Nikita Luther, Shota Nakanishi, Lester Edoc, Pakinai Lisawad among top 10 from Asia into 2023 Main Event Day 3

Asia-Pacific
Live Poker
07/08/2023

Another mind-boggling scene at the 54th Annual World Series of Poker as nearly 4,000 players returned for Day 2 of the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em World Championship aka 2023 WSOP Main Event.

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Ongoing at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas ballrooms, it was without a doubt the largest gathering of players for this heat in history. And with registration open for the first two hours, it added 196 more into the mix. According to Pokernews, the total head count is now around 9,500 and prize pool over $90 Million. We will have the final tally once registration closes at 4:20pm on Day 2D, Saturday, July 8, 2023.

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Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier – File photo

Among the sea of contenders was late-comer triple crown champion Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier who closed with over double the starting stack while bracelet winner Christopher Brammer emerged as heat leader with a massive 879,000 (351 bb). In total, 1,877 players advanced to Day 3.

Asia performance at Day 2ABC

From the Asian dugout, 190 returned from the Day 1A, 1B, and 1C flights with Japanese bracelet holder Shota Nakanishi backed by the biggest stack. Nakanishi continued from where he left off, chipping up to finish the day strong with 200 bb, placing him in 3rd rank out 93 Asian qualifiers. Stealing Asia’s top spot was Indian bracelet holder Nikita Luther who spun up her stack six times over during the last level of play to bag up 229 bb.

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Nikita Luther – Photo by Pokernews

Luther and Nakanishi were two of six Asian bracelet holders that advanced to Day 3. Also making the cut were Jinho Hong (107 bb), two time bracelet winner Pete Yen Han Chen (68 bb), Yueqi Zhu (61 bb), and newly minted Yang Zhang (23 bb).

In addition to the winners, found in the top ten Asia lineup were Abhishek Paul (163 bb) and Lester Edoc (144 bb), both were contenders of the Somuchpoker Survivor Promo. Thailand’s Pakinai Lisawad also kept his big stack growing to finish with 154 bb. China’s Quan Zhou ranked the highest among the 29 Chinese survivors with 133 bb bagged. He is headed for his 9th cash in this series.

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Pakinai Lisawad – Photo by Pokernews

Other notables down the rung were John Tech (99 bb), Eric Ting-Yi Tsai (95 bb), Masato Yokasawa (94 bb), James Mendoza (86 bb), Xuming Qi (71 bb), William Ysmael (70 bb), Phachara Wongwichit (70 bb), Nishant Sharma (68 bb), Yohwan Lim {53 bb), Natalie Teh (33 bb), Reiji Kono (29 bb), and Yuri Ishida (23 bb). For the complete list, click the link provided:

Complete Asia & Pacific Chip Counts

Top 10 Asian players – end of Day 2ABC

# Player Flag Stack BB
1 Nikita Luther India 572,500 229
2 Sebastin Kolman India 504,000 202
3 Shota Nakanishi Japan 500,500 200
4 Satoshi Isomae Japan 443,000 177
5 Abhishek Paul India- Canada 407,000 163
6 Kenji Harada Japan 407,000 163
7 Haneol Song Korea 392,500 157
8 Pakinai Lisawad Thailand 385,500 154
9 Lester Edoc Philippines 359,000 144
10 Quan Zhou China 333,500 133

Number of qualifiers by Flag (alphabetical)

A total of 93 Asian players advanced to Day 3 of the Main Event. Here is the breakdown per flag. China topped this heat with 29 out of 53 flag-bearers through to the next round. Japan was not too far behind with 26 out of 57 flag-bearers advancing.

Bangladesh 1
Bhutan 1
China 29
Hong Kong 3
India 8
Japan 26
Korea 7
Malaysia 2
Philippines 6
Taiwan 3
Tajikistan 4
Thailand 2
Vietnam 1

Top 5 Pacific players – end of Day 2ABC results

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Gary Benson – Photo by Pokernews

In the Pacific region, 23 players from Australia advanced. Topping the lineup was bracelet holder Gary Benson with 229 bb. Both Aroha Ngata (33 bb) and Anton Lu (27 bb) held on both are contenders of the Somuchpoker Survivor Promo.

#1 Player Flag Stack BB
1 Gary Benson Australia 572,000 229
2 Daniel Neilson Australia 421,500 169
3 Jesse Mason Australia 370,500 148
4 Jarrod Thatcher Australia 298,000 119
5 Yita Choong Australia 280,000 112

Guy Fieri presents the 2023 WSOP Championship bracelet

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Guy Fieri – Photo by Pokernews

Just before the second break of the day, American restaurateur Guy Fieri strutted in with an entourage of ladies to display this year’s WSOP Championship gold bracelet.

“42-carats, over 2,300 stones, this is going to the big winner of 2023. What an unprecedented record-breaking event we’re having here in Vegas at the Horseshoe and the opportunity to bring this out and present it and stack it on the cash, what an honor!”

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Joe Cada – Photo by Pokernews

Quite a number of WSOP Main Event champions were in the field at that time including the 2023 champion Espen Jorstad. However, Jorstad will not be bringing home a back to back as he was eliminated shortly after the presentation. Here is the list of champions that made it through the day.

Year Champion Stack BB
1987-88 Johnny Chan 372,000 149
2006 Jamie Gold 248,000 99
2009 Joe Cada 241,500 97
2015 Joe McKeehen 220,000 88
2013 Ryan Riess 151,000 60
2020 Damian Salas 147,500 59
2014 Martin Jacobson 128,000 51
1963 Tom McEvoy 20,000 8

[Update] Somuchpoker Survivor Promo – end of Day 2ABC

Player Flag Result
Abhishek Paul India -Canada 407,000
Lester Edoc Philippines 359,000
William Ysmael Philippines 176,000
Loic Muller Vietnam-France 167,500
Cezar Quiambao Philippines 131,000
Trent Fechter Cambodia-USA 100,500
Aroha Ngata Australia 81,500
Anton Lu Australia 66,500
Vincent Li Hong Kong 37,500
Keng Yong Tan Singapore 28,000
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Author:triccia