2023 WSOP Day 39: Christopher Brammer Bags Day 2abc Lead in Historic Main Event

It was another day to remember at the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP). Event #76: $10,000 Main Event No-Limit Hold’em World Championship extended its record as not only the largest tournament in WSOP history but this will go down as the largest tournament in all of poker’s history. With us experiencing another live poker boom, this record could be short-lived but expect it to last for at least a year when next year’s WSOP Main Event takes place.

The record will continue to be extended on Saturday with late registration open until the end of the second level of Day 2d. Another 196 players got into the mix on Day 2abc to grow the field to a record 9,538 entries for a gargantuan $91,564,800 prize pool and counting.

Two new bracelet events launched from a hiatus at the Horseshow Las Vegas and the Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino due to the expected large Main Event crowds.

Read on to learn more about the 2023 WSOP Main Event:

Christopher Brammer Parlays Day 1c Lead into Day 2abc Main Event Lead

Describing the WSOP Main Event as a marathon might be an understatement as players will battle it out for 11 days with two-hour blind levels. This usually means that early chip leads could become irrelevant which is exactly what happened to Event #77: $10,000 Main Event No-Limit Hold’em World Championship Day 1b chip leader Jean-Pierre van der Spuy who somehow didn’t make it past the second blind level of the day.

Day 1a chip Yehuda Dayan had a better day even though he bagged around the same amount he began the day with he at least will be well north of 100 big blinds with 360,000 in his stack and blinds at 1,000/2,500 with a 2,500 big blind ante for Sunday’s Day 3.

Day 1b chip leader Christopher Brammer not only performed the best of the three opening flight chip leaders to start the day but managed to end the day with the Day 2abc chip lead with 879,000 in chips but this was also good for the overall chip lead just ahead of Argentina’s Julio Belluscio with 825,500.

This isn’t the first time most of the attention has been on Brammer at the WSOP as back in 2017 he won his first and only bracelet in Event #45: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em for $527,555.

Many other eyes will be on Finnish poker legend Patrik Antonius who leads his country with $16.7 million in live tournament cashes as tracked by The Hendon Mob. The former Full Tilt ambassador has done it all whether winning at the largest cash games both online and live or winning massive events in the world including at the EPT and the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series. The one major thing that has alluded Antonius is a coveted WSOP bracelet. Now he has a chance (right now everyone’s chances are small to win) to win his first bracelet in a momentous way as he bagged a top 10 chip stack on Day 2abc according to preliminary reports provided by the WSOP.

Meanwhile, the seat of Theodore Mcquilkin was empty the entire Day 2abc but for a good reason as his wife was in labor. Mcquilkin still managed to find a small bag which proved to be better than last year’s Main Event champion Espen Jorstad who found the rail early in the day after his set proved to be no match against Julien Aguirre’s straight. Greg Raymer, Daniel Negreanu, and Jeremy Ausmus were among the players along with Jorstad that would have performed better if they didn’t take their seats on Day 2abc as they all left the tournament arena without any chips.

Although Jorstad and Raymer were unable to advance out of the Day 2abc field, other former Main Event winners are still alive after surviving the day including Johnny Chan (372,000), Jamie Gold (248,000), Joe Cada (241,500), Joe McKeehen (220,000), Scott Blumstein (190,000), Ryan Riess (151,000), Damian Salas (147,500), Martin Jacobson (128,000), and Tom McEvoy (20,000) will all resume their quest for another Main Event bracelet on Sunday when players that advance from Saturday’s Day 2d join a merged field.

Event #76: $10,000 Main Event No-Limit Hold’em World Championship Day 2abc Top 10 Leaderboard

Reports were coming in late from the WSOP and PokerNews after the conclusion of Day 2abc which can be understandable with approximately 1,900 players surviving the day. Here is a look at the top 10 reported chip stacks with the possibility that a player was missed in the top 10:

Other Events

Seven is a lucky number for many superstitious poker players and casino enthusiasts. Three sevens is even luckier so perhaps we see a lucky player win Event #77: $777 Lucky 7’s No-Limit Hold’em 7-Handed. The first of three opening flights kicked off on Friday with WSOP Circuit ring champion Thomas Blanton leading the way after parlaying his 40,000 opening stack into 2,265,000 to lead the 64 survivors out of the 1,470 entries to add more than $1 million to the prize pool. Many players are already in the money in this event with each opening flight paying 15% of the field or in this case the top 221 players at least a min-cash of $1,246. The action will resume with Day 1b on Saturday at 10 a.m. and time will tell how big this unlimited re-entry event will blossom into. Regardless of how big it gets, the WSOP guarantees at a $777,777 top prize to go along with the “Lucky 7’s” theme.

The three-day Event #78: $1,500 Bounty Pot-Limit Omaha didn’t have the smoothest start with the original start time of 2 p.m. pushed back two hours to accommodate the plethora of players battling it out in the Main Event. That being said, only one blind level had to be trimmed off with 14 levels played rather than 15 with 1,294 entries getting into the mix to create a $1,620,690 prize pool. The top 183 players locked up at least $1,501 with the 140 survivors locking up a little more with $1,642 guaranteed. The surviving players will be playing for much more with a $171,742 top prize on the line. This doesn’t include the $500 bounties players will be collecting along the way as bounties for each elimination. The action is scheduled to resume on Saturday at 2 p.m. with Casey Wassell leading the way with a 139 big blind chip stack of 694,000.

July 8 WSOP Schedule

The buzz and excitement will continue to grow at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas as the Main Event advances through its 11-day schedule. Today’s Day 2d easily highlights the day at 12 p.m. with two other events ongoing in the shadows.

Players will have another opportunity to win a bracelet on Saturday with Event #14: $400 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo kicking off at WSOP.com in Nevada and New Jersey starting at 3:30 p.m. The action will be played down to a winner and it should end at a reasonable time thanks to the turbo structure.

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 and hand details courtesy of WSOP/PokerNews.

Article by Jason Glatzer
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