Hanan Tabrichi, Jason Johnson, and Upeshka De Silva got tangled up in a three-way all in preflop.
Tabrichi: A♦9♦
Johnson: J♥J♠
De Silva: A♠K♠
Tabrichi caught the most of the 7♣8♦6♦ flop, but locked the hand up on a K♦ turn. The 2♦ river just made it official. De Silva had Tabrichi covered, and so won a side pot for his efforts with the pair of kings.
Chris Moneymaker had the Bluff of the Century in 2003. This past week, Doug Polk had perhaps the Failed Bluff of the Century.
On Sunday, heads-up for a bracelet, Polk bluffed off a significant portion of his stack at the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) less than one week after his infamous bluff attempt that didn't get through on Hustler Casino Live's $1 million game.
In both instances, the Upswing Poker founder had a busted draw and attempted to use aggression to coerce his opponents into folding somewhat marginal holdings in massive pots. Both times, however, his efforts were unsuccessful and quite costly.
Pokernews was informed of the hand where James Romero was knocked out of the tournament. Romero was in the hijack and raised to 120,000 preflop. Upeshka De Silva three-bet to 480,000 and Romero pushed the rest of his chips in for about 1,700,000. De Silva called.
James Romero: J♦Q♦
Upeshka De Silva: AxKx
When all low cards hit the board through all the streets, Romero was out and De Silva stacked a substantial amount of chips.
Sarah Herzali raised 125,000 from the button, Shannon Shorr reraised to 425,000, and Herzali called.
They took in a flop of 7♣K♥8♠ and Shorr continued for 160,000. Herzali tanked briefly, then called.
Shorr bet again, 370,000 this time on a 4♥ turn. The two stared at each other laser-like until finally Herzali called, building a 1,500,000 pot.
The 4♠ hit the river, and this time Shorr checked. After another minutes-long tank, Herzali gathered a stack of 100,000 chips, two million worth and placed them in front of her.
Shorr climbed deep into the tank, sighing heavily, turning his Vegas Knights baseball cap backward, eyeing his chips, sliding his cards back and forth.
Herzali stayed perfectly still, perched on her chair with a scarf up to her nose. With another sigh, Shorr called. Herzali showed her K♦Q♥. Shorr stood up, flinging his cards into the muck.
Nikolaos Angelou (pictured) raised in the cutoff for 160,000 and Boris Berthomet, on the button, reraised all of his chips for 1,180,000. Angelou tanked for a bit and called.
Boris Berthomet: K♠Q♦
Nikolaos Angelou: 7♣7♠
The board run out was J♦8♦8♥3♠A♦ and Angelou's sevens held up to win the pot and eliminate Berthomet.
There were many stories on Day 2 of Event #15: $1,500 6-Handed No-Limit Hold'em of the 2023 World Series of Poker at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, but the day belonged to France’s Sarah Herzali. In 18th place in chips at the end of Day 1, she now possesses an immense stack of 12,800,000, accounting for 20% of the chips in play with 15 players remaining.
Herzali made two deep WSOP runs last year, including cashing in this event, but is now well-positioned to win her first bracelet and the $465,501 first-place cash when play continues on June 8. But as she said to a tablemate who told her she was going to win after she had knocked out yet another player when her club flush draw came in on the river to beat her opponent's two pair, “Don’t jinx it!”
Herzali also played perhaps the most epic hand of the day, as she and Shannon Shorr stared each other down, with Herzali eventually knocking him out with a turned pair of kings.
End of Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts
Rank
Name
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Sarah Herzali
France
12,800,000
128
2
Rafael Reis
Brazil
7,825,000
78
3
Gabriel Schroeder
Brazil
5,560,000
55
4
Ryan Hohner
United States
6,200,000
62
5
Daniel Barriocanal
Spain
5,455,000
55
6
Nikolaos Angelou
Greece
4,535,000
45
7
Yue Liu
China
4,425,000
44
8
Yun Choi
Great Britain
3,755,000
38
9
Grant Wang
United States
3,045,000
30
10
Ian Matakis
United States
2,270,000
23
Other notable players still remaining in the field are four-time bracelet winner John Monnette, three-time bracelet winner Upeshka De Silva, and Ian Matakis. You may recall Matakis helped himself to a bracelet in a $500 online event only a couple of days ago.
John Monnette
Some of the notable names who were eliminated on Day 2 included James Romero, Maria Ho, Jake Daniels, and Norbert Szecsi.
Day 3 resumes at 12:00 p.m. local time on June 8, and the event will play down to the eventual winner. The players sit down with the structure having reached Level 28, meaning the blinds are 50,000/100,000 plus a 100,000 big blind ante. With an international field, many with contingents of rowdy railbirds, the action tomorrow should be amazing.
PokerNews will be right here to bring you all the action, so stay tuned for all the updates from the 54th World Series of Poker.
