A frenetic 22^nd day of the 2023 World Series saw just a dozen players remain in with a chance of becoming this year’s Poker Players Championship winner, with British mixed game specialist Matt Ashton, 10-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Ivey and the 2021 WSOP Player of the year Josh Arieh all prominent. The final seven players of the Monster Stack event were reached with the 2009 WSOP Main Event winner Joe Cada still in there battling for a fifth WSOP title.

Phil Ivey Chasing 11^th WSOP Bracelet in PPC

The Day 3 field of the Poker Players Championship was an unforgettable one, and it saw plenty of drama, as Phil Hellmuth snuck into the money, a famous Argentinian busted on the bubble and Phil Ivey continued to grab all the limelight. The $50,000-entry ‘PPC’ is the one all the big names want to win, and this year has a top prize of $1,324,747 up for grabs. Only a dozen players remain in with a chance of taking that seven-figure payout and getting their hands on the infamous Chip Reese Trophy they hold so dear.

Top of the shop after the third day of exciting action was the mixed game specialist Matt Ashton, who bagged up 4,450,000 chips at the close of play to sit over half a million clear of his closest challenger, Hal Rotholz (3,900,000), with Talal Shakerchi (3,430,000), Brian Rast (3,365,000) and Phil Ivey (3,135,000) lining up behind him. Nestling into sixth place in the top half of the chipcounts is the 2021 WSOP Player of the Year, Josh Arieh (2,360,000).

With the top 15 ‘money’ places reached today, it was the unfortunate Argentinian player Nacho Barbero who busted in 16^th for nothing, with Phil Hellmuth managing to make the money in 14^th place. The Poker Brat asked Phil Ivey whether he was worried about a certain hand, and elicited a reply from Ivey, which we’ll reveal later on.

Here’s how the remaining dozen players are shaping up.

Cada Short but Hopeful of Monster Glory

Joe Cada will come into the final day’s play with a chance of winning his fifth WSOP bracelet and a top prize of $1.16 million in the Monster Stack event. Cada needs help with only 11 big blinds to his name after a late move went wrong.

Final 7 on PokerGO tomorrow at 5pm vegas time. Bitter sweet bluffing off most my chips last hand of night. I’m not surprised PokerNews has the hand details wrong 😣. Time to spin up the short stack tomorrow, guaranteed 186k

— Joseph Cada (@JoeCada99) June 21, 2023

Cada might be short with only 16.6 million, but the chip leader has ten times his stack in what could yet be a very changeable final table. Top of the final seven is Nick Gerrity (112.3 million) with Jesse Rockowitz (94.5m) close but no-one else having 50% of Gerrity’s stack.

Joao Simao Fires for Third Title

The Brazilian player Joao Simao will aim to win his third WSOP bracelet when play resumes on the next day of Event #44, the $3,000 buy-in NLHE event. Behind only Yang Zhang at the top of the leaderboard, Simao’s stack is great than 107 other players, with a truly global feel to the top 10 stacks, who are held by players with 10 different nationalities.

Couden on Top with Livingston and Deeb Chasing

Joseph Couden eliminated former actor James Woods in the battle to survive Day 2 of Event #45, the Mixed Omaha Hi-Lo 8 of Better event. Couden bagged up 2,885,000 on his way to finishing way ahead of most, with Nick Kost his nearest challenger on just 2,010,000 chips. Shaun Deeb (1,490,000) shoots for bracelet #7 from fourth place of the 33 remaining players, with former WSOP Main Event final table star Alex Livingston in sixth with 1.34 million chips.

Bumper Freezeout Field in Event #46

There were an astonishing 5,342 entries in Event #46, the $500-entry NLHE Freezeout, with Preston McEwen (2,040,000) ahead of Nicholas Ronalds (1,960,000) and Yita Choong (1,840,000) on the leaderboard. Others to feature on the list of survivors included but weren’t limited to American poker heroes and former bracelet event dominators David Jackson (805,000) and Erik Cajelais (615,000).

H.O.R.S.E. Event Sees Plenty of Runners

Overall, this year, numbers are up. So, it shouldn’t be a surprise to see yet another busy field in a mixed game event. Last year’s corresponding $1,500-entry H.O.R.S.E. event had 773 runners, but the tape lifted on this year with 836 in the field.

Making the jumps in good shape at the end of Day 1 were Mike Thorpe (252,500), Yueqi Zhu (243,000) and Yuri Dzivielevski (189,5000) in a star-packed top 10, with 285 players making it into the seat draw.

Phil Ivey’s comment following a ‘speech’ from Phil Hellmuth led to many asking why Ivey doesn’t speak more.

If this is the last thing @philivey ever says on a livestream, I think the entire world would be fine with it.

Poker's Odd Couple; Phil and Phil. https://t.co/dIhtSDjs40

— Tim Duckworth (@tRaMSt0p) June 21, 2023

Chris Moneymaker took his own exit from the Poker Players Championship hard, but as always, wore his heart on his sleeve.

Face of a guy who busted a 50k, a 3k and 1500 yesterday and on his way to play a 500 today pic.twitter.com/lvJNPWqCR0

— Chris Moneymaker ⭕ (@CMONEYMAKER) June 20, 2023

Josh Arieh and Jeremy Ausmus discussed why the PPC is so special.

Great players are just build different!

Convo at my PPC table yesterday was about how long and grueling this event is. @jeremyausmus chimes in “yea, but shouldn’t it be?”

Thank you Jeremy! Thank you!!

— Joshua Arieh (@JoshuaArieh) June 20, 2023

Finally, Michael Holtz did what we all would in these circumstances. Take a picture, take a bow, sir.

Enjoying the glory while I can pic.twitter.com/pEYKUeWMBK

— Mike Holtz (BrockLesnar) (@MikeHoltzPoker) June 20, 2023

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