WSOP 2023 Day 22 Recap: Phil Ivey Chases 11th Bracelet in Poker Players Championship as Ashton Leads Final Dozen

Day 22 of the World Series of Poker took place in Las Vegas on Tuesday as six tournaments played their way closer to the gold in the Horseshoe Las Vegas and Paris casinos.  The $50,000 Poker Players Championship played into the money as stars of the felt such as Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Brian Rast and Josh Arieh jostled for position on a day of drama. Elsewhere, the youngest world champion in history remained in with a chance of a fifth WSOP bracelet.

Ivey and Arieh Chasing Ashton Down in PPC

Day 3 of the $50,000-entry Poker Players Championship ended with just a dozen players in seats as Matt Ashton, the British mixed game specialist, topped the leaderboard with 4.45 million chips. With eleven other terrific players making the overnight counts, there were top five placings for Brian Rast (3,365,000), Talal Shakerchi (3.43 million) and Phil Ivey (3,135,000).

The presence of Ivey in particular has captured the imagination of the crowds, and Ivey played to the online audience too, quipping that Hellmuth’s speech was the same as it always has been.

"It's just the same speech for 25 years." pic.twitter.com/Lw0jrKa6X7

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) June 21, 2023

Hellmuth had a dramatic day at the felt but avoided the ignominy of losing out on the bubble. That fell to Nacho Barbero, who lost out in 16^th place of the 99 entries and went home with nothing after the British hedge fund manager and high roller regular Talal Shakerchi busted on his way to flying high in the chipcounts.

When play ended, the 2021 WSOP Player of the Year Josh Arieh (2.36m) and overnight chip leader James Obst (1.8m) both lay in wait on the leaderboard too. The penultimate day of drama lies ahead tomorrow.

Cada Still in Monster Chase

Only seven players remain in with a chance of becoming this year’s Monster Stack champion and winning the $1.16m top prize. With Nick Gerrity (112.3 million) in the lead, everyone else is playing catch up, with Jesse Rockowitz (94.5m) the only player with over half of Gerrity’s stack.

WSOP 2009 Main Event winner and four-time bracelet winner Joe Cada is still in with a chance despite having in his own words “bluffed off” some chips before finishing on 16.6 million, just 11 big blinds.

Simao on Song as Zhang on Top

Just 109 players remain in the hunt in Event #44, the $3,000-entry NLHE Event, which had 1,735 total entries. It is the Chinese player Yang Zhang (1.88 million) who leads the chipcounts, with Brazilian powerhouse Joao Simao (1.83m) close behind.

John Marino (1,255,000) is the highest placed American on a truly continental leaderboard, as other stars such as David Miscikowski (1,005,000), Matt Berkey (800,000) and Chris Moorman (695,000) all look to add ‘2023 WSOP bracelet winner’ to their summer socials.

Shaun Deeb Close to Lead in Mixed Omaha Event

The former WSOP Player of the Year Shaun Deeb will shoot for his seventh WSOP bracelet and second this Series from a position of fourth in chips on Day 3 of the $1,500-entry Event #45 in Mixed Omaha Hi-Lo. With only 33 players left, Deeb has every chance of putting himself in pole position to win gold again, although his stack of 1,490,000 is a considerable distance behind chip leader Joseph Couden (2,885,000).

Elsewhere in the counts, Alex Livingston (1,340,000), Allan Le (1,290,000) and Raj Vohra are all former bracelet winners who are in the top 10 on the leaderboard, with British hopeful Richie Allen (440,000) a notable outsider in 22^nd place going for his first bracelet.

Preston McEwen Builds Stacks in Cooler

American player Preston McEwen leads the remaining 238 players from 5,342 entries in the $500-entry Event #46, also known as the NLHE Freezeout.

With stars such as David Jackson (805,000) and Erik Cajelais (615,000) still in contention, no-one will have it easy in this fast-paced event, but tomorrow should see the bracelet won as the speedy event plays down at least to the final table.

Zhu and Dzivielevski Running Well in H.O.R.S.E.

A whopping 836 players took on the final event of the day to conclude, with Event #47, the $1,500 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. event, attracting more players than last year’s corresponding event (773). Today, only 285 hopefuls made the Day 2 cut, with Mike Thorpe (252,500) topping a leaderboard that also featured stars such as Yueqi Zhu (243,000) and Yuri Dzivielevski (189,5000) in the top 10.

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