The 21^st day of action in the 2023 World Series of Poker saw six tournaments in progress at the Horseshoe Las Vegas and Paris casinos. With two bracelets won, a first in Big O, there were four more events which got closer to the final table, including the $50,000 Poker Players Championship, where the reigning back-to-back champion was terminated.

Scott Abrams Conquers Big O, Johnny Chan Applauded

“Since the week we got married, I have been on the biggest heater of my life.” ~ Scott Abrams, Poker’s Smartest Player?

There was excitement, drama and ultimately a huge amount of respect in Event #41 as Scott Abrams won the first-ever WSOP bracelet to be awarded in Big O. Johnny Chan started the day in with a chance of his first WSOP bracelet in over a decade, but although The Orient Express got an early double-up, he busted in 14^th place to miss out on his 11^th bracelet. Upon Chan’s exit, all the other players in seats broke out into a spontaneous round of applause as a mark of respect to a poker legend and Hall of Famer. Chan looked genuinely touched by the gesture of his poker peers.

At the final table of seven, Owais Ahmed crashed out early in sixth place for $59,501 before Victor Ramdin (4^th for $105,383) won the first six-figure prize of the tournament. Heads-up, Robert Williamson III had the experience in his career but Abrams, who confirmed that he had been working very hard on his game with this event in mind, got the job done and celebrated his first-ever WSOP bracelet with friends and family.

“I feel like I have been at the top end of variance for the last year and a half more than I have in my entire life,” he told reporters. “My wife will confirm that basically since the week we got married I have been on the biggest heater of my life. I’m pretty sure she did it.”

Crediting his wife in his acceptance speech? Abrams has shown he is no fool.

Xu Captures Title in Deepstack Drama

Chinese player Qiang Xu won his first-0ever WSOP bracelet amid celebratory scenes on the rail as he beat Jason Johnson heads-up to win $339,033 and the famous gold bracelet. As the final card hit the deck and he won the coinflip that gave him victory, Xu leapt into the air, shouting ‘Yes!’ as he celebrated with all of his friends.

“It’s a dream come true,” he said in the aftermath of his epic win, on a day where 219 played down to a winner. “My goal coming from China was to win a bracelet, and now, I’ve got it!”

At a thrilling final table, Xu was the winner after earlier players from Taiwan, France and Israel had all made exits as part of a truly global final eight.

Obst Leads from Ivey, Arieh and Rast in Stacked PPC

Day 2 of the $50,000-entry Poker Players Championship was a big one, and with late registration closed, the field of 99 total entries created a prizepool of over $4.7 million. Top of the leaderboard at the end of play on the second day was the Australian professional James Obst, who bagged up a big stack of 2,972,000 chips.

There were 32 survivors on Day 2, with Aussie James Obst topping the charts with over 2.9 million, some way clear of Daniel Alaei (2.06m) with Phil Ivey rounding out the podium places on 1.6 million chips. The top 10 chipcounts are packed with talents, with the 2021 WSOP Player of the Year Josh Arieh (1,365,000) marginally ahead of fellow five-time bracelet winner Brian Rast (1,306,000) and Nacho Barbero (1,158,000) who has already enjoyed the most profitable year of his career and its only June.

Elsewhere, Phil Hellmuth was delighted to bag an above-average stack.

At the end of Day 2 in @WSOP $50,000 buy in “Poker Players Championship”: 99 players started, 32 left, 15 get paid. I have 933,000 in chips, which is an about average stack size. I heard many top pros say that this is their FAV tourney of the year! Indeed #POSITIVITY pic.twitter.com/J5deVFc929

— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) June 20, 2023

With stars of the felt like Obst, Arieh, Hellmuth and Ivey all providing a different potential winner’s narrative, Day 3 will not only burst the bubble towards paying 15 players but provide crucial clues as to who will get their name on the Chip Reese Trophy later this week.

Is Qi the Key to Monster Stack Glory?

The $1,500-entry Monster Stack event saw 389 starting players on Day 3 reduced to just 42 survivors, with Chinese player Xuming Qi (24.3 million) bagging the chip lead, with Marcos Exterkotter (23.5m) from Brazil in hot pursuit. With Nate Silver (13.2m) making the top 10 with yesterday’s chip leader, David Vedral (12m) of Austria, there is a huge amount to play for on the final day of the event tomorrow.

The only former WSOP bracelet holders still in with a chance of winning gold again are Joe Cada (8.95m), Arash Ghaneian (6,575,000) and Jesse Rockowitz (2.25m), with all three below the ‘water line’ of the average stack of 9.9 million.

Petrone on Top in No Limit Event #44

Argentinian player Ramiro Petrone has enjoyed a great year at the felt so far in 2023 and looks like extending that to a deep run in Event #44 of the 2023 WSOP. He leads the $3,000-entry NLHE event with a stack of 367,000, good for a marginal advantage over Luis Faria from Portugal with 360,500 chips. Elsewhere in the upper limits of the event, Adam Swam (245,000) will be pleased with a top 10 finish on a day when over 1,500 players took the tables with less than 40% of that number surviving to the Day 2 seat draw.

Lin on Course to Win in Omaha Hi-Lo

One of the most impressive Day 1 leads so far this World Series was established by the Taiwanese players Yusheng Lin in Event #45, the $1,500-entry Mixed Omaha Hi-Lo event which had 1,091 entries – 41% more than in 2022. Only 316 hopefuls will come back on Day 2 to try to get into the money with stars such as Scott Clements (274,000), Jerry Wong (210,000), Martin Zamani (200,500) and Yueqi Zhu (162,500) doing so from inside the top 25 chip stacks.

Yesterday’s row over alleged card-marking and bad behaviour prompted the accused Czech poker player Martin Kabrhel to make a statement, via Twitter of course.

On behalf of yesterday situation I feel necessary to speak up. @Andrew_Robl yesterday posted on twitter an accusation that I'm marking cards and cheating in poker tournaments. I was shocked by how quickly people took it as true, pure statement with no evidence and..

— Martin Kabrhel (@martinkabrhell) June 20, 2023

Tom Dwan called for a full-scale investigation into Kabrhel’s antics in the wake of serious complaints from multiple sources.

Who’s gambling license was the @WSOP 250k under?

I hope cards are saved and a decent investigation is done. For the credibility of the casino’s, WSOP, and @NevadaGCB

Also would be nice if sponsors and partners nudged @GGPoker @PokerGO . Their credibility adversely impacted too

— Tom Dwan (@TomDwan) June 20, 2023

Matt Glantz shared the news that Phil Hellmuth is no longer the WSOP record holder for making the most final tables. Well, in a way.

He thought he was the best. @phil_hellmuth thought his record would never be broken. But Dominic the Dealer has now surpassed Phil w 75 final tables at @WSOP. pic.twitter.com/Is7mGizuhh

— Matt Glantz (@MattGlantz) June 20, 2023

Finally, he may not have retained his Poker Players Championship title, but there’s no doubting the showmanship of Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates. Until the Main Event, Cyberdyne Systems Model 101.

Judgement day is coming! pic.twitter.com/yijmGfuWHT

— Daniel Cates 🇺🇸 🌎 (@junglemandan) June 19, 2023

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