WSOP 2023 Day 36 Recap: Main Event Sees Stars Make Top 20, Two Other Bracelets Events Won

A busy day of action in both the WSOP Main Event and the Mini Main Event saw legends of the game of poker progress from Day 1b in the big one, while two bracelets were won in other events. The stars were out on Day 36 of the 2023 World Series of Poker as Patrik Antonius and Julien Martini were two big names of many who excelled at the felt at the Horseshoe and Paris casinos in Las Vegas.

Superstars Shine on Day 1b of Packed Main Event Field

It was a pulsating day of poker action on Day 1b of the $10,000-entry WSOP Main Event. With 1,118 entries the adjudged number at the time of going to press, a total field of 2,158 has been whittled down to 1,621 survivors over Day 1, with five 120-minute levels producing 819 survivors on Day 1b specifically.

Top of the leaderboard after that time was Jean-Pierre van der Spuy of South Africa, whose stack of 287,000 was good enough to lead on the day, although that was some way short of three players who made the podium places on Day 1a, including the current overall leader Yehuda Dayan (389,900).

Behind van der Spuy on Day 1b, a collection of some of the world’s most feared poker players are queueing in his slipstream. Four-time bracelet winner Julien Martini (286,000) ended the day a three-bet short of the chip lead. Finnish poker legend Patrik Antonius (263,500) was only a four-bet back. Other stars such as Anatoly Filatov (231,000), Daniel Rezaei (216,200) and Chris Brewer (173,000) all comfortably made the top 50.

The biggest name to finish high on the Day 1b leaderboard, without doubt, is the 10-time WSOP bracelet winner and two-time world champion Johnny Chan. The Poker Hall of Famer closed the day on 218,000, which was good for 16^th place of the 819 who made it through. Chan ‘The Man’ will be tough to stop of Day 2abc.

Bradley Gafford Wins First Bracelet in Mini Main Event

U.S. player Bradley Gafford won the 74^th event of this year’s 95 bracelet tournaments, conquering the Mini Main Event for an incredible top prize of $549,555. The $1,000 buy-in event, which saw 5,257 players play down to a winner over four days, handed out well over $1.3m on the final day as the overnight leader Jeremy Oleon and Jennifer Abad both missed out on the final two let alone the gold.

Heads-up, it was Josh Reichard who ran Gafford close, but the first-time winner, who hails from San Diego, was over the moon with his result.

“I knew that there would be a possibility if I could win the first flip of the day,” he told PokerNews reporters afterwards. “I just thought everything would go my way today and it did. It has come way earlier than I thought, and I haven’t really processed it yet. I was planning on playing the Main Event tomorrow - Day 1c - but we will see what happens tonight and I might jump in the final flight, Day 1d.”

Kamel On Top as Deutsch Misses Out

Australian player Hassan Kamel won Event #75, the $10,000-entry PLO Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship, after getting the better of Ryan Hoenig heads-up. On a dramatic final day, Dylan Weisman managed to finish fifth, which he considered some result from starting lower down, thanking his fans for their support.

The overnight chip leader Stephen Deutsch saw things go against him late in the day as he could only cash in sixth place for $105,737, five places short of claiming his first bracelet. The Stateside player has now finished 6^th, 3^rd and 2^nd in WSOP events in his 16 WSOP cashes. So near, and yet so far.

Kamel, who was in the middle of a road trip when he stopped off to play at the WSOP, returns to the road with almost $600k in winnings.

"I don't really like playing tournaments,” he confessed after winning his first WSOP bracelet. “I found my favorite game, hang out, and have been road tripping across America. I honestly don't play that much any more; I just happened to be here and thought I’d come and check it out.”

There’ll be no skimping on Beef Jerky at the next truck stop for Kamel and his overjoyed rail. Did anyone say, ‘Fill it up with premium’? Kamel is over the hump in this WSOP in spectacular style.

Sam Soverel Leads Last Six in Hybrid High Roller

United States poker legend Sam Soverel (2.8 million) will look to close out his second WSOP bracelet event when he transfers from the virtual felt to the real stuff tomorrow in Las Vegas. This hybrid Online High Roller Championship cost $5,300 to play and isn’t far off what Damian Salas won back in 2021.

The hybrid winner of this event will be one of six greats who have five previous bracelet wins between them, with Yuval Bronshtein (2.7m), Aleks Ponakovs (1.5m) and Ethan Yau (1.3m) all having claimed gold before, Bronshtein twice. With Lingkun Lu (1.1m) and Gergely Kulcsar (525k) underdogs due to chip stack sizes and experience, anything could happen in this event, with $393k and the bracelet up for grabs to the winner.

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