As ten-time bracelet winner Phil Ivey competes in Day 2 of the $50,000 Poker Players Championship at the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP), another Poker Hall of Famer was looking for his eleventh piece of WSOP gold with a deep run in Event #41: $1,500 Big O.
Johnny Chan entered the third and final day of the Omaha event toward the bottom of the counts with 18 players remaining as the 1987 and 1988 Main Event champion hoped to finally break the three-way tie between himself, Ivey and the late Doyle Brunson in second place on the all-time bracelet list.
Sadly for poker fans sweating the $1,500 buy-in event, “The Master” was eliminated 14th place for $13,982 after a confrontation with Scott Abrams.
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How Chan Busted the $1,500 Big O Event
PokerNews live reporter Dominic Clementson was on the floor during Chan’s bust and captured the hand in the live updates. Here’s what went down:
On a flop of J♠6♥3♦, Johnny Chan and Scott Abrams got all the chips in the middle with Chan at risk.
Johnny Chan: AxK♦7♥2♣2♠
Scott Abrams: AxKxJxJx2x
The board bricked out for Chan and Abrams’ set of jacks scooped. Chan’s dream, and that of many others, is over. For now.
The deep run gave Chan his second WSOP cash of the summer after finishing 140th in Event #21: $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed for $2,209. Chan’s previous four cashes before that were in the 2019, 2018, 2016 and 2012 Main Events.
Chan will have to seek an eleventh bracelet, which would put him only behind Phil Hellmuth as the player with the most bracelets, in another tournament as Event #41: $1,500 Big O reaches a final table.
Among the players still alive in the Omaha event are bracelet winners Bjorn Verbakel, Robert Williamson III and Owais Ahmed.