WSOP 2023 Day 28 Recap: Lonnie Hallett and Mike Gorodinsky Claim Gold, Mike Matusow Misses Out

An epic day of action in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) saw nine events take place at the Horseshoe and Paris casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada as three gold WSOP bracelets were won in H.O.R.S.E., the Seniors Championship and Seven Card Stud.

 

Hallett the Hero in Seniors Championship

 

Lonnie Hallett beat Billy Baxter heads-up to deny the 82-year-old poker legend an eight WSOP bracelet and in the process won his first.

 

“I just can’t believe it, such a huge field it's almost impossible to do, and somehow it happened. I’m grateful, can’t believe it, I’m so happy," Hallett said afterwards when surrounded by his family and friends on the rail. Having defeated not only Baster heads-up but Dan Heimiller who led the final table when it began, Hallett was humble in accepting the moment of his poker career.

 

“I’ve played with Dan a few times before and he’s always so tough,” he said. “It was just incredible to play with Billy Baxter and to end up heads up with him, what more could you want?”

 

The final table was an exciting one, with Heimiller and Hallett going into the action way ahead of the others. Former chip leader Gordon Eng missed out in fifth place before Shannon Fahey lasted until fourth place. After taking care of Heimiller in third place, Hallett used that momentum to beat his idol Baxter in the final duel.

 

Before this event, Hallett had won $177,000 in his live tournament career. In taking the Event #48 title, he won the top prize of $765,731. Almost speechless, he summed up what it meant to him, and it wasn’t about the money. His words said everything about what makes the World Series so special.

 

“You can make money, but you can’t buy a bracelet.”

 

WSOP 2023 Event #48: $1,000 Seniors Championship Results:
Rank	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Lonnie Hallett	Canada	$765,731
2nd	Billy Baxter	United States	$473,212
3rd	Dan Heimiller	United States	$356,166
4th	Shannon Fahey	United States	$269,841
5th	Gordon Eng	United States	$205,799
6th	Loren Cloninger	United States	$158,006
7th	Rudolf Fourie	South Africa	$122,130
8th	Ron Fetsch	United States	$95,040
9th	David Stearns	United States	$74,464

 

Gorodinsky Wins Third Bracelet, Livingston Goes Close

 

Mike ‘Gordo’ Gorodinsky won his third WSOP bracelet in Event #54, denying Alex Livingston his second gold trophy by winning the heads-up. After an exciting final table that thrilled viewers on the PokerGO live stream, Gorodinsky managed to get over the line after starting the final day as the chip leader.

 

Big names took part in the final day of action but after Scott Seiver (5^th for $101,319) and Brian Yoon (4^th for $136,649) both lost out before the podium places, it looked like Gorodinsky and Livingston, who came into the action first and second in the chipcounts, were on a collision course. So it proved, and after Gorodinsky’s lead saw him enter the final draw of a card in the lead, Livingston needed help. He asked Gordo about the possibility of getting his hands on the bracelet.

 

“Are you ready to win your third?” asked Livingston.

 

“I wouldn’t say no,” replied Gorodinsky and after the Canadian couldn’t improve, Gordo had grabbed the gold. You can read all about the final table in more detail right here in our full report.

 

WSOP 2023 Event #54: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship Results:
Rank	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Mike Gorodinsky	United States	$422,747
2nd	Alex Livingston	Canada	$261,278
3rd	Brad Ruben	United States	$184,406
4th	Brian Yoon	United States	$136,649
5th	Scott Seiver	United States	$101,319
6th	Carol Fuchs	United States	$76,412
7th	Christopher Claassen	United States	$58,633

 

Matusow Misses Out on Fifth as Horecki the Hero

 

Poker can be brutal and in the crestfallen pose of a man who is gutted to have come so close after the event, Mike Matusow looked desolate. Quickly enveloped by his circle of friends, the four-time bracelet winner will by now be happy with a $95,957 runner-up prize, the support of his pals and the knowledge that he came so close despite going into heads-up facing a 2:1 deficit. What will hurt is getting so near and yet finishing without the gold.

 

The winner of Event #55, the $1,500 buy-in Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better tournament, Marcin Horecki, was a first-time winner and as such, thoroughly deserved his win after a dominant final table display.

 

For Matusow it was only pain, but Brian Rast, who came 7th for $18,709, a more sanguine look back at the event was easy.

 

“Seventh… but very happy with how I played today,” he told his fans on Twitter. “Definitely better than yesterday!! I made some pretty sick reads that were right. But ultimately just ran out of luck in this one. Tourney was a lot of fun! Onto the next!”  

 

The different feelings from coming into a poker event with a recent bracelet in Rast’s case or none for a decade in Matusow’s were self-evident. The Mouth will be back.

 

WSOP 2023 Event #55: $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Results:
Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Marcin Horecki	Poland	$155,275
2nd	Mike Matusow	United States	$95,957
3rd	Scott Numoto	United States	$66,950
4th	James Cheung	United Kingdom	$47,475
5th	Sergio Braga	Brazil	$34,225
6th	Michael Estes	United States	$25,089
7th	Brian Rast	United States	$18,709
8th	Chris George	United States	$14,195

 

Double Chance for Crushing Kornuth

 

Chance Kornuth will head into Day 3 of the $25,000-entry Event #57, otherwise known as the latest PLO High Roller event, with a huge lead. The popular triple bracelet winner will begin the next day’s play as a massive chip leader with 7,245,000 chips as only 31 players remain in the hunt for the $2.3 million top prize.

 

From an overall field of 449 entries, Dylan Weisman (4,355,000), Isaac Haxton (4,320,000) and overnight leader Firas Kashat (4,189,000) are the only players over 4 million chips and best placed to cause Kornuth trouble. There are plenty of big names fighting a little further back, however, with six-time WSOP champion Jeremy Ausmus (2,290,000), the 2022 Player of the Year and three-time winner Daniel Zack (2,230,000) and double bracelet winner Ben Lamb (1,795,000) all inside the top half of the leaderboard with two days to play.

 

WSOP 2023 Event #57: $25,000 PLO High Roller Leaderboard:
Rank	Player	Country	Chips
1st	Chance Kornuth	United States	7,245,000
2nd	Dylan Weisman	United States	4,355,000
3rd	Isaac Haxton	United States	4,320,000
4th	Firas Kashat	United States	4,185,000
5th	Ka Kwan Lau	Hong Kong	3,890,000

 

Alexander Chasing Stephens for Warriors Gold

 

There are only 14 players remaining in the record-breaking Salute to Warriors Event #56, with the $500 buy-in field narrowed to two tables as players head to the final day of action. With a $217,921 top prize on the table for the winner, Ryan Stephens’ stack of 28,775,000 is the biggest, but the chips are spread remarkably evenly, with the only former bracelet winner DJ Alexander (20,625,000) very much in the running.

 

Alexander starts third in chips and will push for glory tomorrow in this very special event, which donated more than $100,000 to the USO yesterday and broke records with its total attendance of 4,303 entries. There were 661 players who began Day 2, but with two tables left, the title is anyones in what will be an unmissable conclusion tomorrow.

 

WSOP 2023 Event #56: $500 Salute to Warriors Leaderboard:
Rank	Player	Country	Chips
1st	Ryan Stephens	United States	28,775,000
2nd	Youssef Hicham	Morocco	22,550,000
3rd	Dejuante Alexander	United States	20,625,000
4th	Ali Alawadhi	United States	20,425,000
5th	Raffaello Locatelli	Italy	19,825,000

 

Millionaire Maker Down to 41 as Kniep Leads

 

There are just 41 players remaining in the $1,500 buy-in Millionaire Maker, which set records for its attendance being the biggest ever seen in a live poker tournament for an entry fee of this size. German player Andreas Kniep (19.6 million) leads the remaining players, who are battling to win a top prize of $1.2 million, with the runner-up also earning a seven-figure sum as just over $1m.

 

Of the remaining players, Moldova’s Pavel Plesuv in third place on 14.1 million will perhaps be most hopeful of using his experience and chips as a winning combination to capture gold, but Arnaud Mattern (7.5m), Javier Zarco (7.25m) and Roberto Romanello (6.7m) all have the know-how to win gold. Blair Hinkle (6.6m) and David ‘ODB’ Baker (4.6m) will be big threats too.

 

WSOP 2023 Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker Leaderboard:
Rank	Player	Country	Chips
1st	Andreas Kniep	Germany	19,600,000
2nd	Champie Douglas	United States	16,225,000
3rd	Pavel Plesuv	Moldova	14,175,000
4th	Paul Gunness	United States	13,850,000
5th	Andras Matrai	Hungary	12,875,000

 

Daly on Top in Limit Hold’em Event

 

With just 17 players surviving Day 2 of the three-day Event #58, it is Jason Daly (1,119,000) who leads the $3,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em 6-Max event with a day to play. Nick Pupillo (1,040,000) hovers ominously in third place on the leaderboard and is looking to win his second bracelet in just a handful of WSOP days tomorrow, along with the $165,250 top prize.

 

Elsewhere in the counts, David Bach (775,000) will hoping his nickname of ‘The Gunslinger’ allows him to shoot down the opposition and grab his fourth WSOP bracelet on the third and final day of the event.

 

WSOP 2023 Event #58: $3,000 Limit Hold'em 6-Max Leaderboard:
Rank	Player	Country	Chips
1st	Jason Daly	United States	1,119,000
2nd	Daniel Maczuga	United States	1,100,000
3rd	Nick Pupillo	United States	1,040,000
4th	Mavrick Yoo	United States	920,000
5th	Tom Koral	United States	805,000

 

Niall Farrell Among Leaders in No Limit Freezeout

 

Scotsman Niall Farrell is one of several big names flying high in Event #59, the NLHE Freezeout event, where 240 players survived a Day 1 field of 1,598. Robert Kuhn led the survivors on 1.4 million chips way more than anyone including his closest challenger and Russian player Giorgii Skhulukhia (999,000), who ended one 1k chip short of a million.

 

Behind the leaders, however, a galaxy of poker stars sit waiting to pounce on any mistake, with Ryan Leng (874,000), the aforementioned Farrell (607,000), Anthony Spinella (584,000) and Upeshka De Silva (570,000) all ended the day in the top 10% of stacks.

 

WSOP 2023 Event #59: $3,000 NLHE Freezeout Leaderboard:
Rank	Player	Country	Chips
1st	Robert Kuhn	United States	1,410,000
2nd	Giorgii Skhulukhia	Russia	999,000
3rd	Juan Duenas	United States	967,000
4th	Ryan Leng	United States	874,000
5th	Johan Schumacher	Belgium	820,000

 

Trivett Leads from Seidel and Schulman in 2-7 Single Draw

 

Poker legends seemed to all survive on Day 1 of Event #60, the $1,500-entry No Limit 2-7 Single Draw event. With 566 entries, only 160 survived to make the Day 2 cut. Of those, only 83 will get paid, but Michael Trivett (401,000), Erik Seidel (259,000) and Mike ‘Sir Watts’ Watson (208,000) are unlikely to have too many worries about making the money and will instead be focused on winning the $151,276 top prize.

 

Others such as Nick Schulman (195,000) and Michael Moncek (165,500) will both have other ideas as each man bids to win his second bracelet of the summer, while other big names such as Maria Ho (152,500) and Greg Raymer (147,500) have put themselves in a great position to claim gold.

 

WSOP 2023 Event #60: $1,500 No Limit 2-7 Single Draw Leaderboard:
Place	Player	Country	Chips
1st	Michael Trivett	United States	401,000
2nd	Erik Seidel	United States	259,000
3rd	Mike Watson	Canada	208,000
4th	Hugh Joiner	United States	201,000
5th	Nick Schulman	United States	195,000
6th	Michael Moncek	United States	165,500
7th	Will Berry	United States	160,500
8th	Daniel Tafur	Spain	158,500
9th	Jon Turner	United States	154,500
10th	Sami Bechahed	France	154,000

 

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