2023 WSOP Day 2: Peter Thai Wins First 2023 WSOP Bracelet

The 2023 World Series of Poker awarded it first WSOP gold bracelet this summer at the Horseshoe Las Vegas and the Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino with Peter Thai winning the two-day Event #1: $500 Casino Employees Event for $75,535.

Meanwhile, four other events progressed another day including the prestigious three-day Event #2: $25,000 High Roller Six Handed No-Limit Hold’em advancing to a final table of nine players with Axel Hallay as the final table captain.

Read on to learn more about Day 2 of the 2023 WSOP and what is in store for Day 3.

Peter Thai Wins Event #1: $500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em ($75,535)

The $500 Casino Employees event witnessed a banner field of 1,015 come out in full force to create a record $426,300 prize pool in the history of this tournament.

James Urbanic amassed the chip lead by the time the final table of 10 players rolled around with Peter Thai not too far behind. The duo advanced to heads-up action before Thai won the bracelet and the $75,535 top prize with his king-ten holding against his short-stacked opponent’s queen-seven. While Urbanic was unable to win the bracelet, he did win a tasty prize of $46,690 for a nice return on his $500 buy-in.

Thai is poker enthusiast employed in the gaming industry as a table games dealer at Parkwest Casino 580 in California.

“I’m an avid poker player,” Thai said to PokerNews after the event. “I don’t play that often, but I still know how to play. I play more cash games than tournaments. I have a lot of tournament experience, mostly from playing a lot of online sit and gos from my college days.”

Benson Tam entered the final day with the chip lead and parlayed it all the way to the final table. However, he bowed out in fifth place for $17,303 in a hand that Bruce Jiang also hit the rail in fourth place for $23,738. Thai’s cowboys held against Tam’s jack-nine suited and Jiang’s ladies to not only send both of his opponents to the rail but also catapulted Thai to a massive chip lead which he never let go of.

Meanwhile, poker media guru Chad Holloway was aiming for his second bracelet in this event but bowed out early in 60^th place for $1,342, while Jesse Fullen who began the final day in second place eventually hit the rail in 33^rd place for $2,029.

Event #1: $500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em Final Table Results

Axel Hallay Leads Final Nine in Event #2: $25,000 High Roller

The $25,000 High Roller Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em witnessed many of the biggest names in poker competing including 16-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth and GGPoker Ambassador Daniel Negreanu.

By the time late registration was closed before the start of Day 2, the event attracted 207 entries to create a $4,864,500. Hellmuth and Negreanu will not be in the hunt for the bracelet and the massive $1,215,864 top prize. Hellmuth didn’t make the money while Negreanu at least notched his first cash with a as he was among the 32 players to cash in this event with a 22^nd place finish for $50,000.

The action progressed down to just nine players after Andrew Lichtenberger was sent packing in 10^th place for $80,314 with each locking up at least a six-figure score of $104,733. Alex Halley will kick off the action with the chip lead followed by Chris Moore and WSOP bracelet winner Joey Weissman. Other bracelet winners still in contention include Chance Kornuth, Jake Schindler, and Elior Sion.

Event #2: $25,000 High Roller Final Day Seat Draw

Francis Anderson Leads Event #3: $1,000 Mystery Millions

The three-day Event #3: $1,000 Mystery Millions – No-Limit Hold’em kicked off its first of four opening flights with a bang as a massive field of 2,023 entries got into the mix in hopes of eventually pulling the $1 million mystery bounty top prize along with another massive $1 million top prize awaiting the bracelet winner.

Day 1a went deep past the money with 304 players guaranteed at least a $1,062 min-cash with just 102 players advancing to Sunday’s Day 2 when the pulling of mystery bounty envelopes will begin.

Francis Anderson currently leads the way after parlaying his 40,000 opening stack into a massive pile of 2,750,000 in chips after 22 blind levels of 30 minutes each. Three other Americans bagged more than 2 million in chips including Bohdan Slyvinskyi, David Gonia, and Dan Colpoys. Matt Glantz, who has drawn the $1,000,000 mystery bounty last year, Mel Judah, Alex Livingston, Maria Konnikova, and Ludovic Geilich were among the notable players to also advance to Day 2.

The action will continue on Thursday at 10 a.m. where another 22 blind levels will be played out with two more opening flights following at the same time on Friday and Saturday.

Event #3: $1,000 Mystery Millions Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts

Tournament of Champions Draws Massive Numbers

Event #4: Tournament of Champions was a value-added affair compliments of the WSOP as it was an invite-only freeroll for a select group of previous WSOP bracelet and ring winners.

The event already proved to be popular with 726 entries completing for the free $1 million in cold, hard cash on the line representing a massive increase from the 243 entries battling it out in last year’s Tournament of Champions.

Boshuang Gao will head into the second day with the chip lead over the 224 Day 1 survivors followed by Roger Franco, Brandon Hamlet, Richard Folkes, and Dakota Britton. Meanwhile, legendary poker player and sports commentator Lon McEachern and four-time bracelet winner Jeremy Ausmus are also still in contention.

Late registration is still open for this event until the start of Day 2 at noon on Thursday with the winner scheduled to be crowned on Friday.

Event #4: Tournament of Champions Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts

Larry Tull Leads Event #5: $1,500 Dealer’s Choice

Event #5: $1,500 Dealer’s Choice is one of the more fun events with mixed game enthusiasts choosing between 20 different flop, stud, or draw games for an orbit based on a secondary button.

The tournament attracted 456 entries on the first of the three days to create a $178,890 prize pool with just 135 players finding a bag into Thursday’s Day 2.

Larry Tull ran up his 25,000 opening stack into 217,000 to enter the second day with the chip lead with Tomasz Gluszko advancing as the only other player with more than 200,000 in chips.

2015 WSOP Dealer’s Choice champion Carol Fuchs as is last year’s runner-up Jaswinder Lally. Meanwhile, Brian Rast, Benny Glaser, and 2004 WSOP Main Event champion Greg Raymer also survived. However, this trio all has their work cut out for them on their journey to a bracelet as they will need to run up their shorter stacks.

Day 2 will witness the money bubble break with the top 69 players earning at least a min-cash of $2,411. Friday’s winner will not only go home with a coveted WSOP gold bracelet but also a tasty $131,879 top prize.

Event #5: $1,500 Dealer’s Choice Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts

June 1, 2023 WSOP Schedule

Two new live events and the first online event kick off in addition to the handful of ongoing events still in action.

Below is a look at today’s schedule while head to the PokerPro opening WSOP article to check out the full schedule of the 2023 World Series of Poker.

Images courtesy of WSOP/PokerNews.
Article by Jason Glatzer
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