Nine Remain in 2023 WSOP $250,000 Super High Roller, the Summer's Biggest Buy-In Event
It was rail heaven again today at the Paris and Horseshoe Las Vegas, as dozens of spectators would make their way through the event center to get a glimpse of some of the best poker players in the world battling it out in Event #40: $250,000 Super High Roller No-Limit Hold’em.
Play concluded at the end of Level 18 and the tournament was able to reach the final table with nine players bagging up for the night.
The ultra-high buy-in event drew a record field of 69 entries, topping last year's turnout of 56 and creating a total prize pool of $17,181,000, with $5,293,556 going to the eventual winner.
Event #40: $250,000 Super High Roller No-Limit Hold'em - Day 3 Seat Draw
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
| 1 | Steven Veneziano | United States | 6,775,000 | 23 |
| 2 | Chris Brewer | United States | 8,525,000 | 28 |
| 3 | Martin Kabrhel | Czech Republic | 18,400,000 | 61 |
| 4 | Brandon Steven | United States | 3,225,000 | 11 |
| 5 | Chance Kornuth | United States | 22,450,000 | 75 |
| 6 | Artur Martirosian | Russia | 18,225,000 | 61 |
| 7 | Dan Smith | United States | 7,800,000 | 26 |
| 8 | Alex Kulev | Bulgaria | 12,600,000 | 42 |
| 9 | David Peters | United States | 4,925,000 | 16 |
Leading the way is Chance Kornuth with 22,450,000 in chips. Kornuth entered the day as one of the Day 1 chip leaders and never looked back, winning a big pot off Phil Hellmuth and eliminating Jonathan Jaffe early in the day to remain atop the leaderboard.
Speaking of Day 1 chip leaders, the story of Dustin Bailey, the recreational player that entered the tournament on a dare from his friends while playing roulette, would come to a close. Bailey finished out Day 1 at the top of the chip counts but would ultimately hit the rail shortly before the dinner break when his A♠10♠ would stay unimproved against the J♠J♣ of Russian poker-pro Artur Martirosian.
Not far behind Kornuth is the polarizing, Martin Kabrhel, who outtalked and outplayed his opponents on the way to a chip stack of 18,400,000. One of the days biggest hands happened during the 100,000/200,000 blind level, which saw Kabrhel three-bet the button open of former Main Event champion Koray Aldemir from the small blind and then announce, "ok, let's go, bad beat," before calling Aldemir's four-bet all-in for around 4,600,000. Aldemir's A♠Q♣ was ahead of Kabrhel's K♥7♥ and maintained that lead on the J♠9♠5♣ flop and the 5♠ turn, but the K♣ river sent Aldemir to the rail in 14th place, just before the money-bubble broke.
Martirosian is nipping at both players' heels, bagging up 18,225,000 to round out the top three.
Another familiar face reached the final table for the second year in a row, last year’s runner-up, Brandon Steven, who was able to bag up 3,225,000. Steven had an up-and-down day but held tough and battled back from starting the day as one of the shortest stacks.
All-stars Chris Brewer, Dan Smith, and David Peters will also be back on the final day battling for one of poker's most coveted prizes. Perhaps not as well known, but still very much in contention, are Steven Veneziano and Alex Kulev, who round out the final nine.
Late registration was open until the start of Day 2 and saw the likes of Kabrhel, Daniel Negreanu, Bryn Kenney, Sean Winter, Alex Foxen, Sean Perry and Rick Solomon all enter, with only Kabrhel making a deep run.
Fan favorite Phil Ivey also had a swingy day, as he would be all-in multiple times, ultimately going out on the stone bubble to finish in 12th place.
The final table will resume on Sunday, June 18th at 2 p.m., with a PokerGO stream scheduled to start at 5 p.m.
