Mike Gorodinsky
Mike Gorodinsky bagged the chip lead, but ca he seal a third WSOP bracelet win tomorrow in the Thunderdome?

Action took place across record-breaking numbers on Day 27 of the 54th 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 17th winning WSOP event. Hellmuth, known as the Poker Brat – at least in his more firebrand days – ended up finishing 11th for $29,478, while David ‘Bakes’ Baker lost out in 10th for the same amount. Earlier in the day, we lost players such as the former Poker Players Championship winner Phil Hui (18th), John Racener (17th) and Nick Guagenti (16th), each of whom earned $20,442 for their weekend’s work.

WSOP 2023 Event #54 $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship Leaderboard:
Place Player Country Chips
1st Mike Gorodinsky United States 3,695,000
2nd Alex Livingston Canada 2,160,000
3rd Brad Ruben United States 1,930,000
4th Brian Yoon United States 1,445,000
5th Scott Seiver United States 990,000
6th Carol Fuchs United States 515,000
7th Christopher Claassen United States 265,000

 

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.

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.

WSOP 2023 Event #48 $1,000 Seniors Championship Leaderboard:
Place Player Country Chips
1st Dan Heimiller United States 59,100,000
2nd Lonnie Hallett Canada 55,300,000
3rd Billy Baxter United States 15,500,000
4th Shannon Fahey United States 12,500,000
5th Gordon Eng United States 9,200,000
6th Loren Cloninger United States 8,400,000
7th Rudolf Fourie South Africa 3,700,000

 

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).

WSOP 2023 Event #53 $1,500 Millionaire Maker Leaderboard:
Place Player Country Chips
1st Joey Weissman United States 3,770,000
2nd Safwane Bahri France 2,880,000
3rd Thomas Cazayous France 2,405,000
4th Brandon Schwartz United States 2,260,000
5th Joshua Boulton United Kingdom 2,200,000
6th Mayank Madan United States 2,100,000
7th In Sun Geoum United States 2,090,000
8th Steve Kujubu United States 2,080,000
9th Daniel Blum United States 2,070,000
10th Matthew Davis United States 2,050,000

 

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).

WSOP 2023 Event #57 $25,000 PLO High Roller Leaderboard:
Place Player Country Chips
1st Firas Kashat United States 1,203,000
2nd Yang Wang China 1,120,000
3rd Norbert Szecsi Hungary 1,071,000
4th Brandon Adams United States 972,000
5th Anton Morgenstern Germany 950,000
6th Michael Duek United States 942,000
7th Johann Ibanez Colombia 912,000
8th Bradley Anderson United States 820,000
9th John Hennigan United States 818,000
10th Chance Kornuth United States 762,000

 

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 19th place for $5,630.

WSOP 2023 Event #55 $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Leaderboard:
Place Player Country Chips
1st Qibang Cheung United Kingdom 1,805,000
2nd Kao Saechao United States 1,250,000
3rd Patricia Yannuzzi United States 1,240,000
4th James Juvancic United States 1,185,000
5th Kyle Hinnerichs United States 1,175,000
6th Michael Estes United States 1,120,000
7th Mike Matusow United States 890,000
8th Brian Rast United States 870,000
9th Jose Paz-Gutierrez Bolivia 815,000
10th Denny Axel United States 755,000

 

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.

WSOP 2023 Event #56 $500 Salute to Warriors Leaderboard:
Place Player Country Chips
1st Charlemagne Benjamin United States 1,300,000
2nd Ryan Eriquezzo United States 1,216,000
3rd Kyle Miholich United States 1,121,000
4th Dylan Lemery United States 1,062,000
5th Antonio Ruelas United States 1,053,000
6th Ting-Yi Tsai Taiwan 1,004,000
7th Nicola Tassone Canada 1,002,000
8th Jason Pedigo United States 942,000
9th Prashray Rai United States 850,000
10th Viakret Ete Puiel Argentina 846,000

 

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.

WSOP 2023 Event #58 $3,000 NLHE 6-Max Leaderboard:
Place Player Country Chips
1st Gregory Josephson United States 241,000
2nd Daniel Maczuga United States 217,500
3rd Kyle Dilschneider United States 194,500
4th Andrew Barfield United States 184,000
5th Matthew Mortensen United States 177,000
6th Justin Lapka United States 176,500
7th Dan Shak United States 175,000
8th Yingui Li China 168,000
9th JJ Liu United States 165,000
10th Michael Mizrachi United States 163,000

 

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.

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

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.

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.

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