The 2023 World Poker Tour World Championship festivities are coming to an end, but that doesn’t mean that there hasn’t been a great deal of action around Wynn Las Vegas. The $1 million buy-in Big One for OneDrop concluded on Wednesday night, with four men extremely happy to have stuck around for it. While that final table was playing out, the 2023 WPT World Championship set its final table, which should be an exciting affair.
Six Come, Only Four Will Be Happy They Did…
The six survivors from the seventeen players who stepped to the felt for the largest buy-in tournament in poker, the $1 million Big One for OneDrop, were glad to have made it this far. What everyone was aware of, however, was that two members of that final table would walk away with nothing to show for their effort. One of those players unlikely to fall victim to that was chip leader Dan Smith, who was stacked with 4.865 million chips to start the day. Still, the battle was a good one to determine who would be the unfortunate two.
The short stack at the table, Nick Petrangelo, tried to make sure he would not be the first out. He doubled through Smith, his Big Slick topping Smith’s A-10 on a K-10-8-Q-2 board, to take over the chip lead. That would only last about four hands, however, as Petrangelo laid a hand down to Isaac Haxton that allowed Haxton to take the lead. It was going to take those two knockouts, and getting down to the money, to loosen up play on the table.
The first departure was Santhosh Suvarma, who could never get anything going on Wednesday evening. After moving all in, Suvarma saw Marlo Mosboeck call him out of the big blind and the cards went to their backs:
Suvarma (UTG): pocket treys
Mosboeck (big blind): pocket Kings
It was an uphill climb that Suvarma could not make through the 10-7-2-8-A board, sending him to the rail in sixth place, but with no money to show for his efforts.
Despite Petrangelo’s best efforts, he couldn’t keep the tournament Grim Reaper away. On Hand #26, Petrangelo was the unfortunate money “bubble boy,” running his A-Q into the A-K of Haxton. The board failed to bring a Queen to counter the Ace on the flop, sending Petrangelo to the rail in fifth place ($0) and the remaining four men to the money.
Millions Available as a Holiday Present
$17 million was available for the four men remaining in the tournament, and they kept up the pace in determining who was going to win the lion’s share. Haxton took over the lead after taking down Petrangelo, but Mosboeck was right behind him. Those two men dominated the play over the next ten hands, with Mosboeck coming out on top of most of the clashes to take over the lead. Mosboeck’s edge at one time saw his stack larger than the three men – Haxton, Badziakouski, and Smith – against him and their stacks.
Four-handed play would last for nearly thirty hands before an elimination occurred. It was Haxton who headed to the rail in a classic race after his A-Q failed against Badziakouski’s pocket eights. Smith went on the very next hand to Mosboeck, running an A-4 against Mosboeck’s K-7 that flopped a seven and rivered a King.
Down to heads-up, Mosboeck held the edge with his 10.325 million stack, but Badziakouski used a double on Hand #60 to reverse the standings. Mosboeck would never see the lead again, although it would take ten hands for Badziakouski to finish the job. On the final hand (Hand #70), the chips went to the center with Badziakouski holding an A-9 to take to battle against Mosboeck’s K-J. Once the board ran out 10-10-8-8-4, the tournament was over, and Mikita Badziakouski was the champion of the Big One for OneDrop.
1. Mikita Badziakouski, $7,114,500
2. Mario Mosboeck, $4,663,950
3. Dan Smith, $2,806,750
4. Isaac Haxton, $1,224,800
Notables Shine En Route to WPT World Championship Final Table
Thursday night will see the 2023 WPT World Championship determined, and it is a star-studded final table that will greet people over the WPT Twitch stream. Sixteen players came back on Wednesday, but ten of them departed the Wynn short of their goal (but handsomely compensated!). Leading the way tonight at the final table will be Andrew Lichtenberger, who has a host of top pros looking to take him down.
Seat 1: Ben Heath – 36,700,000
Seat 2: Andrew Lichtenberger – 148,200,000
Seat 3: Daniel Sepiol – 34,300,000
Seat 4: Artur Martirosian – 29,400,000
Seat 5: Georgios Sotiropoulos – 46,200,000
Seat 6: Chris Moorman – 88,300,000
While all six men are guaranteed a seven-figure payday, the real goal is, of course, at the top of the mountain. The eventual victor of the 2023 WPT World Championship will not only have “World Champion” attached to his name for perpetuity, but he will also earn a place on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions’ Cup AND earn a $5,678,000 payday from the $40 million prize pool. The action begins at 4 PM (Pacific Time) and will be livestreamed over the WPT’s Twitch channel.
(Photo courtesy of WPT.com)