Team Sako Leads Heading into Day 3 of Event #51: $1,000 Tag Team
It was a mad dash to the money as Day 2 has officially concluded in Event# 51: $1,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold’em at the 2023 World Series of Poker at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, and just 26 teams remain in contention for the $190,662 first-place prize and the coveted gold bracelet.
Day 1 started with 1,282 registered teams, creating a record prize pool of $1,140,980, with only 252 returning for the second day and the 193-team money bubble breaking during the third level of the play.
A min-cash was worth $1,602, and with only 26 teams returning for Day 3, each team is guaranteed a payday of $6,426.
Three teams crossed the two million chip mark, with Team Sako leading at 2,340,000. Team Williams and Team Java have 2,085,000 and 2,065,000, respectively, to round out the top three and Team Ventre is not far behind with 1,645,000.
Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player/Team | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yuki Sako - Shunsuke Tokoo | Japan | 2,340,000 | 78 |
| 2 | David Williams - Theo Tran | United States | 2,085,000 | 70 |
| 3 | Nipun Java - Ronald Phipps | India | 2,065,000 | 69 |
| 4 | John Ventre - Kenneth Gallo | United States | 1,645,000 | 55 |
| 5 | Jorge Machado - Lucian Camargo | Brazil | 1,645,000 | 55 |
| 6 | Jonah LaBranche - Dustin Wills | United States | 1,475,000 | 49 |
| 7 | Lindsey McDougall - Joshua McDougall | United States | 1,375,000 | 46 |
| 8 | Sean Cosgrove - John Lucas | United States | 1,275,000 | 43 |
| 9 | Mitchell Collins - Arash Asadabadi | United States | 1,265,000 | 42 |
| 10 | Vincent Moscati - Tanner Bibat | United States | 945,000 | 32 |
Chips were flying early in the day with some notable players exiting the field Ebony Kenney, Jon Van Fleet and Jon Pardy.
Other well-known players to head to the payout desk on Day 2 include Team Sluder, consisting of William Sluder and Matt Berkey, and Team Mariott, consisting of Julie Marriot and Dara O’Kearney.
Chips were moving late in the day, including in a couple of hands belonging to the eventual chip leaders, Team Sako, wherein the first one, they found themselves all-in with ace-jack against the pocket sixes of Team Savakinas. They were able to spike the ace on the turn and held to cross the million chip mark.
Team Sako was on the right side of cooler in another hand against Team Jia, as well, where they were able to get it in pre-flop with aces against Jia’s ace-king, which hovered them right around two million chips.
Team Williams also found themselves on the receiving end of some run-good toward the latter part of the day, as bracelet winner David Williams was able to eliminate Team Weng in a 1,400,000 chip pot, when Williams made aces full of eights against the trip aces of Weng.
Day 3 will resume at 12 p.m. local time in the Horseshoe Event Center and will play down to a winner, so stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team will be back tomorrow to report on the tournament action.