WSOP 2023 Day 44 Recap: Josh Arieh and Samuel Bernabeu Win Bracelets, 49 Players Still Chasing Main Event Dream

The WSOP Main Event trimmed its field from 149 to 49 on Day 6 of the biggest World Championship in poker history. On a busy day of action at both the Horseshoe and Paris casinos in Las Vegas, there were two more bracelets won, including a sixth career WSOP title for poker legend Josh Arieh in the $25,000 H.O.R.S.E. High Roller event.

Main Event Led by Joshua Payne with 49 Remaining

The sixth day of action in the WSOP Main Event saw 149 players start the day. Across five more two-hour levels, 100 players lost their tournament lives, as big names fell in general. Of the 49 remaining players, only four players have ever won a WSOP bracelet before, with no-one having won two. One of the remaining hopefuls will walk away with the biggest Main Event prize of all time - $12.1 million.

The chip leader after Day 6’s conclusion is Joshua Payne, who bagged up and incredible stack of 47,950,000 after eliminating the Day 5 chip leader Zachary Hall late in the day. Payne by name, pain by nature for the former pace-setter, but while the American’s lead is a big one, so too was Hall’s 24 hours ago and the 23-year-old Payne – who came 553^rd last year for $25,500 - will be taking nothing for granted with Juan Maceiras Lapido (40.5 million) and Daniel Weinman (24,375,000) just behind him in the podium places.

 There are plenty of big players behind the top trio, with Alec Torelli (21m) surfacing in sixth place after a late flurry not dissimilar to the chip leader. Daniel Scroggins (20,800,000) and Nick Gerrity (18m) also made the top ten.

Outside of the top ten, two men who have already clashed in a huge hand survived to make Day 7, in British poker hero Toby Lewis (15.2m) and Daniel Vampan (17m). Vampan, if you’ve forgotten, bluffed Lewis off a big pot on Day 5, but the pair are both still involved, although they missed each other in the Day 7 table draw. Lewis is at a table including no fewer than four British players, who in total represent seven of the 49 players remaining, a high proportion for any country outside America.

With big names such as Tony Dunst – who lost to Andrew Hulme’s straight flush – and Nicholas Rigby both departing on Day 6, there will be more drama tomorrow as the deep end really is reached, with another five two-hour levels expected across Day 7. Barstool Nate, a.k.a. Nathan Silver, lost his stack in 91^st place on Day 6, with the overnight chip leader, Zachary Hall, seeing his stack disappear in 51^st place.

In a year where many were predicting a female player would reach the final table, it transpired that no ladies would reach Day 7. India's Nikita Luther and France's Estelle Cohuet both busted before the end of the day, with Cohuet's run to 68^th place the deepest female run of the Main Event this year.

Josh Arieh Wins Sixth Bracelet in H.O.R.S.E. Heroics

Winning two bracelets this summer, Josh Arieh joined Chad Eveslage and Chris Brewer in achieving that particular landmark by taking down the $25,000 H.O.R.S.E. High Roller Event #80. Even better, the man known as ‘Golfer Josh’ put himself into second place on the WSOP Player of the Year leaderboard, now only behind Ian Matakis with between ten and a dozen events or so to come.

At a top-quality final table, Arieh denied Dan Heimiller the chance to scoop gold and outlasted a final table including Joao Vieira and John Hennigan, both of whom finished inside the top six. Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow slid out in fifth after Razz was his nemesis and Arieh claimed another victim on his path to glory.

Bernabeu Leaves Others Drawing Blancos

Samuel Bernabeu won his first WSOP bracelet and the top prize of $682,432 as he closed out the $2,500-entry No Limit Hold’em Event #79. James Anderson came in second after the overnight leader Seth Davies fell in fourth place. All the momentum in the final stages was with the Spanish pro, who celebrated with his rail as he won his first bracelet.

Fellow Spanish professional Ana Marquez told PokerNews after the event: “He’s a really great guy and poker player. He loves the game and is very creative. He even created his own revolutionary poker deck with five suits instead of four and wants to introduce it to the world at some point.”

If this is how good Bernabeu is with four suits, imagine his edge with five.

Malboubi Mastering the Ultra Stack

From a massive field of 4,116 players on Day 1B of the $600-entry Ultra Stack event, just 312 players made it to Day 2 and the money places. A total of 7,207 entries in Event #81 have made it a huge bracelet event to win and it is the American player Rassoul Malboubi (3,615,000) who has given himself the best chance at doing so after bagging the lead late on Day 1B.

Malboubi, who has already made the final table of this year’s Super Seniors event, is trailed in the top ten by players such as Leonard Clementi (3,500,000) and David Rich (2,950,000), with bracelet heroes Qiang Xu (2,940,000), Brett Apter (1,520,000) and Scott Bohlman (1,205,000) all present inside the top 65 places.

Connor Drinan Chasing WSOP Dream in PLO 6-Max

Connor Drinan is one of a number of top professionals in good shape going into Day 3 of the $3,000-entry PLO 6-Max Event #82. Dustin Goldklang (4,225,000) is a big chip leader, but Drinan (3,270,000) was next best after a frantic Day 2 saw 216 players who started the day reduced to just 35 survivors.

Overnight chips leader Tyler Gaston (1,745,000) is still hopeful of victory, with WSOP Player of the Year leader Ian Matakis (1,150,000) still in the hunt for a bracelet which could decide that overall leaderboard result.

Two Events End Day 1 Flights

Two more events came to a conclusion of their Day 1 flights on Day 44 of the WSOP. In Event #83, the $1,500-entry Short Deck NLHE event, David Prociak ended the day on 2 million chips and leading the final nine. Players such as Robert James (1,622,000) and Ryan Laplante (771,000) will both have designs on denying Prociak the title.

In Event #84, the $50,000 High Roller, Yang Wang (2,175,000) topped the counts, with Fedor Holz (1,990,000) close behind. Others to reach the top ten chipcounts included Dylan Linde (1,770,000) and the 2022 WSOP world champion Espen Jorstad (1,340,000) on a day where legends such as Isaac Haxton, Kristen and Alex Foxen and Chris Brewer all busted.

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