The first weekend of the 2023 WSOP has come and gone and what a wild one it was. Sunday in particular was a wild day of action across the Horseshoe and Paris. Let’s take a look at the top five stories from yesterday’s action.
#1: Nick Schulman wins bracelet #4
After a long day of action it was the late night show that stole the spotlight. Nick Schulman won his fourth bracelet, his first since 2019 by conquering the game of stud in Event #9: $1,500 Seven Card Stud. He defeated a loaded final table that included John Monnette and Shaun Deeb.
In classic Schulman style, the popular figure in the poker world took some of the coldest winner’s photos you will find at the WSOP flourished with an old school cigar to make for a memorable image.
#2: Chanracy Khun denies Doug Polk heads up crown
The top story heading into Sunday was Doug Polk going for his fourth bracelet in Event #8: $25,000 Heads Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship. He started the day in the semifinals against Chris Brewer and the bracelet looked to be written in the stars for Polk when he hit a miracle two-outer queen to commit regicide on Brewer’s kings which took him from the brink of elimination to massive chip lead which he would finish off shortly afterwards.
However Chanracy Khun had something to say about that as he spoiled the party on Polk’s rail in the championship match after making a key hero call with third pair to pick off Polk’s bluff. The Canadian won over $500,000 and his first bracelet and put his name on a more prominent level in the poker world.
#3: Mystery Millions shatters field records
The buzz around all rooms and in the hallways on Sunday was the excitement of the Mystery Millions Day 2. After the tournament set the record for largest $1,000 event ever with 18,188 entries which was way more than the 14,112 from 2022’s version of the same event.
The excitement and energy was palpable as players made their way to the gold chest to reveal their bounty. Every single person who played in the event had dreams of being the one to pull the $1,000,000 envelope. And for two of those multiple thousands of dreamers, that would become an incredible reality.
Shant Marashlian pulled the first mega prize of the day and Patrick Liang took the second one just a couple of hours later. Both players looked stunned as they revealed their massive haul as they seemed to be unable to believe their luck.
#4: Chad Eveslage sets himself up back-to-back Dealer’s Choice bracelets
Chad Eveslage has already won himself a bracelet this yeah by winning Event #5: $1,500 Dealer’s Choice and at the end of a long night last night, he was the chip leader with thirteen players left in Event #10: $10,000 Dealer’s Choice 6-Handed Championship.
This will be a huge developing story today if Eveslage can use his chip lead to get closer to his second bracelet of the series and cement himself as a master of the dealer’s choice set of games.
#5. Huge numbers continue
The numbers in the 2023 WSOP have been enormous thus far as a massive summer seems to be in store. More evidence of that came on Sunday when Event #11: No-Limit Hold’em Deepstack drew 6,085 entries which shattered last year’s 4,913 total in the same event.
The first Sunday of the 2023 WSOP was one to remember and a sign of things to come in the sizzling summer of poker at the WSOP.
