WSOP 2023 Day 9 Recap: Darren Elias and Isaac Haxton Both Chasing Debut Bracelet in $25k High Roller

The ninth day of action in Las Vegas, Nevada was a big one, with Brian Yoon winning the Seven Card Stud Championship, a dominant day at the felt for French player Sarah Herzali and a massive battle to the final two tables in the $25,000 High Roller 8-Max Event. With a packed house at both Horseshoe Las Vegas and Paris casinos, seven tournaments were at various stages of progress across a mammoth day in the poker world.

Brian Yoon Captures Fifth Bracelet in Seven Card Stud

Brian Yoon has his fifth WSOP bracelet after triumphing over Dan Shak heads-up in the $10,000-entry Seven Card Stud Championship. Ironically, it came at the expense of a man yet to win one as Shak finished second in a WSOP bracelet event for the third time.

Yoon’s victory came at the close of a rollercoaster final table. Heading into the final day, both Max Hoffman and Maxx Coleman were at the top of the chipcounts, but by the time the final table began, only Coleman had the lead, with Hoffman right back near the bottom of the leaderboard. Indeed, Maxx defeated Max as Hoffman couldn’t survive against the chip leader to slide out in eighth for $36,847.

Brian Yoon took over the mantle of executioner as he busted Leonard August in 7^th place, and after Ben Diebold and George Alexander departed either side of the dinner break, Yoon was almost level with Coleman. By the time Ben Yu busted, Yoon had moved ahead, and when his pair of aces took out Coleman, he went into the heads-up with almost four times Shak’s stack.

The final duel saw Shak draw almost level, but Yoon pulled away again and a Broadway straight made him the champion at Shak’s expense.

Herzali Dominates Day 2 of Event #15

French player Sarah Herzali dominated the second day of action in Event #15, as the $1,500-entry NLHE 6-Max event saw just 15 players remain in contention going into the final day. Herzali piled up 12.8 million chips, way more than anyone else including closest challengers Rafael Reis (7,825,000) and Gabriel Schroeder (5,560,000) as other star names such as John Monnette (1,580,000) and Upeshka De Silva (1,105,000) ended the day in the lower part of the leaderboard.

Holding seven bracelets between them alone means both those men will be a big threat, but Herzali has the power and will be looking to become the first female winner of a WSOP bracelet this summer when tomorrow’s final day kicks off.

Hrabec Leads High Roller, with Rast, Elias and Foxen in Top 10

The penultimate day of the $25,000 buy-in High Roller Event #16 saw Czech player Roman Hrabec end the day on just over six million chips after he topped a star-studded field. It was no surprise to see a strong performance from Darren Elias, who is certainly in the discussion for the best player never to win a bracelet.

Elias has captured four World Poker Tour Main Event titles and has built an impressive resume of success, but has yet to find a win yet at the WSOP. Elias ended Day 2 of this WSOP Event with 2,790,000 chips, more than enough to take a tilt at this title.

Second in chips is Frank Funaro (5,065,000), while other big names in the top ten include Joao Vieira (4,090,000), Brian Rast (3,965,000) and Kristen Foxen (2,675,000), who will battle for her third bracelet tomorrow too.

Kyle at the Double in Omaha Hi-Lo Event

To see one Kyle at the top of a WSOP leaderboard is not uncommon, to see two is a little rarer. Kyle Burnside (2,345,000) leads from Kyle Cartwright (2,310,000) in Event #17, after a Day 2 that slashed the field right down to 33 players and saw players such as Shaun Deeb, Perry Green, Phil Hellmuth and David Williams, the overnight chip leader, all bust inside the money places.

Joining the two Kyles in the chipcounts are some hugely experienced players, such as two-time WSOP winner Jim Collopy (1,275,000), single bracelet winner James Obst (720,000) and three-time champion John Cernuto (635,000). Other former bracelet winner such as Nathan Gamble, Frankie O’Dell, Ismael Bojang, Rob Hollink, Sean Troha, Robert Turner, Alan Sternberg and Daniel Idema all departed inside the final 100 players.  

Kid Poker Climbs in Gladiators of Poker Event  

Day 1a of Event #18 saw 1,137 players battle down to just 144 survivors in the $300 buy-in Event #18, the ‘Gladiators of Poker’ event. Patrick White (3,405,000) led the field when Day 1 ended, but Daniel Negreanu (2,250,000) had a superb day at the felt and all eyes will be on Kid Poker on Day 2 to see if he can put himself in prime position for a tilt at his first Vegas bracelet in 15 years in a massive field tournament.

Elsewhere in the remaining players, there were big stacks for Waikiat Lee (2,225,000), David Tran (2,040,000) and Tam Nguyen (1,425,000) as others such as Ben Moon, Drew Gonzalez and the 2022 WSOP Player of the Year Dan Zack all failed to make Day 2 of the event.

Two More Day 1s Conclude

Two more Day 1s concluded on Day 9 of the 2023 WSOP, with Dinesh Alt (1,212,000) surging ahead in Event #19, the $2,500 NLHE Freezeout event. Others such as Ian O’Hara (600,000), Stephen Song (580,000) and Adrian Mateos (550,000) made the top 10 chipcounts, while poker legends Niall Farrell (245,000), Erik Seidel (240,000) and Chance Kornuth (200,000) all ended with more than the average. Big names to bust included Maria Ho, Phil Hellmuth, Event #2 Winner Chanracy Khun and Kathy Liebert.

On Day 1 of the $1,500-entry Event #20, players sat down in Badugi alone for the first time, as at 516 players battled down to a total remaining field of 183 by the close of play. Mixed game specialist Adam Owen (192,000) wasn’t far behind chip leader William Toh (239,000) while there were strong showings from Adam Clegg (212,500) and Jon Turner (198,500) in the top 10 too. A little further back in the field, WSOP mixed game crusher Adam Friedman (126,500), was joined by the six-time WSOP bracelet winner Brian Hastings (118,000) and last year’s Player of the Year Daniel Zack (120,500), who will be hoping to make his first final table of the series.

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