WSOP 2023 Day 41 Recap: Chance Kornuth and Nicholas Rigby Both End Day 3 of Main Event in Top Five Stacks

The 41^st day of action in this year’s 2023 World Series of Poker took us nearer to the money as the WSOP Main Event, flooded this year with a record crowd of 10,043 players, was whittled down to just 1,517 hopefuls at the close of Day 3. That meant just 10 more players needed to bust before the minimum cash of $15,000 is claimed for players finishing in 1,507^th place. Everyone, however, has their eyes on the title of world champion and record-setting top prize of $12.1 million.

Fighting Chance of Title for Kornuth, Rigby Still Rising

With the money bubble approaching, the biggest stacks in the WSOP Main Event are able to exert huge influence over proceedings. When play resumes on Day 4, they will be hoping that the bubble lasts as long as possible and among those big stacks are chip leader Antonio Heredia (1,899,000). His lead is slim from Chance Kornuth, who with 1,887,000 chips, looks to be a real threat to the title even at this early stage.

Back in 2019, Nicholas Rigby finished in 52^nd place, and the ‘Dirty Diaper’ is back in the running for this year’s World Championship. Bagging up 1,719,000, Rigby once again enjoyed another extremely profitable day at the felt and impressed with his fearless brand of poker that has yielded such dividends in this past in this event.

Other big names to make Day 4 with far above the average stack included British players Andrew Hulme (1,499,000) and Stephen Chidwick (1,106,000), who will be both be massive threats on the fourth day of action. Chidwick in particular has a huge reputation in the States and lives in Las Vegas, making this virtually a home tournament for him, a factor that can become crucial toward the latter stages of the Main Event.

Other Stars Secure Spots in Day 4 Seat Draw

Several international players of huge repute joined those already mentioned in tomorrow’s draw. Chris Brewer has already won two bracelets and is clearly greedy for another, bagging up 1,447,000 chips as he slid into the next day in 16^th place out of the 1,507 players. Brazilian pro Yuri Dzivielevski (1,059,000) also topped a million chips, with Dylan Weisman - who late-regged on Day 2 in a bid to finally make Day 3 – excelling as he totalled 933,000 for Day 4.

Daniel Weinman, who ran Daniel Zack close for Player of the Year 2022, ended Day 3 on 863,000 chips, with TV writer and former WPT Player of the Year Matt Salsberg would be one of the most popular Main Event winners in history – he came in with 835,000 chips.

Chris Moneymaker’s Main Event adventure continues into Day 4 too, 20 years on from his 2003 World Championship victory kick-starting the first ‘Poker Boom’. We’re now a few weeks into the second boom and Moneymaker is riding high with 778,000 chips, almost certain to cash and looking to run deep.

Finally, another big name known to most but not all Stateside is John Duthie. The British player invented the European Poker Tour and piled up 727,000 chips. Alongside his friend, Barny Boatman (95,000), Duthie will be great value to watch on Day 4.

Skaggs the Champion in Bounty PLO Event

Thomas Skaggs won his first-ever WSOP bracelet after taking down Event #78, the $1,500-entry Bounty PLO tournament for $171,742. Beating David Hu heads-up, Skaggs took the title after a final table featuring nine players also said goodbye to players such as Noah Schwartz in 8^th for $17,069 and Vincent Moscati in 6^th for $29,773.

Massive Turnout Closes Field in Lucky 7’s

The third and final Day 1 flight, Day 1C, of the $777-entry Event #77 NLHE Lucky 7's event saw 153 survivors from a field of 3,444 entrants as a total prizepool of just under $5 million was confirmed. The specifics of who will win what will be announced at the beginning of tomorrow’s Day 2, but the WSOP Circuit Ring winner Morgan Petro (3,100,000) will certainly be eyeing up that prize.

The two-time WSOP bracelet winner Shawn Daniels (2,945,000) sits in second, while Toshimasa Sakato (2,360,000) ended the day in third place on the leaderboard, with others such as David Miscokowski (1,940,000), Bin Weng (1,765,000) and Michael Rodrigues (1,400,000) all still in contention.

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