2023 WSOP Day 23: Three New Bracelet Winners; Shakerchi Ousts Ivey to Lead Final 5 in $50K PPC

Three more WSOP gold bracelets were awarded on Thursday at the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at the Horseshow Las Vegas and the Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino with Braxton Dunaway winning the biggest of them all in the $1,500 Monster Stack for $1,162,681 and William Leffingwell and Jay Lockett also winning big.

Meanwhile, Talal Shakerchi ousted 10-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Ivey in sixth place in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship to enter the fifth and final day with the chip lead.

We promised an update yesterday about Tuesday’s Online Event #8: $3,200 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller as it ran very late into Wednesday morning with Jeremy “Chipchecka” Ausmus battling it out heads-up against Christopher “Ccast93” Castiglia. Ausmus got it done to win his sixth bracelet along with the $360,036 top prize after his cowboys held against ten-seven suited.

Read more about what went down on Day 23 of the 2023 WSOP.

Braxton Dunaway Wins Event #39: $1,500 Monster Stack ($1,162,681)

The added fifth day to the originally scheduled Event #39: $1,500 Monster Stack didn’t disappoint with tons of action for poker fans live-streamed at PokerGO and players competing for a seven-figure haul to the eventual bracelet winner.

Braxton Dunaway will remember Wednesday, June 21, 2023 for likely the rest of his life as he played well and ran hot to win the event for $1,162,681.

All early eyes were on 2009 WSOP champion Joe Cada, who was easily the biggest name remaining. Unfortunately, Cada was unable to parlay his short stack into a fifth WSOP bracelet and was the first player out in seventh place after his ace-king ran into Dunaway’s ace-jack.

Dunaway then sent Joshua Adcock on the rail in sixth place on a bad beat as well when his ace-queen got there against ace-king. Dunaway snagged the chip lead after this hand and continued to put pressure on his opponents.

Jesse Rockowitz narrowed the chip lead after winning a flip with ace-six against deuces to send the Day 5 chip leader Nicholas Gerrity to the rail. Dunaway was back at it and had more than half the chips in play with three players remaining when his queens held against ace-deuce to eliminate Loic Dogringa in fourth place.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing from here on for Dunaway as he doubled up Rockowitz. Shortly after Rockowitz took the lead but then lost some chips to both Dunaway and Colin Robinson, who at one point also had the lead during three-handed play.

Dunaway then regained control after picking off a bluff to eliminate Rockowitz before eventually denying Robinson his first bracelet as well after jamming the river with two pair and Robinson catastrophically hero-calling with the bottom pair.

“I want to say that all the people who were at the final table were really nice, great opponents, good players,” Dunaway said to PokerNews after his victory. “I got extremely lucky a few times, but you have to win one of these things. It was just my turn, it’s just awesome.” 

Event #39: $1,500 Monster Stack Final Table Results

The $1,500 Monster Stack attracted 8,317 entries during the two opening flights to generate a massive prize pool of $11,103,195. The top 1,248 players locked up at least a $2,401 min-cash.

Here is a look at the final table results:

Talal Shakerchi Busts Phil Ivey to Lead the Final 5 in Event #43: $50,000 Poker Players Championship

The five-day Event #43: $50,000 Poker Players Championship attracted 99 entries from some of the top poker talent in the world to create a $4,727,250 prize pool.

The action is down to just five players when the fifth and final day resumes at 1 p.m. live-streamed at PokerGO after Talal Shakerchi busted the legendary Phil Ivey in sixth place for $228,793 after his ace-jack suited won a flip against treys.

Two former $50,000 Poker Players Championship bracelet winners are still in contention. Matthew Ashton won this event in 2013 for $1,774,089 is in second place while 2011 $50,000 Poker Players Championship victor Brian Rast will enter with the second shortest stack in hopes of winning his sixth bracelet and solidifying his likely eventual candidacy in the Poker Hall of Fame.

Meanwhile, both bracelet winner James Obst and relatively unknown until now Kristoffer Tong are also still hunting for a big payday with $303,071 locked up and $1,324,747 on the line for Thursday’s bracelet winner.

Event #43: $50,000 Poker Players Championship Final Day Seat Draw

Aram Oganyan Leads Final 15 in Event #44: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em

The four-day Event #44: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em boasts a $4,632,450 prize pool with 1,735 entries battling it out in hopes for WSOP glory and the $717,879 top prize.

The top 261 players banked at least a min-cash of $4,803. The action is down to just 15 hopefuls after three days of play with the final day players guaranteed at least $30,873 whether they show up to play or not.

Aram Oganyan leads the way with 9,900,000 in chips with Shannon Shorr (8,750,000), Day 2 chip leader Yang Zhang (6,875,000), Aleks Dimitrov (6,500,000), and Levente Szabo (5,150,000) rounding out the top five.

Several ballers are also still in contention when the action resumes at 11 a.m. on Thursday with some chips to play with including WSOP bracelet winner Ankush Mandavia (4,800,000), Kartik Ved (4,500,000), ACR Stormer Jon “Apestyles” Van Fleet (3,800,000), and the formidable Alex Lynskey (3,650,000).

Event #44: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em Final Day Seat Draw

Other Events in Action

The three-day Event #47: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E witnessed 836 mixed-game enthusiasts get into the mix to generate a $1,116,060 prize pool. Two-time WSOP bracelet winner and online poker beast Yuri Dzivielevski leads the way with 28 players remaining in the hunt for the $207,678 top prize when the action resumes on Thursday at 1 p.m.

Meanwhile, the five-day Event #48: $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold’em Championship attracted 3,692 entries during the first of its two opening flights. Expect Thursday’s flight which begins early at 10 a.m. to feature even more players of at least 50 years of age. Frank “Skullman” Harrington holds onto the early chip lead after bagging the biggest bag on Day 1a.

Event #49: $1,500 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold’em was scheduled to be a one-day affair. Instead, a bracelet will be awarded on Thursday with the action commencing at 2 p.m. as the day was stopped with just nine players remaining. The extra day was necessary in no small part due to the huge field of 2,226 entries. PokerStars ambassador Alejandro Lococo leads the way in hopes of earning his first bracelet along with the $270,700 (plus $500 bounties) on tap for the winner.

Meanwhile, Event #50: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship was another event to establish a new record. What the eventual record will be is unknown at this time with late registration still open in this four-day event until the start of Day 2 at 2 p.m. on Thursday but there were already 688 entries pumping nearly $6.4 million into the prize pool. Daniel Aharoni holds the early chip lead with still tons of action to come.

June 22, 2023 WSOP Schedule

Five winners are scheduled to be crowned on Thursday, June 22. However, it is possible based on what we have witnessed the past couple of summers that some of these events may add another day if they are running late.

In addition, two new live events kick off on Thursday including the fun Event #51: $1,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold’em at 12 p.m. and Event #52: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball. The ninth online bracelet event will kick off at WSOP.com in Nevada and New Jersey at 3:30 p.m. and is part of the five bracelets that are scheduled to be awarded on Thursday.

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
Follow JaxonPoker on Twitter