Eric Trexler Leads Final 14 Into Final Day of the Gladiator
Event #18: $300 Gladiators of Poker saw the starting field of 827 combatants at the start of the day, reduced to just 14 warriors over the course of 17 levels of play at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. Each one of those contenders is guaranteed a minimum prize of $23,298. Not one of the remaining players holds a WSOP bracelet, so the WSOP bracelet awarded to first place will make one of these lucky 14 a first-time bracelet winner. They'll also take home $499,852 for a best live score.
Final Day Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eric Trexler | United States | 97,400,000 | 39 |
| 2 | Ciao Sobral | Brazil | 94,000,000 | 38 |
| 3 | Kfir Nahum | Israel | 83,600,000 | 33 |
| 4 | Jason Simon | United States | 77,800,000 | 31 |
| 5 | Jonson Chatterley | United States | 66,300,000 | 27 |
| 6 | Bohdan Slyvinski | United States | 55,200,000 | 22 |
| 7 | Wade Wallace | United States | 41,400,000 | 17 |
| 8 | Salvatore Boi | Italy | 37,300,000 | 15 |
| 9 | Wesley Cannon | United States | 36,000,000 | 14 |
| 10 | Bien Nguyen | Australia | 31,200,000 | 12 |
| 11 | Tim Williams | United States | 28,400,000 | 11 |
| 12 | Joshua Rotherberg | United States | 23,400,000 | 9 |
| 13 | Thomas Reeves | United States | 13,600,000 | 5 |
| 14 | Willie Smith | United States | 9,500,000 | 4 |
Leading the way is Eric Trexler, who holds the chip lead with 97,400,000. The Washington native has only one prior WSOP cash to his name and it was in the WSOP 2021 Reunion, the largest field of any WSOP event in history. A knack for navigating massive fields has served Trexler well as he scooped a massive pot late in the night to knock out two players to take the lead and maintained it through the rest of the night.
Nipping at his heels is a player who secured his first WSOP cash. Caio Sobral ended up bagging 94,600,000 at the end of the night after a steady build throughout the day, which culminated in the second-largest stack. Sobral has his eyes on becoming the second Brazilian player to take home a bracelet this year after Rafael Reis took home his first piece of WSOP jewelry.
Coming into Day 3 with the most WSOP experience of the final 14 is Kfir Nahum, who ended the day bagging 83,600,000. With $1,465,131 in lifetime earnings on Hendon Mob, the Nevada resident has secured his best live WSOP placement with this bag. Nahum finished in 61st place in the 2017 WSOP Main Event, for a career-best score of $121,188. Can he navigate an even larger field to win his first WSOP bracelet?
The only player left to have won a WSOPC ring is Wesley Cannon, who ended his day with 36,000,000. The Minnesota resident has been building a steady resume over the past decade of playing on the circuit and a deep run here would be his best WSOP finish.
Day 2 Recap
The action was fast and furious at the start of the day, with 60% of the field vanishing within only two hours of play.
Among the early casualties were such names as Champie Douglas (784th - $1,120), Danny Wong (553rd - $1,370), Josh Reichard (477th - $1,540), and Mike Allis (401st - $1,980).
Negreanu’s Excellent Run
Six-time WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu was among the chip leaders of the tournament after the first day's play and he came into today with the eyes of the poker world on him.
The start of Day 2 was a bit rocky after Mark Simon rivered a set against him to stay alive. Negreanu spent much of the day on the smaller stack, but never without his positive, chatty, attitude that he is well-known for. A cornucopia of fans occupied the rail at the Horseshoe to see the player they had watched on television for so many years play in one of the biggest tournament fields of all time. Negreanu found plenty of time to say yes to all of the fans coming up to him and asking for pictures.
His run ended when he called an all in from the unpredictable Robbie Ko with ace-jack, only to be up against the ace-king. Despite flopping a straight draw, Negreanu’s hand did not improve, and he graciously exited the tournament in 72nd place out of a starting field of 23,088 for $5,840. He wished his tablemates well and took all of the photos that the rail asked of him as he walked over to register for Event #27: $1,500 8-Game Mix.
Late Day Action
Many other notables fell shortly after Negreanu's demise. MSPT legend DJ Buckley (68th - $6,990) found himself out the door, Melanie Weisner (62nd - $8,410) found herself all in with tens against jacks for her tournament life and unable to improve, TK Miles (39th - $12,240) found himself on the wrong end of a coin flip, and Casey Carrolll (29th - $15,230) was ousted in brutal fashion as his pocket aces were cracked by ace-queen from a four-flush.
With the final three tables set, the eliminations kept coming. The biggest pot of the night saw Jason Aden (19th - $18,779) and Robbie Ko (18th - $18,779) get their chips into a massive pot with Trexler who called them both with top pair and held to take the chip lead, earning a big celebration from Trexler.
The final casualty of the night was Alexandre Besse (15th - $23,298), who moved in his final eight big blinds with king-trey only to be up against the pocket nines of Jonson Chatterley. While he paired his trey on the flop, no help was brought to him, and he exited the tournament just short of the end of play.
Players will return on Monday, June 12, at 12 p.m. local time at the Horseshoe, with blinds at 1,250,000/2,500,000 with a 2,500,000 big blind ante. The final players will play until there are nine remaining, after which the final table will be streamed.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for all updates regarding the 2023 WSOP.