WSOP 2023 Day 6 Recap: Nick Schulman Claims Fourth Bracelet, Chanracy Khun Beats Doug Polk to Gold

The first week of the 2023 World Series of Poker is in the books and two more bracelet winners were awarded gold bracelets on Sunday night in Las Vegas. First, Chanracy Khun beat Doug Polk in the final of the $25,000 Heads Up Championship to claim a first WSOP title before poker legend and PokerGO commentator Nick Schulman won his fourth WSOP bracelet to crown a superb day of drama.

Khun the King as Polk Falls Short

The final day of action in Event #8, the $25,000-entry Heads Up Championship, saw Chanracy Khun become a WSOP bracelet winner for the first time after a thrilling win against Doug Polk in the final battle. In the semis, Khun made light work of Sean Winter, advancing first to await his challenger as the other two men who were attempting to reach the final were embroiled in a thrilling slugfest for supremacy.   

At one stage, Brewer was well ahead of Doug Polk, with over 62% of the chips. Polk, however, is a heads-up specialist, and fought back, a key hand where he made a flush helping him turn the tide before a miraculous queen on the river when he had the ladies against Brewer’s pocket kings saw Polk do two laps of the feature table. Brewer was sunk, down to just a couple of big blinds, and when he lost those the final was set.

“We will, we will, Polk you!” the crowd roared as Polk took on Khun for what would have been the Texas-based co-owner of The Lodge’s fourth WSOP bracelet. At one stage, he was well ahead, with 6.6 million against Khun’s 2.9 million. Polk’s rail believed but lady luck, so favorable with that rivered two-outer in the semifinal, balanced the books. A bluff with a missed straight draw saw Khun hero-call with just a pair of sixes, and the tide had turned.

Shortly after, with Polk down to around ten big blinds, the popular YouTube host shoved with king-eight, Khun called with king-ten and no miracle could save Polk’s inferior hand. He lost out and won $313,362 in second place. Khun, as we detailed more here became a WSOP champion for the first time, winning a massive $507,020.

You can re-run the fun on PokerGO with a full replay of the final day right here.

Schulman Sinks Hasdal to Win Fourth WSOP Gold

Nick Schulman landed his fourth WSOP bracelet in dramatic fashion as he cruised through the field to take gold with a cigar – literally – in his mouth as play concluded. Schulman came into the final table of seven players fifth in chips, but used all his nous to negotiate his way to the top of the leaderboard when it mattered as he conquered Andrew Hasdal heads-up for the win and $110,800.

Early eliminations helped Schulman along the way. When Shaun Deeb took out Tim Frazin in seventh for $12,839, Schulman had already gathered a little pace but that dropped a little as an extended period of play without any eliminations came to pass. Schulman busted DJ Buckley in sixth to boost his own chances and doubled through the overnight chip leader John Monnette before Deeb was defeated in fifth place by that very player.

Monnette may have been dreaming of a recovery, but Schulman swiftly took half of his chips in a pot where Schulman made the most of a flush and took the outright lead in the event shortly after. Monnette busted to Schulman and the latter had all the momentum, taking out Hojeong Lee in third place, an elimination that gave him a heads-up lead of 5.8 million to 3.2 million. That counted, as he saw it out against Hasdal to claim a vital victory.

“I just decided to throw it back for the Stud," Schulman said of his cigar-chomping display to PokerNews after the event’s conclusion. “An homage...you know; let's play fast and have some fun. I'd love to win two. Who doesn't wanna rattle off bracelets and win Player of The Year and all that? I just wanna stay focused.”

Who would argue against him being the man to stop after such a dominant and composed final table display?

Chen Leads Mystery Millions After Both Big Bounties Won

The penultimate day of the $1,000-entry Mystery Millions saw both million-dollar bounties won in dramatic fashion as 1,005 players were reduced to just 30 survivors in the Horseshoe Las Vegas. After Shant Marashlian calmly collected the first of the two million-dollar bounty prizes on offer – stunning fans around the cardroom with his cool demeanour – Patrick Liang stepped up to the drum and reached in to pick out an envelope. His reaction upon winning the million-dollar prize was far more understandable as he leapt off the stage, punching the air with wild abandon in sheer delight.

When it came to the battle for the million-dollar top prize on offer for winning the tournament outright, plenty of big names fell. Matt Glantz was unable to keep himself in with a chance of winning a million in back-to-back years, but another star survived in the form of Dan Shak, though he has work to do from starting tomorrow’s final day 25^th in chips of the 30 survivors.

At the top of the leaderboard, Guang Chen built a solid lead, holding 64 million chips at the close of play, with Steven Thompson (52.3 million) and Jaime Madrigal (45.2 million) his closest rivals. Chris ‘Big Huni’ Hunichen on 30.2 million chips will look to use his final day experience to put himself in a position to win his first bracelet.

Eveslage and Hennigan Battling for Dealer’s Choice Crown

The final day of the $10,000 buy-in Dealer’s Choice Championship will see Chad Eveslage lead the remaining 13 players towards a top prize of $311,428. Eveslage, who already has one WSOP bracelet this week, could become one of the quickest players in poker history to win two bracelets in the Las Vegas WSOP. To do so, he’ll have to beat some of the best in the business on the final day.

Eveslage has built an impressive stack of over 1.3 million chips, but Ryan Goindoo (1,075,000) is close behind, with stars of the felt Ari Engel (767,000), six-time bracelet winner John Hennigan (519,000) and Mike Gorodinsky (496,000) all chasing him down.

Two Other Events Conclude Day 1s

In the $600-entry Event #11, the NLHE Deepstack event, Phil Hellmuth survived as a mammoth Day 1 field of 6,085 players were reduced to just 340 players. Hellmuth, who has a record 16 titles in the WSOP, will look to put himself in a position to win number 17 from 96^th out of those remaining players tomorrow.

In the $5,000-entry NLHE Freezeout Event #12, 148 players managed to make Day 2 from an opening day field of 735 entries Only 111 players will make the money, however, so expect a bubble-induced period of play to kick off Day 2, with Ukrainian player Artem Metaldi hoping to become the second Ukraine-based player to win a bracelet this summer.

Metaldi’s top stack of 796,000 is just ahead of Julio Delgado (728,000) and Adekunle Olonoh (709,000), with other greats such as Ben Heath (480,000), Josh Arieh (436,000) and James Chen (437,000) all making the top 20.

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