WSOP 2023 Day 35 Recap: Main Event Kicks Off with Over 1,000 Entrants on Day 1a, Colossus won for $500,000

The first day of the WSOP Main Event saw 1,080 entrants as some of the best players in the world mix it with hopeful amateurs all with the same ambition – to win the likely eight-figure top prize and become world champion. On a busy day at the felt in Las Vegas, the Horseshoe and Paris casinos saw bracelets won in other events in dramatic fashion too.

WSOP Main Event Kicks Off in Style

The 2023 WSOP Main Event saw 1,080 players take on the “greatest tournament in poker” as stars of the felt lined up against amateurs playing a live event for the first time. The Main Event is special and as Jamie Gold opened the show, players took the tables in order to play their way into Day 2. Not everyone made it, with a devastating kings-into-aces loss for Israeli player Idan ‘The One’ leaving him slumped against the wall for the remainder of Level 2, the early bust-out stinging like no other in tournament poker.

Landon Tice was another who saw his hopes of becoming world champion blow up on Day 1a. He lost with full house against full house for almost all of his chips, having the foresight to protect his stack with a 5,000 chip remaining. That single chip was good enough for Jack ‘Treetop’ Straus to win the Main Event 40 years ago, but Tice will not be doing so. Despite spinning it up to over 17,000 chips, the young phenom busted soon after.

One player who climbed the leaderboard on Day 1a almost didn’t make the start at all. Doug Polk is famed for slamming players in poker, but he got slammed himself before even arriving at the Horseshoe. Static in traffic, he took a hit from behind worse than a one-outer on the river as his car was crashed into on the freeway. Managing to escape the car wreck – after making sure the other driver was OK – Polk made it to the ‘Shuffle Up and Deal’ and bagged up a top 10 stack.

Chip leader at the close of play was Israel’s Yehuda Dayan, who closed the action on 389,900. Behind him were the Japanese player Shota Nakanishi (360,100) and Chinese hopeful Hai-Chi Ho (297,400). Doug Polk ended the day fourth in chips from 721 survivors on a stack of 281,900, the highest-ranked American on Day 1a.

Colossus Won for Half a Million

The 70^th bracelet event of the 2023 WSOP saw the Israeli player Moshe Refaelowitz win the $501,120 top prize, beating South Korean Dae Woong Song to the top prize after an epic final table played out. Of the final table’s nine players, five were American, yet three quick successive bust-outs for home country players kicked off the action.

Colin Robinson, William Ackerman and Nikhil Nair all busted, the final six battled for supremacy after players such as James Dempsey, John Gorsuch, Jason Wheeler, and Ashkan Razavi all busted before the final nine.

After winning heads-up, Refealowitz paid tribute to his supportive wife for believing in him and shared the winning moment with his many friends and family on the rail.

“I feel amazing, I’m overwhelmed,” he said. “It’s a dream come true, and I’m grateful”.

Julio Belluscio Wins Mixed Big Bet Bracelet

Argentinian player Julio Belluscio won the $2,500-entry Mixed Big Bet event after beating Federico Quevedo heads-up for the gold. Benny Glaser came third as the British mixed game specialist came up just short on a packed day of action. Erick Lindgren started and ended the day in fifth place, winning $37,901 in the process.

Oleon on the Brink in Mini Main Event

French player Jérémy Oleon leads the final five in the WSOP Mini Main Event, with 98.1 million chips as he bids to win the $549,555 top prize and a much-coveted bracelet. Day 2 of Event #74, the $1,000-entry Mini Main Event saw 428 players return to the felt, and from a starting field of 5,257, there are now just five players left.

With players such Jennifer Abad (80,000,000), Oliver Berens (63,300,000), Bradley Gafford (18,400,000), and Joshua Reichard (55,900,000) all vying for the win, it could yet be a topsy-turvy final day, as all of the players hope to land gold by the close of the action.

Stephen Deutsch Leads PLO Championship

The United States player Stephen Deutsch (2,110,000) ended Day 2 of the $10,000-entry PLO Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship in the lead with 19 players left in with a chance of winning the bracelet.

The penultimate day of the tournament began with 149 players in seats, as late registration bumped the total entries to 277. With a prizepool of $2,576,100 meaning a top prize of $598,613 and the bracelet will be handed out tomorrow, John Holley (2,040,000), Hassan Kamel (1,745,000), Ryan Hoenig (1,550,000) and Maxx Coleman (1,090,000) all made the top five, with Dylan Weisman (545,000) and Joao Simao (585,000) both still in there punching.

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