WSOP Day 43 Recap: Defending Champion Koray Aldemir Eliminated from Main Event, Hong Wins First Bracelet in Bounty Final

A dramatic day of action in the WSOP Main Event saw a starting field of 123 on Day 5 reduced to just 35 survivors on a sensational day’s play on the WSOP Main Event live stream on PokerGO. On a day when stars of Day 5 such as Zilong Zhang, Dan Smith and Alejandro Lococo all busted the Main Event, there was yet more drama as some new names rose to the top of the leaderboard.

Main Event Day 6 Trims Field to 35 Players

The biggest news in Main Event terms was the elimination of defending world champion Koray Aldemir. The German player, who won last year for $8 million, took his leave in 75^th place after playing 15 days of Main Event poker without losing his tournament life. All-in and at risk for the first time in this year’s event, Aldemir saw his pocket nines fail to hold against Bryan Kim’s ace-queen as a queen on the flop spelled doom for the German.

Kim went on a heater after taking out Aldemir, racing past 30 million chips on his way to a podium finish, alongside Jeffrey Farnes and Philippe Souki from Britain, who continues to go from strength to strength. While Aldemir had busted, there is a former Main Event winner still in contention as the 2020 Hybrid Main Event winner Damian Salas looks to win a ‘live only’ bracelet in this year’s Main Event.

Three British players feature in the top 10, as Souki is joined by Andy Taylor (23,900,000) and John Eames (22,450,000), with Eames, in particular, an old favorite of the ‘Brit Pack’ fans who heralded modern talents such as James Akenhead and Sam Holden in the November Nine era of the Main Event. Espen Jorstad (31,475,000), Kenny Tran (8,800,000) and short stack Marco Johnson (3,725,000) are the only bracelet winners remaining in the field other than the 2020 champion Salas.

 Jinho Hong Wins First Bracelet

Jinho Hong took the title in Event #76, the $1,979 buy-in Poker Hall of Fame Bounty tournament, for a top prize of $276,067. The day began with Hong in control, chips-wise, followed by Punnat Punsri and that was how the tournament closed out with those two players in the same positions.

There was plenty of drama along the way, however, with Hong bumping himself into a massive lead when he knocked out two players in the same hand, Yuri Dzivielevski and George Rotariu both falling to the eventual winner.

Daniel Weinman looked like the biggest threat to the leaders, but when he busted in fourth place for $86,730, Punsri took on the mantle of challenger to Hong when his pocket kings beat Jakob Miegel’s pocket tens. Punsri took the lead, but a double-up due to a kicker gave Hong the lead once more but his next attempt to double up would fail with the result of ending the tournament.

Shoving with pocket aces, Punsri couldn’t hold as Hong’s ace four prevented the Thani player doubling his 11 big blind stack and instead ended the event in his favor, winning him his first WSOP gold bracelet and the quarter-million-dollar top prize.

Three Remain as Ryan Riess Chases Second Bracelet in One Drop Event

Just three players are left in the hunt for gold in the $1,111-entry One More for One Drop event, with the 2013 Main Event winner Ryan Riess second in chips. Of the trio, Mike Allis (142.7 million) is chief amongst them in terms of chips, but Riess (46.7 million) cannot be written off with his vast experience of winning on the biggest stage.

Also fighting for the $535,610 top prize is Basel Chaura, with the third of an all-American finale coming back with 38.6 million chips. With Riess holding 30 big blinds for example, there is still every chance that any of the three remaining players win the title and the gold bracelet.

Before the final three were left to sleep on their chances of glory, Niklas Warlch lost out in ninth place for $54,085. He was outlasted by players such as Andrew Robinson (7^th for $87,551) and Mohammed Jafar (4^th or $190,363) as the final stages played down to those three players who will battle for the bracelet tomorrow.

Salazar Ahead in Lucky 7’s

On a huge day for bust-outs, 151 players were reduced to just 11 players by the close of play in Event #77, the $1,500-entry Mixed NLHE/PLO event, with Aden Salazar ending the day in the lead with 9,140,000 chips.

Salazar’s stack was more than double that of his nearest challenger, with Noah Bronstein coming in second with 4,200,000 chips. With Daniel Negreanu losing out in 18^th as he fell to the eventual chip leader Salazar, Kid Poker had his aces cracked and he was joined on the rail by players such as Dan Shak, Christian Harder, Connor Drinan and Scott Davies.

Of the final 11 players who’ll battle for gold tomorrow, Vincent Lam (3,810,000) sits in third place and may be hard to shift. It is Sandeep Pulusani (1,210,000) who is the only player who will fight for a second bracelet, but he’s short in chips, so there could be a new bracelet winner coming when play resumes and plays down to a winner on Day 44 of the 2022 WSOP.

Lucky 7’s Final Day 1 Flight Brings $4,000 Entries

An incredible 4,017 entries on Day 1c of the $777 buy-in Lucky Sevens Event #75 saw 166 players survive. They’ll join the 44 Day 1a survivors and 75 who made it from Day 1b for a Day 2 that will take place tomorrow starting with 285 players in seats who will race down to a winner. After a busy day of action in Day 1c, Alon Messica (3,050,000) leads the field while Joseph Elpayaa (2,875,00) and Xinli Ye (2,800,000) both made the podium places.

Big names such as Cherish Andrews (2,000,000), Barry Greenstein (545,000), and Joe Serock (455,000) all made the Day 2 seats draw, while other such as Women’s Hall of Famer Kathy Liebert and Jake Schwartz both busted inside the money places. With a top prize of $777,777, it promises to be some race the line.

Berkey Chasing Brilliant Miscicowski in $2,500 NLHE Event

With 257 players taking on Day 2 of Event #78, the $2,500 entry No Limit Hold’em event, just 22 players remain at the close of play, with David Miscicowski (6,085,000) leading from Solve for Why founder Matt Berkey (5,430,000) in the event which has a $499,636 top prize.

Also flying high in the top 10 were Luke Martinelli from Australia (2,955,000) and Ran Koller, who bagged 2,270,000 chips, with the chip leader and Koller the only bracelet winners in the field other than James Gilbert (1,330,000). It is a big day tomorrow, with the bracelet being awarded and a potential first gold trinket of success for the aforementioned Berkey or maybe Kenny Hallaert (1,425,000), who has enjoyed so many deep runs in his career without claiming gold as yet. Players to cash on the day without making the final day included and David Peters, Scott Seiver, Joe Cada, Martin Jacobson, Upeshka De Silva, Scott Seiver and Jack Sinclair.

Razz Championship Sees Stars Turn Out

There were 125 entries in the final event of the night to close play for the night, the $10,000-entry Razz Championship Event #79, with players such as Brian Hastings, Daniel Negreanu and Adam Friedman all making the top 10. Chip leader from the 59 survivors is William Kakon with 308,500 chips, but others are hot on his heels, with Hal Rotholz (299,000) and Hastings (263,000) best of them.

Daniel Negreanu (240,000) made the top five, while mixed game WSOP legend Adam Friedman (214,000) ended the day eighth in chips, with this year’s $1,5000-entry Razz event winner Daniel Strelitz (52,000) and the defending champion of this Razz Championship bracelet, Benny Glaser (21,000) hanging on for dear life alongside Phil Hellmuth (12,500), who sits at the bottom of the chip counts.

Players who busted this event without cashing included Scott Seiver, Nick Guagenti, Chino Rheem, Maria Ho, Ben Lamb, and Allen ‘Chainsaw’ Kessler.

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