An eventful day at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas saw Stephen Deutsch take the lead in Event #75: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship, with the final 19 players returning on the 4th of July at the 2023 World Series of Poker.
Deutsch’s stack of 2,110,000 chips holds a slim lead over fellow American John Holley (2,040,000), as the two largest remaining stacks are seated at the same table.
The day began with a total of 33 new players joining the 116 who bagged on Day 1, bringing the total to 277 entries and creating a prize pool of $2,576,100. The field fell just shy of last year’s record, with Wednesday’s winner taking home $598,613 and the coveted WSOP gold bracelet.
Australian Hassan Kamel (1,745,000), Ryan Hoenig (1,550,000) and Maxx Coleman (1,090,000) round out the top five stacks battling for glory, with all 19 players locking up at least $24,509 before the action begins on Day 3.
End of Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
Place
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Stephen Deutsch
United States
2,110,000
84
2
John Holley
United States
2,040,000
82
3
Hassan Kamel
Australia
1,745,000
70
4
Ryan Hoenig
United States
1,550,000
62
5
Maxx Coleman
United States
1,090,000
44
6
Martin Zamani
United States
1,035,000
41
7
Dzmitry Urbanovich
Poland
890,000
36
8
Christopher Vitch
United States
865,000
35
9
Naoya Kihara
Japan
765,000
31
10
Ben Yu
United States
725,000
29
Day 2 Action
The day began with several notable players joining right before the end of late registration, many of whom were unable to build a stack capable of finding the money. Day 2 entrants that hit the rail without cashing included Phil Ivey, Stephen Chidwick, Chad Eveslage, Ben Lamb and Brian Rast. They joined other notables missing out on the money, including Mike Matusow and 2022 runner-up Chino Rheem.
A total of 42 players made it through the bubble to earn a min cash of $16,175 once Igor Zektser was drawing dead on the turn to hit the rail in Level 17.
The action picked up after the bubble burst, with several marquee names having to settle for a small payday. Among those that made the money but fell short of bagging for Day 3 were Phil Hellmuth, Dan Shak, Felipe Ramos, Daniel Negreanu, and Dan Heimiller, along with Day 1 chip leader Michael Banducci.
Maxx Coleman
Day 3 Contenders
While many of the final 19 players will be searching for their first taste of WSOP glory, a total of nine bracelet winners will be looking to find the winner’s circle again. Coleman leads that group that includes Christopher Vitch, Naoya Kihara, Ben Yu, Joao Simao, Dylan Weisman, Paul Volpe, Calen Mcneil and tournament short stack Patrick Leonard.
Paul Volpe
Volpe sits in 13th position after playing two events at the same time for much of the day. On his way to bagging chips in this event, the three-time bracelet winner put together a 14th place finish in Online Event #13: $5,300 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller Championship.
Day 3 begins at 1 p.m. local time on July 4th, with Level 21, blinds 10,000/25,000 with a 25,000 big blind ante. Players will get 15-minute breaks after every two levels and a 60-minute dinner break after Level 26.
The PokerNews reporting team will be on the scene as the field is trimmed down to the final five players.
