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The 14th day of action in this year’s World Series of Poker (WSOP) saw High Roller hijinks, a Gladiator crowned in the Thunderdome after their final duel and a heads-up clash paused as the night concluded. Meanwhile, in Omaha Hi-Lo, a nine-time World Series winner and poker legend rose to the top of the leaderboard in his battle to reach poker immortality.

 

Mateos the Matador in High Roller Field

 

Adrian Mateos is in prime position to win his fifth WSOP bracelet before turning 29 as he has taken the lead into Day 2 of the $100,000-entry High Roller Event #29. With Chris Hunichen only a few chips behind him, Mateos’ stack of 3,650,000 is not unassailable but it stands him in good stead for ‘money day’ tomorrow, where the remaining 35 players from 79 entries will play through the money bubble and push into profit.

 

Also likely to achieve that are the rest of the top five on the leaderboard, with Chance Kornuth (3,375,000), 2022 world champion Espen Jorstad (2,200,000) and perennial poker end boss Jeremy Ausmus (2,190,000) looking a formidable pack of chip leaders to chase down.

 

Hoping to do exactly that will be stars of the felt such as 2021 world champion Koray Aldemir (1.8m), all-time money list leader Justin Bonomo (1,795,000) and Brian Rast (1,520,000), while others such as Daniel Negreanu, Sergio Aido, Phil Ivey, Kristen Foxen, Chad Eveslage, Darren Elias, Galen Hall, and Jason Koon all lost their stacks on Day 1.

 

WSOP 2023 Event #29 $100,000 NLHE High Roller Leaderboard:

Place

Player

Country

Chips

1st

Adrian Mateos

Spain

3,650,000

2nd

Chris Hunichen

United States

3,620,000

3rd

Chance Kornuth

United States

3,375,000

4th

Espen Jorstad

Norway

2,200,000

5th

Jeremy Ausmus

United States

2,190,000

 

Jason Simon Wins Gladiators of Poker Event for Half a Million Dollars

 

When the sand settled and the final brutal elimination had played out, it was Jason Simon who sat, stunned, at the felt. He had just conquered the Gladiators of Poker Event, the 18th event of the 54th annual WSOP, and in doing so won just under half a million dollars in the process.

 

The final table was one for the books as it played out on PokerGO for fans around the world. Eric Trexler, a colorful character the like of which the WSOP always needs, was in command, but as he lost momentum, Jason Simon stepped into that gap. Simon took out Trexler’s nemesis Wade Wallace and from there, scalped Wesley Cannon too.

 

That gave Simon a dominant chip lead of almost 4:1 and he put that to good use, seeing it out in style to claim his first-ever gold WSOP bracelet and life-changing money for a $300 buy-in event.

 

WSOP 2023 Event #18 $300 Gladiators of Poker Results:

Rank

Player

Country

Prize

1st

Jason Simon

United States

$499,852

2nd

Eric Trexler

United States

$301,097

3rd

Wesley Cannon

United States

$210,024

4th

Wade Wallace

United States

$160,818

5th

Kfir Nahum

Israel

$123,831

6th

Bohdan Slyvinskyi

United States

$95,883

7th

Jonson Chatterley

United States

$74,664

8th

Caio Sobral

Brazil

$58,466

9th

Thomas Reeves

United States

$46,051

 

Ben Lamb and Erik Seidel on Collision Course in Omaha Championship

 

An exciting penultimate day of action in the $10,000 buy-in Omaha Hi-Lo Championship saw Ben Lamb (2,545,000) lead the final seven into the final day, closely followed by legends of the game. With Mexican player Luis Velador in second place on the overnight leaderboard with 2,390,000 chips, it is the presence of true poker royalty in third that has made the headlines.

 

Erik Seidel (2,360,000) is poised to win his 10th WSOP bracelet if he can overcome six opponents and seal victory. That would put him behind only Phil Hellmuth in WSOP bracelets and would be his first live bracelet win in 16 years.

 

Elsewhere in the chipcounts, Brad Ruben (2,005,000) is the only other player above two million chips, but the experience of the other players, namely Robert Yass (1,375,000), Johannes Becker (1,090,000), and James Chen (985,000) means that the final day will be anything but easy.

 

On an exciting day at the felt, John Hennigan managed to joke with Ben Lamb about taking a swap pre-game, but the last laugh went to Lamb. He topped the leaderboard and Hennigan crashed out in 13th place for $26,662, before Kyle Cartwright (12th) and David Williams (11th) exited before the final table was set.

 

WSOP 2023 Event #25 $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Championship Leaderboard:

Rank

Player

Country

Chips

1st

Ben Lamb

United States

2,545,000

2nd

Luis Velador

Mexico

2,390,000

3rd

Erik Seidel

United States

2,360,000

4th

Brad Ruben

United States

2,005,000

5th

Robert Yass

United States

1,375,000

6th

Johannes Becker

Germany

1,090,000

7th

James Chen

United States

985,000

 

Elsby and Mao Locked in Final Battle

 

The proposed final day of Event #26, the $800 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Deepstack event saw just two men remain at the close of action, with Matthew Elsby (118.9 million) and Renji Mao (71.1m) both battling it out for the bracelet. Earlier at the final table, JJ Liu busted in 4th place for $140,442 as Elsby and Mao moved towards what will be an exciting conclusion to the event tomorrow lunchtime.

 

WSOP 2023 Event #26 $800 NLHE Deepstack Results:

Rank

Player

Country

Prize/Chips

1st

Matthew Elsby

United States

118,900,000

2nd

Renji Mao

China

71,100,000

3rd

Anthony Potis

United States

$186,250

4th

JJ Liu

Taiwan

$140,442

5th

Ta-Wei Tou

Taiwan

$106,693

6th

Qiwen Chen

China

$81,666

7th

Jesse Rosen

South Africa

$62,984

8th

Vito Branciforte

Italy

$48,947

9th

Michael Younan

United States

$38,332

 

Chad Campbell Leads Final 21 in Eight Game Mix

 

Chad Campbell ended the penultimate day of the Event #21 Eight Game Mix field in the lead. Building a stack of 1,991,000 chips, Campbell leads from Daniel Strelitz (1,793,000) and Aloisio Dourado (1,705,000) at the top of the chipcounts, with Shaun Deeb in the top 10 on 868,000 chips. Elsewhere, Robert Mizrachi will look to win his fifth WSOP bracelet after concluding the day in the top five.

 

WSOP 2023 Event #27 $1,500 Eight Game Mix Leaderboard:

Rank

Player

Country

Chips

1st

Chad Campbell

United States

1,991,000

2nd

Daniel Strelitz

United States

1,793,000

3rd

Aloisio Dourado

Brazil

1,705,000

4th

John Bunch

United States

1,685,000

5th

Robert Mizrachi

United States

1,198,000

 

‘TayPaur’ Near the Top in Freezeout Event

 

Hao Zhau (970,000) leads the way, but Taylor Paur (876,000) is hot on their heels in the $1,500-entry NLHE Freezeout Event #28 on the schedule. With 2,046 players taking part, just 188 payers remain chasing down the top prize of $406,403. Also high up in the counts is the popular and entertaining Italian player Mustapha Kanit on 437,000, with the Poker Players Championship runner-up from 2022 Ryan Leng ending the day with 562,000 chips.

  

WSOP 2023 Event #28 $1,500 NLHE Freezeout Leaderboard:

Rank

Player

Country

Chips

1st

Hao Zhou

United States

970,000

2nd

Taylor Paur

United States

876,000

3rd

Turbo Nguyen

United States

850,000

4th

Tzur Levy

Israel

818,000

5th

Mario Navarro

United Kingdom

810,000

 

Gola on Target in Triple Draw

 

Finally, in Event #30, the seventh event of the day, Jason Gola topped the leaderboard of 166 survivors from 522 entries as he piled up a stack of 221,500 chips. Behind him in the top ten, stars such as John Monnette (189,000), Alex Epstein (182,500), Daniel Vargas (171,000) and David Funkhouser (163,500) totalled up some impressive chip stacks, with other luminaries such as four-time WSOP bracelet winner Benny Glaser (126,500), Allen ‘Chainsaw’ Kessler (112,000) and Ryan DePaulo (106,000) all ending Day 1 in the top 40.

 

WSOP 2023 Event #30 $1,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Leaderboard:

Rank

Player

Country

Chips

1st

Jason Gola

United States

221,500

2nd

John Monnette

United States

189,000

3rd

Zoltan Gal

Hungary

187,000

4th

Tom Schneider

United States

186,000

5th

David Prociak

United States

185,000

6th

Alex Epstein

United States

182,500

7th

Samuel Sternfield

United States

171,500

8th

Daniel Vargas

United States

171,000

9th

John Hutchinson

United States

167,500

10th

David Funkhouser

United States

163,500

 

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