All of the surviving players from the different Day 2 flights came together in a unified field on Sunday for Day 3 of the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. When the night came to a close, 1,517 of the record-breaking 10,043 players remained, with Antonio Mallol Heredia leading the way with 1,899,000 chips.
There is still a very long way to go in the tournament, but it is shaping up to be a fun race so far. Chance Kornuth is just behind Heredia with 1,887,000 chips, followed by four other players with at least 1,700,000.
But let’s forget about the chip leaders for a moment and give a shout out to the players at the other end of the chip rankings. With 1,507 players making the money, the short stacks either had a restless night, worrying about making the cut on Monday, or slept soundly, knowing they have little control over their immediate Main Event fate.
It should certainly be an interesting start to Day 4, as only ten eliminations are needed before what one could argue is the most exciting part of the tournament, the bursting of the money bubble. Tensions will be high from the jump as the short stacks will have to decide if they want to try to wait out their counterparts or take their chances with whatever decent hand they can muster. And what about the middle stacks or somewhat short stacks that aren’t immediately in danger of elimination? If they find Kings or Aces, should they get aggressive and risk elimination?
Unless things go horrendously wrong for Heredia, he will end up with at least the second-largest cash of his live tournament career. He has $75,146 in live earnings, $49,610 of which were from one tournament. With a min-cash in the Main Event of $15,000, he is all but set to increase his total earnings by a large percentage.
His second-largest cash to date was at this World Series, a $10,749 score in the Millionaire Maker.
The Main Event continues at noon local time on Monday. Like the other days, Day 4 will be five 120-minute levels. Expect somewhat slow going at the outset with hand-for-hand play and then a slew of eliminations after the money bubble bursts.
2023 World Series of Poker Main Event – Day 3 Chip Leaders
- Antonio Mallol Heredia – 1,899,000
- Chance Kornuth – 1,887,000
- Liran Betito – 1,775,000
- Pei Li – 1,742,000
- Nicholas Rigby – 1,719,000
- Pavel Dyachenko – 1,706,000
- Michael Duek – 1,678,000
- Nicholas Lee – 1,639,000
- Mason Vieth – 1,602,000
- Michael Monroig – 1,552,000
Image credit: PokerGO.com
