the offensive next in Badugi, taking out Tomomitsu Ono in fourth and Aaron Mermelstein in third, and took a nearly 3:1 chip lead into heads-up play with Moriarty. Pupillo’s trademark aggression wore down Moriarity, and on the final hand of 2-7 Triple Draw, Pupillo made a ninety-seven after the second draw and patted, and Moriarity pulled two cards drawing to a seven. He found a worthless king and nine, and one call later, Pupillo was the latest to shake the crown of “best without a bracelet” at the 2023 WSOP.

Team Savakinas Flips Out and Wins Tag Team

Only 26 teams from a record-setting field of 1,282 returned for the final day of Event #51: $1,000 Tag Team, and it took nearly twelve hours for Team Savakinas (Michael Savakinas and Satoshi Tanaka) to make their way from the middle of the pack to be declared the kings of the tag team, earning a pair of WSOP gold bracelets and $190,662 to chop between them. The duo employed a unique strategy at the final table that may have keyed them to victory, telling PokerNews, “We decided to switch on the levels and I think that gave us an edge, because no one else was doing that.

A flurry of teams found themselves heading to the exit in the early going, including Nipun Java – Ronald Phipps (24th – $6,426), Day 2 chip leaders Yuki Sako – Shunsuke Tokoo (16th – $7,850), and Robert Perelman – Joseph Cheong (13th – $9,718). Two of the more prominent teams in Justin Pechie – Ronnie Bardah (9th – $15,492) and David Williams – Theo Tran (7th – $26,000) were the first to go from the final table, and with six teams remaining, three teams had healthy stacks, while the trio of short stacks would all fall in order, leaving Team Savakinas to battle with Vincent Moscati – Tanner Bibat and Jonah LaBranche – Dustin Wills for the Tag Team titles.

Team Moscati drew the first blood and a swift KO in the triple threat match, with Moscati waking up with aces when LaBranche tried to three-bet jam light with king-seven of diamonds. LaBranche flopped a seven and turned a flush draw, but the bullets held for Moscati, taking a 4:1 chip lead into heads-up action. Savakinas would double twice in a hurry, setting up a climatic final hand for almost every chip in play. Tanaka four-bet ripped it in preflop with and got called by Moscati’s , and it was a stone cold stunner of a flop: , giving Tanaka trip kings and a huge lead. There would be no underdog comeback for Moscati on a turn or river, and a few hands later, Bibat’s last chips were pinned away by Tanaka to send the hardware to Team Savakinas.

Litany of Names Remain in H.O.R.S.E. Championship

It was time to make the money in Event #54: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship, and 91 players returning, an additional 21 jumped in at the last minute, bringing the total number of entrants to 186. Only 17 of them would find a bag at the end of the night, and Brian Yoon, who already scored his fifth career WSOP bracelet earlier in the series in Event #14: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship, has a chance to earn another bracelet and enter rarified air as he bagged the overnight chip lead of 1,465,000.

Connor Drinan (1,200,000), Scott Seiver (965,000), Carol Fuchs (865,000), Phil Hellmuth (700,000) and David “Bakes” Baker also managed to bag up healthy stacks. After Andrew Barber lost a flip in Hold’em to burst the bubble, Jerry Wong (28th – $16,351) was the first to get paid. Chino Rheem (27th – $16,531), Brandon Shack-Harris (21st – $17,887) and Phil Hui (18th – $20,442) all also managed to net a payday before play came to an end.

Hall of Famer Baxter Seeks Bracelet Eight in Seniors

Day 3 of Event #48: $1,000 Seniors Championship trimmed a field of 217 returning players down to just 29 returning for Day 4 action on Sunday. Gordon Eng (15,975,000) and Lonnie Hallett (15,300,000) are within a few big blinds of the chip lead, but all eyes will be on Hall of Famer and seven-time WSOP bracelet winner Billy Baxter (6,400,000), who is looking for his first gold bracelet in Hold’em (six of his bracelets are in lowball variants, one is in Razz). Brett “Pops” Reichard (5,000,000) and Dan Heimiller (3,625,000) are also still in contention.

10,000+ Entrants Set Record Field For Milly Maker

With the 5,851 entrants that hit the felt for Day 1b of Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker, a total of 10,430 entries ensured that the 2023 Millionaire Maker was the largest $1,500 buy-in in poker history. 2,422 players will come back for Sunday’s Day 2, with 1,410 making it through today’s flight and Michael Holtz (420,000) logged in as the unofficial chip leader at press time. Stanley Lee (386,000), Taylor Howard (339,000), Jack Salter (222,500), Loni Hui (220,000), and Espen Jorstad (149,500) all bagged up heaps in hopes of netting a seven-figure payday and a WSOP gold bracelet.

Rodawig Bags Big in Stud Hi-Lo

Eric Rodawig’s first and only WSOP gold bracelet was earned in 2011 in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship when he bested Phil Hellmuth heads-up. Over a decade later, Rodawig is on the right track to getting some bling for his other wrist, bagging up a healthy 234,500 in chips for a big lead after Day 1 of Event #55: $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better. 566 players started the proceedings, but just 183 would remain at day’s end, with John Esposito (163,500), Jon Turner (136,000), Scott Clements (129,000), Brian Rast (118,000) and Shaun Deeb (116,500) among those who accumulated stacks for Day 2 action.

Chris Moneymaker puts his money where his mouth is and goes double or nothing on a $5k Last Longer bet he won against the white-hot Chance Kornuth:

Since @ChancesCards lost his last longer wager to me yesterday he has been ducking me. I will make this one time offer Chance. Double or nothing in the Main!!

— Chris Moneymaker ⭕ (@CMONEYMAKER) June 24, 2023

A+ for the chip stack pic, C- for putting the drink on the table and risking giving the table a White Claw bath:

200k and a White Claw on dinner break going to 1200bb pic.twitter.com/AHn0DfFiCD

— Brian Hastings (@brianchastings) June 25, 2023

Sound advice from Maria Ho for those of you suffering from some WSOP run-bad:

It’s the halfway mark of the #WSOP. I don’t know who needs to hear this, but if you’ve been running badly or playing badly, it’s not too late to turn it around. Take each hand as it comes & make the best decision possible with the info you have. The rest is variance. #poker #glgl

— Maria Ho (@MariaHo) June 24, 2023

PokerPower’s Sarah Stefan leaps into the Milly Maker:

Milly Maker today!@joinpokerpower pic.twitter.com/66AiOpP9ea

— Sarah Stefan (@sarahkstefan) June 24, 2023

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