2023 World Series of Poker

Event #56: $500 Salute to Warriors
Day: 2
Event Info

2023 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
92
Prize
$217,921
Event Info
Buy-in
$500
Prize Pool
$1,936,350
Entries
4,305
Level Info
Level
39
Blinds
800,000 / 1,600,000
Ante
1,600,000
Players Info - Day 2
Entries
661
Players Left
14

Ryan Stephens Heads Into the Final Day with the Biggest Stack in Search of His First Bracelet

Level 34 : Blinds 250,000/500,000, 500,000 ante
Ryan Stephens
Ryan Stephens

Day 2 of the 2023 World Series of Poker Event #56: $500 Salute to Warriors here at Horseshore and Paris Las Vegas began with 661 players returning from the record-smashing 4,303-entry field. By the end of the night, only 14 players remained, with Ryan Stephens bagging the biggest stack worth 28,775,000.

Stephens flew relatively under the radar through most of the day, quietly building a massive stack from non-bust-out confrontations, and continued to wield the power of the big stack by forcing players to get out of his way in a vast majority of his late-in-the-day pots. Then, almost out of nowhere, he had a mountain of chips in front of him that he did not relinquish through the final two levels of the night.

Others to survive the night were Youssef Hicham (22,550,000), bracelet winner Dejuante Alexander (20,625,000), Ali Alawadhi (19,825,000), William Butcher (11,775,000), Rajesh Goyal (10,100,000), Timothy Deering (8,450,000), and Michael Lin (6,275,000).

Top 10 Chip Stacks

RankPlayerCountryChip CountBig Blinds
1Ryan StephensUnited States28,775,00048
2Youssef HichamMorocco22,550,00038
3Dejuante AlexanderUnited States20,0625,00034
4Ali AlawadhiUnited States20,425,00034
5Raffaello LocatelliItaly19,825,00033
6Kelly GallCanada19,275,00032
7David ElisofonUnited States14,850,00025
8William ButcherUnited States11,775,00020
9Lucas LewPortugal11,675,00019
10Steven GenoveseUnited States11,425,00019

With the top 646 spots getting paid, 15 players busted without visiting the payout desk on Day 2. From there, the in-the-money bust-outs started striking like lightning bolts all over the room.

Among those to earn a cash were Rulah Divine (566th - $800), Dalibor Dula (384th - $1,000), Barry Greenstein (302nd - $1,165), Ryan Eriquezzo (228th - $1,412), Ari Engel (61st - $3,754), Justin Filtz (43rd - $5,400), and Kenny Hallaert (35th - $6,565).

The remaining 14 players will come back guaranteed $9,966, but everyone in the room will be after the lion's share of the $1,764,230 prize pool with $217,921 and a WSOP gold bracelet reserved for the eventual champion.

The Day 3 finale is scheduled to send cards in the air at 10:00 a.m. local time on June 27. As always, PokerNews will be on-site to provide live updates straight from the tournament floor, so keep it locked here for up-to-date info on this and all remaining tournaments at the 2023 World Series of Poker!