68 Asians and 12 Aussies remaining at the 2023 WSOP Main Event; ITM ten spots away, Cezar Quiambao leads Survivor promo final 3

SMP EditorEditor-in-Chief

Updated: 2026.10.16

The Asian force has trimmed further with the 148 returning players down to just 68 at the end of Day 3 of the 54th Annual World Series of Poker $10,000 No Limit Hold’em World Championship aka WSOP Main Event ongoing at the Horseshoe Las Vegas and Paris Las Vegas ballrooms.

Day 3 closed with 1,517 players. Money flows starting at 1,507 places which means the bubble will burst early in Day 4. Head to the bottom of the page for the prize pool breakdown.

Asia performance at Day 3

Despite the cut in Asian numbers, fifteen players bagged up over 100 bb, among them were Japan’s Shota Nakanishi (180 bb), India’s Nikita Luther (162 bb), Hong Kong’s Lok Ming Chan (143 bb), Korean-American Jinwoo Kim (133 bb), and superstar Thai pro Punnat Punsri (111 bb).

Bracelet holders Nakanishi and Luther impressed the most. Both players building on their already heavy stacks to close with over a million in chips. That places them in the top 30 out of 1,517.

Other notable players down the rung were Korean bracelet holder Jinho Hong (40 bb), Malaysian bracelet holder Chin Wei Lim (24 bb), and Taiwanese 2x bracelet winner Pete Yen Han Chen (18 bb). Looking for his first WSOP bling is China’s Quan Zhou who continued his strong run. Zhou is headed for his 10th cash in this series with 90 bb bagged.

Here are the Top 10 from Asia, click the link provided for the full list.

Top 10 players from Asia – end of Day 3

	Player	Flag	Stack	BB
1	Shota Nakanishi	Japan	1,437,000	180
2	Nikita Luther	India	1,294,000	162
3	Linglin Zeng	China	1,232,000	154
4	Kojiro Mizukami	Japan	1,229,000	154
5	Pakinai Lisawad	Thailand	1,219,000	152
6	Lok Ming Chan	Hong Kong	1,146,000	143
7	Kwanghan Park	Korea	1,131,000	141
8	Jinwoo Kim	Korea-USA	1,067,000	133
9	Sebastin Kolman	India	1,028,000	129
10	Nai Hu	Taiwan	994,000	124

Complete Asia player Chip Counts

Pacific region down to 12 players

Only 12 players remained from the Pacific region at the end of Day 3 with Minh Nguyen the only player with over 100 bb. A few bracelet winners also stayed strong – Gary Benson, James Obst, and 2005 Main Event champion Joe Hachem.

#	Player	Flag	Stack	BB
1	Minh Nguyen	Australia	914,000	114
2	David Sebesfi	Australia	585,000	73
3	Gary Benson	Australia	561,000	70
4	Daniel Nielson	Australia	543,000	68
5	James Obst	Australia	536,000	67
6	Yita Choong	Australia	394,000	49
7	Joe Hachem	Australia	373,000	47
8	Jesse Mason	Australia	262,000	33
9	Adrian Salter	Australia	227,000	28
10	Andrew Batey	Australia	206,000	26
11	Joel Cohen	Australia	203,000	25
12	William Jia	Australia	60,000	8

It has been an exciting race at the Somucpoker Survivor Promo with only 3 players remaining out of the 26 that took part. Day 3 proved the toughest day with eight players dusted, several in brutal fashion. Here are the finalists. Who will win $10,000?

Cezar Quiambao – 466,000 (58 bb)

Cezar Quiambao is on his first Las Vegas trip and has already found success with a career first victory at the Aria Poker Classic $600 NLH event. He topped a field of 532 entries to win the $53,200 first prize and his first-ever trophy. To date, Quiambao has $81,000 in Hendon Mob tracked live earnings.

Career cashes: 19

First cash: 2022

Career wins: 1

William Ysmael – 452,000 (57 bb)

The most decorated player of the three is William Ysmael, a very well known pro in the Philippine circuit. His stats are littered with numerous deep runs and titles. The past two years, Ysmael has been on fire. At the end of May, he won the Manila Super Series for $33K however the sweeter moment was his career high takedown of $96,170 at the Metro’s Asia Poker Championship in August last year. To date, Ysmael has $270,750 in Hendon Mob tracked live tournament earnings.

Career cashes: 62

First cash: 2016

Career wins: 5

Abhishek Paul – 119,000 (15 bb)

Las Vegas has been good to Abhshek Paul who scored his career high payout 2023 WSOP Daily Deepstacks $400 NLH event. He finished 2nd for $17,670 to bump up his Hendon Mob stats to $53,00. Though Paul missed glory at that event, he does have a title under his belt for winning the 2018 Asia Poker League Vietnam Hyper Turbo event for a light $1,500.

Career cashes: 17

First cash: 2017

Career wins: 1

Record breaking Main Event numbers

Record breaking WSOP Main Event, 10,043 entries, $93M+ prize pool; 678 tables strong; drama erupts over payout distribution

Buy in: $10,000

Players: 10,043

Prize pool: $93,399,900

ITM: 1,507 places

Place	Payouts in USD
1	12,100,000
2	6,500,000
3	4,000,000
4	3,000,000
5	2,400,000
6	1,850,000
7	1,425,000
8	1,125,000
10-11	700,000
12-13	535,000
14-17	430,200
18-26	345,000
27-35	280,100
36-44	229,000
45-53	188,400
54-62	156,100
63-71	130,300
72-80	109,400
81-89	92,600
90-98	78,900
99-161	67,700
162-224	58,500
225-287	50,900
288-350	44,700
351-413	40,000
414-475	37,500
476-539	35,000
540-602	32,500
603-665	30,000
666-764	27,500
765-863	25,000
864-962	22,500
963-1004	20,000
1005-1249	17,500
1250-1507	15,000

About the Editor

SMP EditorEditor-in-Chief

The SMP Editor covers international poker and iGaming for SoMuchPoker, providing news, tournament coverage, and industry insights. With a focus on accuracy, clarity, and relevance, the editor helps readers stay informed about developments across the global poker community.