WSOP 2023 Day 18 Recap: Klodnicki, Wong, Troha and Suzuki all Win Gold on Bumper Day of Drama

Four WSOP bracelets were won on a busy Friday night in Las Vegas as Chris Klodnicki slayed the Secret Bounty event, Jerry Wong sealed the deal in the Razz Championship and Sean Troha took the title in Pot Limit Omaha. There were five other tournaments in progress on Day 18 of the 2023 World Series of Poker at Horseshoe Las Vegas and Paris casinos.

Klodnicki Takes Title in Secret Bounty

Chris Klodnicki took down the $10,000-entry Secret Bounty Event #35 for $733,317 as he beat Aram Oganyan for the WSOP bracelet.

“I’ve been playing a ton of online no-limit hold'em so, you know, I felt really good, and they have the bounty events online too, so I felt really comfortable in this format, and it was nice to get back to live poker. I’ve always felt comfortable in live poker. I’ve worked on my fundamentals a little bit more by playing online.”  

Klodnicki reigned supreme at a dramatic final table, as he got the better of a stacked table full of talent. With the action playing out to a global audience on PokerGO, Klodnicki’s triumph represented his second WSOP bracelet and in winning, he denied several stars of the felt, including Barak Wisbrod (3^rd for $323,181) and Angel Guillen (6^th for $127,515).

Jeremy Ausmus came into the action second in chips, but the five-time WSOP champion was unable to make the podium places as he slid out of contention in 4^th place for a score of $233,690 at his second final table of the summer.

Jerry Wong Gets it Right in Razz

Jerry Wong won the $10,000-entry Razz Championship, and in doing so, denied Michael Moncek the opportunity to become the second double bracelet winner of the 2023 WSOP. Moncek eventually exited in third place as play began three-handed on an added day to this Championship event, cashing for $133,177.

Heads up, Wong came back from a 4:1 chip deficit to Carlos Chadha, who missed out on the chance to earn his first WSOP bracelet, cashing for $184,599 in second place after Wong’s needle when the final duel began turned out to be true.

“Not gonna lie, it's gonna be tough for you,” Wong said during the heads-up match. “I've played a lot of heads-up razz.”

Wong got it right as he took the bracelet and top prize of $298,682.

Troha Takes Dramatic PLO Title

Sean Troha took the title in Event #34, the $1,500-entry PLO event with a top prize of a very similar $298,192. Winning heads-up against Ryan Coon, it was almost a ‘rags to riches’ story in terms of chips for the latter, who had come into the last day 10^th in chips. Coon got so close, but fell at the last, however, and Troha got the job done.

Rob Mizrachi was the favorite coming into the day, but the four-time bracelet winner never got going and missed out on the chance of making it five long before the heads-up crashing out in 7^th place for a score of $42,200. Troha, meanwhile, was delighted that he managed to get over the line.

“I guess I’m as confident as I’ve been,” he told reporters in the minutes after victory. “There are still better players out there, but I’ve done a little bit of work and I guess I’m just trying to do my best.”

His best was more than good enough as he claimed his second bracelet in style in Las Vegas.

Suzuki Wins in Nine Game Mix

Japan’s Ryutaroi Suzuki was the king of the Nine Game Mix after he triumphed in Event #36, which had a $3,000 buy-in. At the age of just 22, Suzuki became just the seventh player from Japan to ever win a poker event and dominated the final table to do so, outlasting players of vast experience such as fellow countryman Tamon Nakamura (4^th for $64,320) and the world-wise Renan Bruschi from Brazil, who won $32,741 in 7^th place.

Speaking after the event, Suzuki sais: “The Japanese poker community is really growing up. There were a few bracelet holders, especially in mixed games.  It’s really so special for me and the poker community.”

After players such as former chip leader Jean Gaspard (20^th), overnight chip leader Philip Long (12^th) and Shawn Buchanan (11^th) all exited before the final table, Suzuki took his chance and earned a first WSOP bracelet in style.

Bailey on Top in $250,000 Super High Roller

Dustin Bailey was the surprise name to top the leaderboard after Day 1 of the most expensive tournament to take place under the WSOP lights this summer. Bailey ended the first day’s action in the $250,000-entry Super High Roller Event #40 with a massive stack of 4,850,000, good for a lead over fellow podium placed players Chance Kornuth (4,340,000) and Steven Veneziano (4,315,000).

Elsewhere in the top 10, there were spots for Russian crusher Artur Martirosian (3,785,000), British high roller regular Ben Heath (3,720,000) and 2021 WSOP world champion Koray Aldemir (3,535,000), with last year’s Main Event winner Espen Jorstad sneaking into 10^th place with 2.8 million chips.

Phil Hellmuth isn’t known for playing every high roller going, such is his advantage in massive field events and several side events in recent years, but the Poker Brat ponied up and made a profit on his starting stack of 1.5 million chips, ending the day on 1,590,000.

Another Phil, that is to say the 10-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Ivey, made his bow too and although he ended on fewer chips than he began, he'll be happy to have survived Day 1 with 1,235,000 chips. Write Ivey off at your peril! 

Li Leads in No Limit Event #37

A total of 1,962 have played Event #37, the $2,000-entry No Limit Hold’em event, which saw just 36 players make Day 3 of the tournament. Of them, Yuan Li from China leads the field with 5.35 million chips, a short distance ahead of American Patrick Truong (5,220,000), with French player Antoine Saout coming in fifth on 3,615,000 chips. Irish player Marc Macdonnell (2,970,000) and overnight leader Lee Piniatoglou (2.61 million) both made the top 10 too.

Glaser and Baker in Top 10 of Triple Draw

Benny Glaser leads the final 10 players in the $10,000-entry Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Championship event, with David ‘Bakes’ Baker also present. The Brit has the lead with 1,695,000 chips, while Baker is in fifth place on 750,000.

Glaser will be going for his fifth bracelet on the third and final day of this event, with Joao Vieira (1,105,000) in third place on the grid, and four-time winner Julien Martini (660,000) still in with a shout too. Portuguese player Michael Rodrigues (735,000) has another shot at winning his second bracelet this series and is playing for vital Player of the Year points too.

Monster Stack Stars with Massive Turnout

An incredible opening day of action in one of last year’s most popular events, the $1,500-entry Monster Stack, saw Event #39 start with a bang in Las Vegas. In 2022, the opening day of the corresponding event saw 2,947 entries. This year’s Day 1a total was an incredible 3,945, with 1,242 of those players surviving.

Top of the shop was Bulgarian Pavlin Kanakikov (593,500), with stars such as Ben Spragg (409,000), David Jackson (373,500) and Michael Wang (329,500) all finishing comfortably inside the top 100 stacks.

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