54th Annual World Series of Poker Main Event Begins Today! –  July 3 to 17 at Horseshoe & Paris Las Vegas

From its humble beginnings in 1970 to the colossal scale of 8,773 players in recent years, the stage is set for the 2023 WSOP MAIN EVENT $10,000 No Limit Hold’em World Championship!

*All photos by WSOP / Pokernews

This iconic tournament begins today, July 3rd at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, and is expected to run for two weeks with a new champion crowned by July 17th. As the culmination of four and a half weeks of pre-games, with numerous records shattered along the way, hopes are high for a record-breaking Main Event turnout.

Somuchpoker is on-site to capture the action, with special focus on the Asian contingent. Any updates you wish to see posted, just send a message via the comments section and we will do our best to have it up.

Highlights – July 3, 2023

Running hot at the series

This year’s WSOP kicked off on May 30th and to date, 72 bracelet events have been completed. Among the winners are several to watch for at the Main Event. Here’s our list.

• Christopher Brewer – Series double bracelet winner and largest single event winner payout of $5,293,556 – locked up career first and second bracelets at Event 40: $250,000 Super High Roller NLH and Event 69: $10,000 NL 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship
• Chad Eveslage – Series double bracelet winner – locked up career second and third bracelets at Event 5: $1,500 Dealers Choice 6-Handed and Event 10: $10,000 Dealers Choice 6-Handed Championship
• Ian Matakis – 11 live bracelet event cashes – 7 online bracelet event cashes – 4 final table cashes – locked up career first bracelet at Online Event 2: $500 NLH Bankroll Builder – frontrunner for Player of the Year
• Shaun Deeb – 10 live bracelet event cashes – 6 online bracelet event cashes – 4 final table cashes – locked up career sixth bracelet at Event 27: $1,500 Eight Game Mix 6-Handed – running 3rd at POY race
• Jason Simon – topped series largest field of 23,088 entries at the inaugural $300 Gladiators of Poker NLH – locked up career first bracelet and career high payout of $500,332
• Tyler Brown – topped series second largest field of 18,188 entries at Event 3: $1,000 Mystery Millions NLH for career first bracelet
• Pavel Plesuv – after two runner-up finishes last year, Plesuv locked up career first at Event 53: $1,500 MILLIONAIRE MAKER NLH, beating a field of 10,416 entries

Past Main Event winners spotted

Of course, we will also be keeping tabs on past Main Event winners that have already been seen at the tables. Here’s a short list of those racking up impressive stats.

• Phil Hellmuth – 1989 Main Event champion and 2012 WSOPE Main Event champion – 10 cashes – locked up career 17th bracelet at Event 72: $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty NLH
• Espen Jorstad – 2023 Main Event champion – has cashed at 5 live bracelet events and 1 online bracelet event – his deepest live run was 16th place / 301 entries at Event 16: $25,000 High Roller NLH 8-Handed
• Koray Aldemir – 2022 Main Event champion – has cashed at 10 live bracelet events and 5 online bracelet events – his deepest live run was 12th place / 3,773 entries at Event 42: $800 8-Handed NLH Deepstack
• Joe McKeehen – 2015 Main Event champion – has cashed at  4 live bracelet events and 2 online bracelet events – his deepest live run was 4th place / 134 entries at Event 22: $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship
• Ryan Riess – 2013 Main Event champion – has cashed at 8 live bracelet events and 4 online bracelet events – his deepest live run was 8th place / 154 entries at Event 69: $10,000 NL 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship
• Joe Cada – 2009 Main Event champion – has cashed at 4 live bracelet events and 1 online bracelet event – his deepest live run was 7th place / 8,317 entries at Event 39: $1,500 Monster Stack NLH

Asians at the WSOP

Through the years Asian presence at the WSOP has rapidly increased resulting in multiple bracelets captured each year. In our previous post, six Asian players have already been minted at this year’s games. Another one was recently added with Weiran Pu from China giving the country its fifth gold / 11th in country history. These champions and other strong runners listed below are among some of the players to watch for.

• Renji Mao – China – Event 26: $800 NLH Deepstack – 4,747 entries – $402,588 payout
• Ryutaro Suzuki – Event 36: $3,000 Nine Game Mix – 361 entries – $963,870 payout
• Yuan Li – China – Event 37: $2,000 NLH – 1,962 entries – $524,777 payout
• Qiang Xu – China – Event 42: $800 8-Handed NLH Deepstack – 3,773 entries – $339,033 payout
• Yang Zhang – China – Event 44: $3,000 NLH – 1,735 entries – $717,879 payout
• Ka Kwan Lau – Event 57: $25,000 High Roller PLO – 449 entries – $2,294,756 payout
• Weiran Pu – China – Event 65: $5,000 6-Handed NLH – 1,199 entries- $938,244 payout
• Xuming Qi – China – 8 cashes – deepest run was 11th place / 8,317 entries at Event 39: 1,500 Monster Stack NLH
• Jinho Hong – Korea – 2022 bracelet winner – 4 cashes – deepest run 4th place / 735 players at Event 12: $5,000 Freezeout NLH
• Nozomu Shimizu – Japan – 5 cashes – 2 final table cashes – 3rd place / 735 players at Event 12: $5,000 Freezeout NLH and 3rd place / 134 entries at Event 22: $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship
• Powen Fang – Taiwan – 5 cashes – 16th place / 10,416 entries at Event 53: $1,500 MILLIONAIRE MAKER NLH and 24th place / 4,747 entries at Event 26: $800 NLH Deepstack

2023 WSOP: Spotlight on Asian performance