Event #56: $500 Salute to Warriors Day 2 | 2023 World Series of Poker

06-26-2023 19:20 UTC-7

Rai Reaches Nine Million Mark

Florence Mazet

Level 28 : Blinds 60,000/120,000, 120,000 ante

Prashray Rai is quite active at his table. He just opened under the gun to 250,000, the button and the big blind called.

On the 5♠8♠2♠ flop, Rau continued for 250,000 and his opponents folded.
He showed Q♣J♣ and claimed he thought he had spades.

Nevertheless, Prashray Rai just reached the 9,000,000 chip mark.

Player	Chips	Progress
Prashray Rai	9,000,000 3,700,000	3,700,000
Dejuante Alexander	7,000,000 6,599,000	6,599,000

Kenny Hallaert	4,400,000 400,000	400,000

Tags: Prashray Rai

06-26-2023 19:19 UTC-7

Sick Runout Sends Alariki Home

Chris Land

Level 28 : Blinds 60,000/120,000, 120,000 ante

Qiang Xu, in late position, raised to 250,000. Action folded to Sergiy Alariki on the button who three-bet jammed for around 2,300,000. Xu made the call to send both players to a runout with Alariki at risk.

Sergiy Alariki: A♣Q♣
Qiang Xu: 10♥10♠

The flop came 6♦7♦4♥, keeping Xu firmly in the lead. The Q♠ quickly changed things and brought an excited celebration out of Alariki.

His excitement was short lived, though, as the 10♣ river immediately sank him back to Earth and into his chair, with a changing of fortunes having sent him to the rail on a rollercoaster of a runout.

Player	Chips	Progress
Qiang Xu	5,900,000 2,200,000	2,200,000

Sergiy Alariki	Busted

06-26-2023 19:09 UTC-7

Engel Cruising

Florence Mazet

Level 28 : Blinds 60,000/120,000, 120,000 ante

Ari Engel opened to 240,000 in middle position and the big blind defended.

On the flop 9♥4♥6♥, the big blind took the lead to 255,000 and Engel gave up, keeping 2,400,000 in front of him.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ari Engel	2,400,000 500,000	500,000

Tags: Ari Engel

Level: 28

Blinds: 60,000/120,000

Ante: 120,000

06-26-2023 18:39 UTC-7

Gall Doubles Through Hiew in a Massive Confrontation

Chris Land

Level 27 : Blinds 50,000/100,000, 100,000 ante

PokerNews was called over to a table with a big confrontation developing.

In a heads up pot with 2,000,000 chips already in the middle on a flop reading Q♥J♣8♦, Kelly Gall was first to act and did so by over-bet jamming his 2,730,000 chips into Graham Hiew.

Hiew entered the tank and spent a few minutes there, eventually deciding that he wasn't buying what Gall was selling and making the call to send the duo to a runout with Gall at risk.

Kelly Gall: A♠A♦
Graham Hiew: K♠Q♦

With 7,000,000 chips on the line and two cards to come, Gall needed to fade kings and queens, but when the turn came the K♦, it looked like Gall was headed for the exit.

Then, in a hand that became a roller coaster of emotion for both players, the 8♣ landed on the river and shifted the checkmark back to Gall, securing him a massive double and rocketing him up towards the top of the chip counts.

Player	Chips	Progress
Kelly Gall	7,000,000 6,635,000	6,635,000
Graham Hiew	2,000,000 -5,700,000	-5,700,000

Tags: Graham Hiew Kelly Gall

06-26-2023 18:38 UTC-7

Xu Takes Some From Deering

Florence Mazet

Level 27 : Blinds 50,000/100,000, 100,000 ante

After an open in early position to 205,000, Timothy Deering called in middle position and Qiang Xu decided to raise to 600,000 from the button. Only Deering called.

On the flop 10♥8♥K♠, both players checked.

On the turn J♠, Deering fired a bet of 330,000 and Xu called. On the river 3♥, both players checked and Deering revealed 6♠6♣.

He lost when Xu showed K♠5♥, a top pair on the flop.

Player	Chips	Progress
Timothy Deering	4,200,000 4,070,000	4,070,000
Qiang Xu	3,700,000 -500,000	-500,000

Todd Funderburg	3,700,000 1,600,000	1,600,000
Liran Betito	3,000,000 2,324,000	2,324,000
Cedric Adam	Busted

Tags: Qiang Xu Timothy Deering

06-26-2023 18:30 UTC-7

What Would You Du?

Chris Land

Level 27 : Blinds 50,000/100,000, 100,000 ante

Action folded to the button who raised to 250,000. Yen Du wasted little time before jamming from the big blind for just a little bit more than what the button had in stack at the start of the hand.

The button thought for a minute or so before deciding to move his chips forward, putting himself at risk and headed to a runout with Du.

Button: A♥5♦
Yen Du: 9♠4♥

With a massive pile of chips in the middle, two hands that rarely clash were about to see all five cards.

The flop came J♣9♦7♠, catapulting Du to the lead in the hand and needing to fade an ace on the turn and river.

The turn came the 8♠ and the river came 8♣, causing Du to jump from her seat in celebration, screaming, "Nice!"

Her opponent was left to explain a crazy bust out hand on his way to the payout desk.

Player	Chips	Progress
Yen Du	8,000,000 8,000,000	8,000,000

Tags: Yen Du

06-26-2023 18:11 UTC-7

Some Recent Bustouts

Florence Mazet

Level 27 : Blinds 50,000/100,000, 100,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Antonio Ruelas	Busted
Manuel Bravo Martins	Busted
Yueqi Zhu	Busted

Nicole Limo Greene	Busted

Level: 27

Blinds: 50,000/100,000

Ante: 100,000

06-26-2023 17:58 UTC-7

Calling the Clock Episode #8: Ivey Denied 11th Bracelet, Hellmuth Arrives in Costume

Chad Holloway

Level 26 : Blinds 40,000/80,000, 80,000 ante

On the eighth episode of “Calling the Clock,” Chad Holloway and Jesse Fullen cover eight more topics “On the Board.” That included who they like for Poker Hall of Fame, Brian Rast winning the $50,000 Poker Players Championship for the third time, and Phil Ivey making the final table, just missing out on his eleventh bracelet.

They also highlight Jeremy Ausmus winning his sixth bracelet, the upcoming PokerNews Cup at Golden Nugget, the July 2 Celebration of Life for Doyle Brunson, and Phil Hellmuth arriving in costume with his tag team partner Dan “Jungleman” Cates.

Check out those stories and more in the latest “Calling the Clock” straight from the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP)!