2023 WSOP Week Two: Eveslage Takes Early Lead in the POY Race, More Records Broken

The second week of the 2023 World Series of Poker is now officially in the books, and it’s been quite a week. Twenty-odd bracelets have found new owners, and one player has already managed to capture two of these.

That player is Chad Eveslage, the man who managed to emerge victorious in two separate Dealers Choice events. He first took down the $1,500 tournaments at the start of the Series, followed by the win in the $10,000 Championship.

Add to this a deep run in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship, and Eveslage is now leading the way in the 2023 Play of the Year race, ahead of Tyler Brown and Nick Schulman.

The double-bracelet win was just one of the stories to make the WSOP headlines last week. We’re bringing you a quick breakdown of the most important highlights.

Week 2 Highlights ♠️♥️♣️♦️ #WSOP2023 pic.twitter.com/eBU4Fs1rKa

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 12, 2023

Brian Yoon and Josh Arieh Win Their Fifth Bracelets

The last week saw several $10,000 Championship events take place, and two veterans of the game took this opportunity to increase their bracelet counts.

Brian Yoon was the first to do so, outlasting the field of 130 players in the Seven Card Stud Championship and beating Dan Shak in the final skirmish.

Yoon won his first bracelet back in 2013, so he’s been around for a while. His biggest WSOP win to date came from the triumph in the 2017 Monster Stack, where he outlasted the field of over 6,700 players to pocket $1.1 million.

Josh Arieh claimed his number five in the Limit Hold’em Championship, an event that attracted 134 players. Interestingly enough, this is Arieh’s second Limit Hold’em bracelet, while the remaining three came from PLO and PLO8 events. He is still to win a No Limit Hold’em WSOP event.

Another legendary milestone for @JoshuaArieh, as he captures his fifth bracelet in the $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship! Is he one of the favorites to get into the Poker Hall of Fame this year?

Congratulations, Josh! pic.twitter.com/qdadY1lroE

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 11, 2023

Gladiators of Poker Down to 14 Players

The cheapest live WSOP bracelet event in the history of the Series is nearing its epic conclusion. With the buy-in of just $300, the tournament attracted an impressive number of 23,088 entries.

This resulted in a prize pool of a whopping $5.7 million, blowing the $3,000,000 guarantee out of the water.

Everyone who made it into Day 2 came back yesterday (Sunday) to keep on fighting. Out of 827 players to enter the arena, only 14 were left standing by the time the last hand was dealt.

Heading out into the @wsop Gladiator event…where @RealKidPoker is still alive in the 2nd-biggest poker tournament of all-time pic.twitter.com/nLkDbK3VNf

— Jeff Platt (@jeffplatt) June 12, 2023

These remaining players will come back once again, and this time the event will play down to the winner.

The last man standing will receive just a few dollars less than $500,000, which is an amazing return on the $300 investment. Everyone is guaranteed to walk away with at least $23,298 for their efforts.

First Badugi Champion Is Crowned

The 2023 WSOP will go down in history for quite a few firsts, including the first-ever Badugi-only bracelet tournament.

The $1,500 tournament attracted a truly impressive field of 516 runners (given the fact this isn’t the mainstream game) for the prize pool of $688,860.

After four days of play, the title went to one Michael Rodrigues. This is the very first WSOP bracelet for Rodrigues, and it coming from an event that’s never been featured on the WSOP schedule before only adds to its charm.

Impressive Numbers All Around

The attendance numbers for this year’s World Series of Poker have been truly astonishing. While the organizers did promise this would be the biggest WSOP so far, even they might be surprised by how well things have developed so far.

Almost all tournaments so far have had more players than their counterparts last year. It’s quite interesting that even the events featuring non-Hold’em games have seen a significant uptick in terms of attendance.

Everything we’ve seen so far indicates that the upcoming Main Event could well be the largest one in history. The 2006 record was almost broken last year, so perhaps 2023 will be the year when it finally happens.