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.
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.
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.
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 are 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.
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
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
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!”
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 |
