WSOP 2023 Day 10 Recap: Isaac Haxton Wins High Roller for $1.7m, Rafael Reis Thrills Brazil with Debut Gold

The 10^th day of the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) saw bracelets won by first-time winners from both ends of the poker profession. Isaac Haxton continued his personal best year of a career that has spanned two decades, while Brazil flooded the Horseshoe with color as Rafael Reis claimed gold to send his rail into raptures. Here’s what went down on the latest round of bracelet events at the 54^th annual WSOP.

Haxton the Hero for $1.7m in High Roller

Isaac Haxton cannot stop winning, and the American poker hero added another bucket list wish to the ‘done’ pile last night as he took down Event #16 for $1.7m. Winning his first-ever WSOP event, Haxton took his name off the list of ‘Best Never to Win a Bracelet’ and possibly bumped third-place finisher Darren Elias to the top.

A fun final table took place live on PokerGO as Haxton got down to business right away, taking out one of his biggest threats in the form of Brian Rast. He departed in seventh place for $202,532 and six-handed, Frank Funaro lost his seat before the overnight leader Roman Hrabec and British pro Lewis Spencer also departed.

Three men remained, and in Elias and Haxton, two of the biggest names never to claim WSOP gold were fighting it out to end that wait. Another player was still in his seat, however, and it was another British professional who had a big say in the destiny of the title. Elias was all-in with ace-jack and Ryan O’Donnell called with king-jack. The board was a painful one for Elias (below), as the four-time WPT winner saw his WSOP title hopes crushed by O’Donnell rivering Broadway to eliminate him in third for $725,790.  

That gave O’Donnell 19 million chips, but he was still an underdog to Haxton with over 25m and soon after, with Haxton ahead again, the chips went into the middle. Incredibly, O’Donnell looked set to repeat the trick, as his ace-ten hit a ten on the flop against Haxton’s ace-jack. A jack came on the river, however, to rip the possibility of parity away from O’Donnell and in doing so, hand Haxton his first WSOP bracelet in dramatic fashion.

You can read more about how the final table went down right here in our full report.

Reis Cheered from Rafters for First Brazilian Bracelet of 2023

The first-timer victories continued in Event #15 as the $1,500-entry NLHE Six-Handed event saw Rafael Reis crowned champion at the expense of Spanish runner-up Daniel Barriocanal. An entertaining final day saw French player Sarah Herzali go into the action with a massive lead with three times the average stack. Her lead was diminished, however, and after the earlier final table elimination of John Monnette in 5^th place for $111,755, Herzali herself busted in 3^rd place for $207,220.

That left Barriocanal and Reis to battle it out for the bracelet. Two huge rails cheered every card. At one point, wrongly. The Brazilian final went crazy when Rafael Reis and his friends misread a board.

“I was not looking at the table, I was looking at the monitor,” said Reis to PokerNews after the event. “When the last card hit the felt, I saw a straight and everybody was cheering, so I was cheering. When I came back, it was hard. I had to come back again. I was in Narnia. When I was celebrating, I went from Narnia to the WSOP, and I had to go back to Narnia again.”

Eventually, those cheers were for real as Reis triumphed legitimately. After the cheers died down, the enormity of his accomplishment dawned on him.

“I had a mission, and I accomplished my mission.” He said. And what a mission it was, as he celebrated an epic win worth a stunning $465,501.

Collopy Claims Gold After Lengthy Heads-Up Battle

Jim Collopy claimed an epic win last night as the small hours played out superb drama in Las Vegas. Event #17, the $1,500-entry Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better event saw Collopy finally triumph against heads-up rival Nick Kost.

Some four hours into their epic duel, Collopy remarked: “I believe I played the longest heads-up match in WSOP history fifteen years ago.”

As a member of Kost rail yelled, “Why don't you just chop the bracelet in half?!” Kost himself responded.

“Do you realize this boy just bragged about playing the longest heads-up match in history? He's not going anywhere, and neither am I.”

That was all the irony-o-meter needed to hear, and the match was swiftly over, Collopy making kings-full to take the title after a final table had earlier said goodbye at a dignified time of the evening to overnight leaders Kyle Cartwright (7^th for $27,986) and Kyle Burnside (3^rd for $85,977).

He may have had to wait a long time for his third WSOP bracelet on the night, but after previously winning gold in PLO and H.O.R.S.E. event, Collopy may not have won at a canter, but eventually got over the line all the same in Las Vegas.

Arnwine in the Lead After 4,500 Take on Gladiatorial Battle

The second day of action was a big one in the $300-entry Gladiators of Poker Event #18. When the day was over, an amazing 4,571 players had been reduced to just 151 players in seats, with over 650 players making the money. Of the remaining players, it is Justin Arnwine (3,080,000) who has the biggest stack, with his lead a notable one beyond Matthew Krieger (2,760,000) and Bernard Muhire (2,485,000).

Elsewhere in the Day 1b counts, there were bags to fill for Yan Li (1,455,000), Jeffrey Copeland (1,300,000) and Yueqi Wang (875,000) as the day closed following the exits of stars such as Lexy Gavin-Mather, Kathy Liebert and Benjamin Moon.

Xu Leads Last 11 in Freezeout Event with $435k Up Top

Just 11 players remain in the hunt for glory in the $2,500-entry Event #19, the No Limit Hold’em Freezeout event, as three former WSOP event winners look to add a second gold bracelet to their collections. The Chinese player Qiang Xu (7,760,000) built a huge lead on Day 2 of this three-day event, but he will be chased down by two former WSOP event winners in Frenchman Alexandre Reard (4.8 million) and Andres Korn (4.76m) as they look to stop Xu taking the crown.

A little further down the list is the most decorated player remaining in the competition. Scottish player Niall Farrell doesn’t only have a WSOP title in his career, but a EPT and WPT title too, making him one of just nine players worldwide to have won the fabled ‘Triple Crown’. Farrell only has 1.7 million chips but would love to win his second WSOP title in Las Vegas tomorrow.

Popovych Out to Prevent ODB Grabbing Third Bracelet

Only 13 players are left fighting for the title in Event #20, the $1,500 buy-in Badugi event, with Americans Serhii Popovych (1,885,000) and David ‘ODB’ Baker (1,400,000) in a tussle at the top of the leaderboard as they battle for the bracelet. Of the pair, only Baker has tasted WSOP victory before, with Baker going for title number three.

Baker is not the only former WSOP bracelet winner still in there scrapping, however, with British-based Hong Kong player Danny Tang (1,180,000) very much alive and well in the top five. Owais Ahmed (620,000) also has a previous WSOP win but starts 11^th on the ‘grid’ with everything to do in order to make the final table, let alone go on to win.

Dentale and Gorodinksy Strong on Day 1 of $1,000 PLO Event

Both Mike Dentale (760,000) and Mike Gorodinsky (734,000) made the top 10 in chips on Day 1 of the $1,000-entry PLO Event #21 in Las Vegas. With players such as Johnny Chan falling short on the opening day, the chip leader was Suk Bang (1,465,000), with Israeli player Ido Aboudi (1,020,000) the only other entrant to top a million chips.

Overall, the event had 2,017 entries, another strong increase of last year’s total of 1,891. Everyone remaining in the 117-long player list has their eyes on that top prize of $267,991 from here until the winner is crowned tomorrow in this two-day event.

Shimizu on Song in Limit Hold’em Championship

Japanese star Nozomu Shimizu leads after a busy opening day of action in Event #22, the $10,000-entry Limit Hold’em Championship saw him pile up 334,000 in chips, good for a slim lead over Kevin Song (322,000) ahead of Day 2 of the event. Shimizu is a man in form, with his podium place in Event #12, the $5k NLHE Freezeout event, for over $287,000 still fresh in the memory.

Elsewhere in the top 10, and indeed third place, there was a bag for 2021 world champion Koray Aldemir (266,000), who will look to do his country proud again as he battles to follow up his WSOP Main Event victory of two years ago with another gold bracelet. With Cary Katz in fourth on 251,000 chips, it is a top-quality field going into the second day.

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