Level 39
: Blinds 1,000,000/2,000,000, 2,000,000 ante
Tony Zharnitsky
Tony Zharnitsky was forced all in by the mandatory posting of the big blind for his last 2,000,000. Kfir Nahum opened under the gun to 4,100,000 finding a caller in Bien Nguyen on the button.
With Zharnitsky all in blind, the main pot was set aside, while there still remained action on the side between the remaining players.
On a flop of 6♥6♠3♠, Nahum continued for 5,000,000. In response, Nguyen raised large enough to force a fold from Nahum, winning the side pot and getting the hand to a showdown.
Tony Zharnitsky: K♥5♦
Bien Nguyen: 8♥8♠
The turn and river came the 5♥ and the 6♠ respectively and Zharnitsky exited in 17th place.
Level 39
: Blinds 1,000,000/2,000,000, 2,000,000 ante
Dylon Chafin
Dylon Chafin moved all in for 9,200,000 from late position which saw action fold around to Caio Sobral on the button who raised and everyone else folded.
Dylon Chafin: K♥10♦
Caio Sobral: A♣10♣
The board ran out Q♦10♠7♦7♣3♣ and the king-ten could not improve for Chafin and he exited the tournament area.
Level 39
: Blinds 1,000,000/2,000,000, 2,000,000 ante
Alexandre Besse
Jonson Chatterley raised the button to 4,500,000. Alexandre Besse in the big blind three-bet jammed for his remaining 16,700,000, and Chatterley called.
Alexandre Besse: K♥3♥
Jonson Chatterley: 9♣9♥
The board ran out 3♣4♥8♣6♥J♠. Though the turn brought plenty of outs for Besse, the river came a blank, and he departed in 15th place.
Level 39
: Blinds 1,000,000/2,000,000, 2,000,000 ante
Eric Trexler
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?
Nahum ended the day with the third most in chips, looking to add a first 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
Negreanu managed to outlast over 23,000 entrants in this field.
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 Simonrivered 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.
Robbie Ko busted Daniel Negreanu
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.
Alexandre Besse was the final elimination of the night
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.
