2023 WSOP Week Three: The $250k Super High Roller Full of Surprises, Isildur1 Mixing It Up

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Another exciting week of action at the 2023 World Series of Poker is behind us, and just like the previous two, this one did not disappoint.

Attendance numbers continued to impress, showing a significant increase compared to 2022. The $1,500 Monster Stack event, for example, ended up with 8,317 entries, eclipsing the last year’s tournament by more than 1,800 players.

The first-ever Big O event turned out to be a massive success as well, attracting 1,458 players. Considering the $1,500 buy-in and the fact this is hardly what you’d call a mainstream poker variation, this only shows that interest for the game in general is as strong as ever.

However, the big story of the past week was the largest buy-in of the Series, the $250,000 Super High Roller. Even this event showed a significant increase compared to 2022, gathering 69 entries, 13 more than last year.

Chris Brewer Grabs His First Bracelet & 5.2 Million to Boot

As expected, the $250,000 Super High Roller gathered all the big poker names, including the likes of Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, David Peters, and many more.

Day 19 Vlog goes LIVE in 15 minutes and it's the biggest buy in of the Summer with the $250,000 High Roller!https://t.co/jZ1rz3F9dF

— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) June 18, 2023

By the time the registration closed, the tournament clock was showing 69 entries, which resulted in a massive prize pool of $17.2 million.

Despite all the big names in the room, it was an unknown player who stole the headlines for a while. One Dustin Bailey came out to Las Vegas for Father’s Day and managed to convince his wife to let him splurge a quarter of a million to enter one of the toughest tournaments in the world.

Bailey, who said he didn’t really follow poker and wasn’t familiar even with game superstars like Ivey, had some beginner’s luck on his side, bagging the chip lead at the end of Day 1. This wasn’t enough, though, as he ended up busting several spots before money.

This wasn’t the only extraordinary story of this event, either. Jason Koon received the word that his wife went into labor while the tournament registration was still going on. Koon asked to pull out of the event, and, given he had more than a starting stack, the WSOP honored his request.

All these happenings didn’t prevent the tournament from getting to its natural conclusion, and when it was all said and done, it was Chris Brewer holding all chips in play, pocketing $5.2 million and his very first WSOP bracelet after outlasting one of the toughest fields you could possibly imagine.

This is why we love poker! pic.twitter.com/z9HiwgW6eF

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 19, 2023

$1,500 Monster Stack Set to Make Another WSOP Millionaire

The record-breaking field of 8,317 players in this year’s Monster Stack event created a massive prize pool of $11.1 million. This means that we will have another WSOP-made millionaire by the time the dust settles, as the winner will take home $1,162,681.

The event is now well underway, as there are only 389 players still left in the contention, all of them guaranteed to pocket at least $6,000 for their efforts in this massive event.

Those lucky enough to make it all the way to the final table will be guaranteed six figures, so we can fully expect everyone will try to bring their A-game and fight to the last chip.

Benny Glaser Joins the Five-Bracelet Club

While it may seem that there is a huge number of WSOP bracelets going around, the number of players holding several of them is not that big.

In fact, with his win in the $10k 2-7 Triple Draw Championship, Benny Glaser became only the 36th player to hold five World Series of Poker bracelets.

I did it!! 😁
I won the $10k 2-7 TD event, for my 5th WSOP bracelet and $311k! 🏆
What an amazing tournament, the comeback from 1BB.
I'm very happy 😊 pic.twitter.com/GI4FAUJ3gh

— Benny Glaser (@BennyGlaser) June 19, 2023

This is quite an achievement and another feather in the career cap of the player whose lifetime tournament winnings now exceed $7,000,000.

Poker Players Championship Gets Underway

The Super High Roller may be over, but another prestigious tournament has gotten underway. Of course, we’re talking about the $50,000 Poker Players Championship, an event that many consider a true test of who the best players out there are.

Consisting of nine different poker variations, the tournament requires a deep understanding of the game of poker as a whole, and it generally attracts all of the best players out there.

This year is no different, as the field includes the likes of Josh Arieh, Phil Ivey, Brian Rast, Jennifer Harman, and Shaun Deeb.

There is another player in the mix who the fans will enjoy seeing. Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom has been grinding some events this WSOP, and he managed to bag a decent stack at the end of the first day.

So, it seems that the week ahead will be just as exciting, with plenty of action to look forward to and some great players to root for as the chase for bracelets and Player of the Year points continues!