Ryan Stephens Heads Into the Final Day with the Biggest Stack in Search of His First Bracelet
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
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ryan Stephens | United States | 28,775,000 | 48 |
| 2 | Youssef Hicham | Morocco | 22,550,000 | 38 |
| 3 | Dejuante Alexander | United States | 20,0625,000 | 34 |
| 4 | Ali Alawadhi | United States | 20,425,000 | 34 |
| 5 | Raffaello Locatelli | Italy | 19,825,000 | 33 |
| 6 | Kelly Gall | Canada | 19,275,000 | 32 |
| 7 | David Elisofon | United States | 14,850,000 | 25 |
| 8 | William Butcher | United States | 11,775,000 | 20 |
| 9 | Lucas Lew | Portugal | 11,675,000 | 19 |
| 10 | Steven Genovese | United States | 11,425,000 | 19 |
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!