If poker is your business, then business has been pretty good over the last week. The 2023 World Series of Poker has been doing some brisk business, seventeen events into the schedule, and several bracelets have been handed out over the last couple of days. Here’s a quick look at who those fortunate recipients have been.
Jeremy Eyer Stops Felipe Ramos in $5000 Freezeout
In Event #12, the $5000 Eight Handed No Limit Hold’em Freezeout, 735 players (remember, no reentry in a freezeout) built an excellent $3.381 million prize pool. By Tuesday, the final table had not been determined with sixteen survivors, which would make for a long night for those involved. Yuval Bronshtein and Jesse Lonis would not be a part of the final table action, alongside the final lady in the event, Christina Gollins.
Gollins in particular had a tough exit. With nine players remaining, Gollins held A-K against Felipe Ramos and couldn’t run down the Brazilian. Winning that hand would have put Gollins into the lead; instead, she would depart the event before the final table.
Ramos, for his part, rocketed to the lead after the eight-handed final table was determined. Ramos, who had a massive run earlier this year in High Roller tournaments, made two tough calls to garner that lead, first against Nozomu Shimizu with only second pair and picking off a bluff from Ivan Galinec to bring the table to six-handed play.
Eyer stayed viable in the tournament, eventually drawing even to Ramos and Shimizu three-handed, but Ramos’ elimination of Shimizu made the challenge daunting for Eyer. The duo battled it out for nearly three hours, with the chip lead swinging in both men’s favor before Eyer would deliver a cooler that he will always remember.
After an opening raise from Ramos, Eyer three-bet the action and Ramos moved all in for his stack. Just as quickly, Eyer made the call and tabled his pocket Queens to go to battle against the woefully overmatched pocket Jacks from Ramos. A Queen on the flop only solidified Eyer’s edge and, after a nine came on the turn, Ramos was drawing dead and Eyer had captured his first-ever WSOP bracelet
1. Jeremy Eyer, $649,550
2. Felipe Ramos, $401,460
3. Nozomu Shimizu, $287,106
4. Jinho Hong, $208,158
5. Ronald Minnis, $153,032
6. Jeffrey Halcomb, $114,102
7. Ivan Galinec, $86,300
8. Shiva Dudani, $66,226
Joseph Altomonte Earns Victory in Popular PLO Tournament
Event #13, the $600 Pot Limit Omaha Deepstack tournament, was extremely popular with the crowd in the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. 3200 entries were received for the tournament, which was also completed in a rapid time frame. At the start of Day Two, only 117 players were left in the tournament and, by the end of Tuesday, they would be at a champion.
That fortunate individual would turn out to be Joseph Altomonte. He would be a one-man wrecking crew at the final table, taking out seven of the other eight competitors at the final table. That allowed Altomonte to build a massive 12:1 chip lead over Michael Holmes, who would double up once before the tournament came to an end. On the second hand of heads-up play, Altomonte’s K-K-6-2 would reign over Holmes’ Q-J-J-4 after the board ran out A-9-4-6-9 to end the tournament with Joseph Altomonte capturing the WSOP gold.
1. Joseph Altomonte, $217,102
2. Michael Holmes, $134,171
3. Stephen Wheeland, $100,976
4. Jorge Ufano, $76,516
5. Clayton Fletcher, $58,382
6. Xing He, $44,856
7. Ardit Bitincka, $34,706
8. Jerome Hickel, $27,042
Brian Yoon Makes History in $10K Seven Card Stud Championship
In Event #14, the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship tournament, Brian Yoon was able to get the win over a difficult final table that included Dan Shak, whom Yoon defeated in heads-up play. In taking home the title, Yoon also etched his name in the record books as one of the greats in WSOP history.
There was a bit of drama before the final table, however. 2023 double bracelet winner Chad Eveslage was in a position to try to make it three bracelets in one year (something that hasn’t been done since George Danzer pulled off the feat in 2014). Eveslage would come up short with his twelfth-place finish, though, leaving the tournament at the hands of Ben Yu.
Yoon and Maxx Coleman would be the only players over the million-chip mark when the final table started, and they would dominate the action on the felt. Shak would demonstrate his own unique set of skills in maneuvering through the final table minefield, grinding his short stack to be a part of three-way action with Coleman and Yoon. Even though he was at a 4.5:1 disadvantage to Yoon and a 3:1 disadvantage to Coleman, Shak kept driving for his first WSOP bracelet.
It would come down to who would survive, Shak or Coleman, and in the end, it was Shak. Yoon was able to take out Coleman with trip Aces, while Coleman couldn’t find anything to best that in departing in third place. Down more than 3:1 against Yoon, Shak fought valiantly over the span of two hours but was unable to ever eke his way into the lead. On the final hand, Shak would earn a gated two pair – (9-8) 9-8 – but that’s as good as it would get. Yoon started with an innocuous (A-6) K that would turn into a Broadway straight to take the WSOP bracelet.
1. Brian Yoon, $311,433
2. Dan Shak, $192,479
3. Maxx Coleman, $140,081
4. Ben Yu, $103,645
5. George Alexander, $77,985
6. Ben Diebold, $59,688
7. Leonard August, $46,484
8. Max Hoffman, $36,847
With the victory, Yoon earns his fifth WSOP bracelet. He becomes one of 33 men to have achieved that feat, including fellow five-timers Eli Elezra and John Juanda. It is also his second bracelet win in as many years, after winning the $1500 Deuce to Seven Triple Draw tournament last year.
Three WSOP Tournaments in Final Action on Thursday
There are three events in their Day Three action on Thursday, with each of those tournaments expected to play down to their champion.
Fifteen players remain in the $1500 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em tournament, Event #15 on the slate, and one player is sitting behind a MONSTER stack of chips. Sarah Herzali will have full charge of the table with her 12.8 million in chips as those behind her look to hunt her down.
1. Sarah Herzali, 12.8 million
2. Rafael Reis, 7.825 million
3. Gabriel Schroeder, 5.56 million
4. Ryan Hohner, 6.2 million
5. Daniel Barriocanal, 5.455 million
Lurking down the leaderboard, albeit with shorter stacks, are multiple bracelet winners John Monnette and Upeshka De Silva, who will be looking to add to their trophy case.
Another High Roller champion will be determined on Thursday. The $25,000 Eight Handed No Limit Hold’em High Roller will work down from its final thirteen on Thursday. It is a star-studded affair, with Brian Rast, Isaac Haxton, Taylor Von Kriegenbergh, Darren Elias, and Kristen Foxen all looking to take down chip leader Roman Hrabec.
1. Roman Hrabec, 6.05 million
2. Frank Funaro, 5.065 million
3. Aleksejs Ponakovs, 4.47 million
4. Joao Viera, 4.09 million
5. Brian Rast, 3.965 million
It might be a tougher task for the 33 players in the $1500 Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better tournament to get to the winner tonight. Event #17 will pick up action this afternoon with two Kyles, Burnside and Cartwright, holding the edge over the field. James Obst and Jim Collopy will be a couple of names to watch for in this tournament.
1. Kyle Burnside, 2.345 million
2. Kyle Cartwright, 2.31 million
3. Erik Perry, 1.935 million
4. Eric Varnado, 1.75 million
5. Qinghai Pan, 1.68 million
Oh, you thought this was the end of the action? There are FIVE tournaments in their early stages, including one online event, that will keep the hallways of the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas buzzing. “All in a normal day” is what the players will say as the 2023 World Series of Poker rolls on into its second week.
