WSOP 2023 Day 4 Recap: Eveslage and Moncek Win Bracelets, Negreanu and Ivey Bust Heads Up Championship

The fourth day of the 2023 World Series of Poker produced winners across two events, as Chad Eveslage and Minchael Moncek both claimed gold in the hallowed halls of the Horseshoe Las Vegas. Elsewhere, there was a dramatic day of action in the $25,000 Heads Up Championship as Doug Polk and Landon Tice both advanced but Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey left the arena.

Chad Eveslage Wins Second Bracelet

In Event #5, the $10,000-entry Dealer’s Choice event, it was Chad Eveslage’s day as the American booked his second WSOP win. Winning the $131,879 top prize, Eveslage crushed the final table with an utterly dominant display of mixed-game poker prowess. Andrew Kelsall, another former WSOP bracelet winner, led the day into the final but he was unable to topple Eveslage heads-up and had to settle for $81,509 as runner-up.

Elsewhere at the final table, there was an impressive cash for John Racener, who came into the day tenth in chips of the 11 players who began the action. He laddered all the way to fourth for a score of $36,953 as he proved his immense durability at the WSOP felt.

Moncek Also Wins Second WSOP Crown

Michael Moncek also won his second WSOP bracelet as he scooped the $534,499 top prize in Event #6, the $5,000-entry Mixed No-Limit Hold'em/Pot-Limit Omaha event. Moncek came into the final table action in good shape, as Kristen Foxen’s elimination in seventh place made his job a little easier.

Thereafter, an important exit saw Christian Harder busted in fifth place before the WSOP Main Event final table player Alex Livingston lost out in third. Heads-up was a battle between Moncek and the overnight chip leader, Swiss player Fernando Habegger. With a 3:1 lead, Moncek made it count and took the title as you can read all about here.  

Doug Polk and Landon Tice on Collision Course in Heads-Up Championship

A thrilling first day of action took place in Event #8, the $25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship as Doug Polk and Landon Tice both advanced to the Round of 16 at the expense of big names. There was much talk pre-event of the first appearance at the WSOP tournament tables of a certain Phil Ivey, but the Hall of Famer got nowhere near the top prize of over $507,000 as he busted in the first round. It was John Smith who bettered Ivey, to raucous cheers from his rail, but the 10-time WSOP bracelet winner wasn’t the only stellar name to slide out of contention.

Daniel Negreanu survived in Round 1, beating the in-form Bin Weng, but in Round 2, he succumbed to Roberto Perez, much to the chagrin of a swelled rail who stayed behind to ask for Kid Poker’s autograph long after the match had completed. Spanish player Adrian Mateos beat Dominik Nitsche but couldn’t make Round 3, and there were early exits for Kane Kalas and Stephen Chidwick too.

Chidwick’s defeat in Round 2 came against Landon Tice, who beat Dan Smith in Round 1. The young phenom’s route to the final gets no easier – he faces three-time bracelet winner and Event #2 runner-up Chance Kornuth in ‘the money round’. Another big name to come for Tice if he can survive might be Doug Polk. The heads-up specialist is shooting for his fourth WSOP bracelet and knocked out Shunta Smoeya and Thomas Eychenne on his way to a third round meeting with Reiji Kono. If Polk survives that, he’ll face the winner of Perez and Isaac Kempton in the fourth round.

Gahshan Leads Tournament of Champions Final Table

There will be a new winner of the WSOP bracelet in Event #4 as Day 4 say seven reach the final day’s play of the Tournament of Champions. Of the seven players remaining, none of them have ever won a bracelet before, but it is the American Wissam Gahshan (5,130,000) who is best placed to alter that fact about himself in tomorrow’s final.

Patrick White from Ireland sits second in chips, but his stack of 3,885,000 is closely followed by Brent Gregory (3,400,000) and the Canadian player Justin Hotte-Mckinnon in fourth. Even Barry Schultz in seventh place on the leaderboard has a highly playable stack of 2,005,000.

Duong Leads from Baker on Limit Hold’em Final Day

Just 17 players remain in with a chance of winning the $146,835 top prize and WSOP gold bracelet in Event #7 the $1,500 Limit Hold’em event. David ODB Baker trails only Jason Duong as the two-time bracelet winner Baker hopes to make in three on Day 5 of the 2023 WSOP.

Baker isn’t the only former bracelet winner remaining in the field, but Jason Gola (210,000) has a long way to go in order to catch up in terms of the leaderboard as two tables will play down to a winner on Day 3 to crown a champion. Current leader Duong would be the series' first Canadian winner so far if he can get the job done.  

Two Other Events Reach Day 2

Two other events concluded on Day 4 of the 54^th annual WSOP, with Day 1c of the Mystery Millions – Event #3 on the schedule this year – concluding with 281 players still in seats from over 5,000 entries. It was Ryan Knight who bagged the chip lead, with over 2 million chips, a mite past Tony Love in second place on 2,010,000.

In the $1,500-entry Event #9, the Seven Card Stud event, 361 players came down to 120 survivors as Dzmitry Urbanovich took the chip lead with a stack of 292,000 was slightly higher than Chris Hundley (261,500), Shaun Deeb (255,500), Nick Schulman (241,500) and John Monnette (222,500) all making the top five in a top-quality event.

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