Blast From the Past: Baxter Seeking Bracelet Number Eight
There was no doubt about the big story on Day 3 of Event #48: $1,000 Seniors Championship at the 2023 World Series of Poker.
Seven-time bracelet winner and Hall of Famer Billy Baxter quietly worked his way through the field and is firmly in contention with 29 players remaining in the tournament. Baxter will be keenly eyeing the $765,731 for first place, although he and all the other remaining players have $24,390 locked up already at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
Gordon Eng currently leads the pack, with 15,975,000 in chips, closely followed by Lonnie Hallett (15,300,000) with David Stearns (10,575,000) rounding out the top three. Former Seniors champion Dan Heimiller (3,625,000) is also still in the hunt.
Leonard Clementi began the day as the chip leader with 217 players remaining. He fought gamely but did not quite manage to see the day out, ultimately falling in 58th place when Baxter hit a two-outer to end his tournament.
Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gordon Eng | United States | 15,975,000 | 64 |
| 2 | Lonnie Hallett | Canada | 15,300,000 | 61 |
| 3 | David Stearns | United States | 10,575,000 | 42 |
| 4 | Amin Mostafavi | United States | 10,525,000 | 42 |
| 5 | Jamie Baker | Canada | 9,700,000 | 39 |
| 6 | Ron Fetsch | United States | 8,700,000 | 35 |
| 7 | Billy Baxter | United States | 6,400,000 | 26 |
| 8 | Rudolf Fourie | South Africa | 6,000,000 | 24 |
| 9 | Loren Cloninger | United States | 6,000,000 | 24 |
| 10 | David Thompson | United States | 5,675,000 | 23 |
Baxter is by far the biggest name left in the event, with many notable players dropping out as the day progressed. Among those who didn’t make it through were Victor Ramdin, JJ Liu, Men Nguyen, and Waheed Ashraf.
The 29 players who bagged up at the day’s end will return for Day 4 on Sunday, June 25 at 12 p.m. local time (not 10 a.m. as previously advertised). They return to Level 32, meaning blinds are 125,000/250,000 with a 250,000 big blind ante.
Action will be streamed on PokerGO once the tournament reaches its final three tables. Levels will be 60 minutes in length, with a 15-minute break at the end of every two levels.
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