2023 WSOP Day 50: Four Bracelet Winners on Entertaining Final Day

What a poker summer camp it has been at the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at the Horseshoe Las Vegas and the Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino. Fifty days, 95 bracelets, and tons of new legends were made. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and it’s time to say goodbye to this year’s record-breaking WSOP.

The final day could have been anticlimactic as the WSOP Main Event concluded a day before on Monday with Daniel Weinman entering his name into the poker history books after winning the largest top prize in WSOP Main Event history of $12.1 million. That certainly wasn’t the case with four new bracelet winners crowned on Tuesday’s 50^th and final day of the 2023 WSOP.

Read more about what went down on the final day of the 2023 WSOP:

Ryan Miller Wins Second Bracelet in Event #91: $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. ($208,960)

Legends were made on the final day including Ryan Miller after defeating Leonard August heads-up in Event #91: $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. to earn the $208,960 top prize on the added fourth day of this originally scheduled three-day event.

Miller focused primarily on cash games this summer and entered just five WSOP events. Remarkably, this was his second bracelet this summer giving him a sick 40 percent win rate in bracelet events. This doesn’t mean he will play more events next summer.

“It feels surreal, like it’s not possible,” Miller said about his success according to the WSOP. “I was just hoping to cash in a couple of events, and I just happened to win two of them.”

The final day began with just two players remaining in the hunt for the title with already a six-figure prize of $128,835 secured. Stacks were shallow with Miller holding the early advantage with more than double the chips of August.

August had some fight in him but his stack was close to empty less than an hour into the final day when he got it in with seven-deuce suited and finished one player shy of winning his first WSOP bracelet after Miller’s jack-deuce suited got the job done.

Despite his tournament success this summer, Miller at least for now plans to keep a similar plan for next year focusing mostly on cash games.

“I will probably just play the same five or six events, the Player of Year race doesn’t really interest me.”

Event #91: $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. Final Table Results

The four-day Event #91: $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. attracted 331 entries from mixed game enthusiasts to create a $886,440 prize pool with the top 50 players banking at least a $4,873 min-cash. Check out the final table results below:

Martin Nielsen Ships Event #93: $10,000 Short Deck Championship ($270,160)

The Faroe Islands is an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark with about 50,000 inhabitants. The odds are that very few from the North Atlantic island group play poker.

Martin Nielsen put the Faroe Islands on the poker map by shipping his first bracelet in the three-day Event #93: $10,000 Short Deck Championship for $270,160. While more than ten bracelets in the past were awarded to players from Denmark, as far as we can tell, this is the first time one was awarded to a player from the Faroe Islands.

The fact that Nielsen is from the Faroe Islands isn’t the only reason this bracelet winner is unique as he also focuses mostly on short-deck cash games and only cashed in two tournaments at this year’s WSOP with the other coming in a non-bracelet side event in a $200 Daily Deepstack where he doubled his money with a $403 cash.

“Well I am a short deck player,” said Nielsen about why he entered the event according to the WSOP. “So, this was my most important tournament of the summer, the $200 was just for fun.” 

Nielsen kicked off the final day with the chip lead with just five players remaining but it was Eric Wasserman who was hot out of the gate as he eliminated Poker Hall of Fame member and five-time WSOP bracelet winner John Juanda in fifth place when his suited big slick held against a suited queen-ten.

Wasserman then won a big pot against Nielsen to snag the lead before Hong Wei Yu snagged some chips from Wasserman for another lead change.

Things could have turned out far different than they did as Nielsen nearly was the first player to hit the rail. Instead, he took the chip lead in a crucial pot. Nielsen jammed over a bet on the ace-queen-eight rainbow flop with ace-nine. Wasserman wasted no time in calling with eights for a set only to take a bad beat he will likely remember for a while with a seven coming on the turn followed by a six spiking the river to improve Wasserman to a straight.

Wasserman managed to double through Nielsen but his king-nine suited was unable to get there against the king-queen suited held by Ivan Ermin to hit the rail in fourth place.

Ermin was in the lead but this was short-lived. He relinquished the chip lead to Nielsen before losing the rest of his stack to the eventual winner to head to the locker room in third place when his jack-ten suited was unable to win against ace-queen.

Nielsen began the quick heads-up action with a 5:2 chip advantage before his cowboys were more than good against Yu’s jack-ten suited to win his maiden bracelet.

Event #93: $10,000 Short Deck Championship Final Table Results

Event #93: $10,000 Short Deck Championship attracted a tidy field of 106 entries to create a $895,300 prize pool with the top 16 players earning at least a min-cash of $16,792. Check out the final table results below:

Alex Keating Wins Event #94: $5,000 8-Handed No-Limit Hold’em ($701,688)

While the penultimate event in Event #94: $5,000 8-Handed No-Limit Hold’em wasn’t labeled as a ‘summer saver’ it turned out to be that way for the eventual winner Alex Keating who defeated Guoliang Wei heads-up to win his first bracelet and the $701,688 top prize.

Keating shared after the victory according to the WSOP that he was “zero for forty” during the WSOP making this a true summer saver. He began the final table with the chip lead but it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the eventual champion.

Japan’s Nozomu Shimizu snagged the lead with seven players with a little luck on his side to double through Josh Reichard when his nines improved to a set against queens. Reichard shortly after Shimizu dusted off Reichard’s stack when his ace-ten suited was good against king-jack.

Fireworks erupted shortly after Shimizu jammed his monster stack with king-five. Keating woke up with big slick to win a massive pot to regain the chip lead and shortly after became the table terminator eliminating both Marcello Delgrosso and Alexandros Kolonias.

Wei ousted Shimizu in third place when his snowmen held against king-deuce suited but Keating still held more than double his stack. The heads-up battle was a quick affair. Shimizu three-bet jammed with ace-trey suited and was unable to earn his second bracelet after not improving enough to best Keating’s suited big slick.

Event #94: $5,000 8-Handed No-Limit Hold’em Final Table Results

The two-day Event #94: $5,000 8-Handed No-Limit Hold’em attracted 813 entries to generate a $701,688 prize pool, representing a significant increase over the 573 entries during last year’s affair. The top 122 players collected at least a $8,059 min-cash. Check out the final table results below:

Paul Berger Wins Event #95: $1,000 Super Turbo No-Limit Hold’em ($212,645)

The single-day Event #95: $1,000 Super Turbo No-Limit Hold’em provided a quick path to a bracelet. Similar to online bracelet events, this one took less than 12 hours from start to finish before American Paul Berger defeated Brazilian poker baller and three-time WSOP bracelet winner Yuri Dzivielevski heads-up to win his maiden bracelet and the $212,645 top prize.
The bracelet was nice but the money was more important. Just not for reasons that we would normally think as Berger wasn’t playing for himself but for charitable causes including an orphanage in Nepal.

“The money is more important (than the bracelet) because I donate it,” Berger said according to the WSOP after shipping the bacon. “So, the fact that I’ve got the biggest score of my life and it’ll go to a good cause is very cool.”

Event #95: $1,000 Super Turbo No-Limit Hold’em Final Table Results

A total of 1,486 entries came out in full force for their last chance to win a coveted WSOP gold bracelet in Event #95: $1,000 Super Turbo No-Limit Hold’em to create a tasty $1,318,980 prize pool with the top 223 players going home with at least a $1,601 min-cash. Check out the final table results below:

More Bracelets to Come in Rozvadov and Bahamas

While this sadly brings an end to our Las Vegas coverage of the 2023 World Series of Poker, poker enthusiasts and players have more bracelet events to look forward to this year.

King’s Resort, located on the German border in the Czech Republic will once again be hosting the WSOP Europe from Oct. 15 to Nov. 16. The festival plans to award 15 WSOP gold bracelets with the schedule likely be released soon.

While King’s Resort is now a familiar venue for the WSOP, there is one new venue to keep players and poker fans on their toes with 15 more coveted WSOP bracelets on tap at the old home of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) at the Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas from Dec. 3-14. The full schedule for the WSOP Paradise will likely be also released in short order.

While nothing is confirmed, we also expect the WSOP to award more bracelets online as they have done in previous years at GGPoker for international players and WSOP.com for Americans. Of course, this was more en vogue during the pandemic and at this point we have no official information on whether or not this will continue with live poker booming bigger than ever before.

Images and hand details courtesy of WSOP/PokerNews.