WSOP Day #3: Conniff wins Reunion, Negreanu misses $25K Heads-Up

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Asher Conniff claims first WSOP bracelet in Champions Reunion

No stranger to livestreamed high-pressure situations, Asher Conniff partly credited his experience in the spotlight with helping him keep calm and focused as he claimed victory and $408,468 in the $5,000 Champions Reunion.  

A tough field (it would be, when prior Main Event champs get a free ticket) and some feisty competition heads up from Halil Tasyurek were no match in the end for Conniff, who denied prior bracelet-winners Aram Zobian and Jonathan Pastore the double.  

On the way to the title, Conniff survived some dicey situations, springing back from a 5:1 chip deficit. His final hand, won with pocket tens, might have brought back memories of his quads-related exit from the 2022 Main Event on the final table bubble – but this time they held up.

Always the bridesmaid

Amongst the last 16 in Event #6 $25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship is a certain John Smith. Yes, there are at least two pages of John Smiths on The Hendon Mob, but there’s only one that has finished runner-up in the $10,000 Heads-Up Championship – twice.  

John Smith, runner-up in the $10K HU Championship 2016-17

Smith is a construction company owner from California who loves this specialized event and has repeatedly shown that he can take on the best in the business. Though he only has the one opponent for the time being (Weston Mizumoto), the Day 2 field also features Cary Katz, Faraz Jaka, Artur Martirosian, Matthew Wantman and Patrick Kennedy.  

Chance Kornuth saw off defending champion Chanracy Khun in Round 1, but hit the rail himself in Round 2. There are two rounds scheduled for Day 2, with the semis and final set for Day 3, when the winner will take home the bracelet and $500,000.  

Actual casino employee wins Casino Employees event 

There wasn’t even meant to be a Day 3. The $500 Casino Employees Event attracted a bumper 1,189 entries (and the traditional grumbling about what, exactly, qualifies as an Employee) – that’s why they were still four-handed at 3am yesterday.

Jose Garcia celebrates his victory in the Casino Employees Event

Alicia Skillman for WSOP

A short nap later, and chip leader Jose 'Placido' Garcia picked up where he left off. Poker dealer Garcia started the final with nearly half of the chips in play and had the rest in just over an hour. Short-stack Alexander Green outlasted Lang Anderson (Garcia got him) before Richard Rothmeier busted him and gave Garcia a brief but intense challenge for the title and $79,134. Challenge over; the first bracelet of the Series was out of the cabinet and on Garcia's wrist.

Photo of the day

It's probably a half-marathon to walk all the WSOP hallways

Hand of the day

It’s rare you get two thirds of a table all-in in one monster pot. Event #7: $1,500 Dealer’s Choice saw just this happen to bust Mike Matusow and propel Keenan Kuhn into a chip lead that took him into Day 2 in 11th place overall.  

Kuhn had flopped the world in PLO on an board (Matusow and one other player already all-in), and Carol Fuchs’ call of his shove put him at risk. He’d flopped aces full. She spiked a higher house on the turn but he respiked the river, reminding everyone why the four-card game is so exciting.  

Tweets of the day

The Jeff Platt curse is in effect:

He seems to be all-in on the idea. Watch out.

Video of the day

That moment when you lose almost everything and all anyone wants to do is film it.

The day in numbers

21

The number of games available in the $1,500 Dealer’s Choice Event

18,188

The 2023 field size to beat in Event #5: $1,000 Mystery Millions

2

Runner-up finishes in the WSOP $10,000 Heads-Up Championship for John Smith (through to Day 2 in this year’s $25,000 version)

Results

Event #1: $5,000 Champions Reunion – final results

Full results list on the WSOP site

Event #2: $500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em – final results

Full results list on the WSOP site 

Ongoing events

Event #3: $500 WSOP Kickoff (final table)

Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better (22 remaining)

Event #5: $1,000 Mystery Millions No-Limit Holdem (Flight A)

Click here for full end-of-day counts

Event #6: $25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship (last 16)

Event #7: $1,500 Dealer’s Choice (6 Handed)

Click here for full end-of-day counts

What’s coming up on Day #4?

Day 2 of the $25,000 Heads-Up Championship is one to watch from noon, with a half-million top prize awaiting the eventual winner. For now, it’s a one-on-one fight for a min-cash ($86,000) for the 16 remaining players.  

The Mystery Millions continues its quartet of starting flights with Day 1B at 10:00 local time, with a chip lead standard having been set by dual online bracelet holder Pete Chen. His giant stack of 3,150,000 puts him nearly a million chips in front of nearest rivals Uri Reichenstein and Akinobu Maeda, while Andrew Moreno lies in 10th currently with 1,370,000.  

Other notables making Day 2 (when the bounties come into play) include Mark Seif, Christian Harder, Alex Foxen and Tice-crossbettor Jeremy Becker.

Benny Glaser gives the staredown

Neil Stoddart

It's Day 2 in Event #7: $1,500 Dealer’s Choice, with 126 players looking to make the money (80th place secures a min-cash worth $3,017; there’s $138,296 up top). Well-stacked overnight are bracelet-holders Benny Glaser (who has five already), Hanh Tran, Scott Bohlman, Andrew Kelsall and Jeff Madsen. Further down the counts lie the likes of Chino Rheem, Julien Martini, Scott Clements, Brian Rast, David Bach, Taylor Paur and David Baker, while defending champion Chad Eveslage was felted late on Day 1.

The first cards will also hit the air in two three-day eight-handed tournaments, Event #8: $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha and Event #9: $1,500 Limit Hold’em.  

Bracelet winners

• Event #1: $5,000 Champions Reunion – Asher Conniff
• Event #2: $500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em – Jose Garcia

WSOP Day #3 Gallery

^{Additional photography courtesy of Alicia Skillman for WSOP/Neil Stoddart}