The poker game has had its ups and downs over the past few years. The poker boom took the game to a new level, and Black Friday almost destroyed it all. Now, after a year, it’s time to look back on 2023 and remember all the moments that made it.
It’s been a good year for poker as the poker tournament broke records for spectators and prize pools, some of the biggest TV ports ever played in large-scale cash games, and a new show that captivated both poker fans and the general audience.
We’ve seen players go on a huge rise, win the biggest tournament of their lives, and forget a huge amount of money in one session.
We’re going to look back on all of this and end the year remembering the 10 best poker moments of 2023 and take you to another new year full of possibilities and hope for millions of poker players around the world. 슬롯머신
- Badziakouski Wins Big One With A Drop
The World Poker Tour’s $1 million Big One Drop event is back in 2023 after a long hiatus, drawing celebrities from the poker world.
The event involved only 17 runners, a few of whom came from outside the high-stakes poker community, but still gave a player the biggest prize money of his career.
Belarusian Mikita Badgiakuski, who is no stranger to playing poker at high stakes, left with more than $7 million at the end of a three-day tournament in Las Vegas in December when she saw the likes of Phil Ivy and Isaac Hexton drop.
The Big One didn’t live up to the hype around it, but it was one of the biggest days of the tournament’s career for the 17 players who cost WPT as much as $1 million.
- WSOP Main Event Breaks Attendance Record
It was a big year for the Poker World Series, which ended in the biggest and most successful poker festival in game history.
From the beginning of the summer, it was clear that the 2023 WSOP would be something special, and with the help of GGPoker and partners on the WSOP online poker site, there was little doubt that the 2023 WSOP main event would be the largest ever.
It was made official on day one of the main event, with an astounding 4,100 players advancing into the tournament area, taking the total to 10,043, more than 1,200 from 2006, when Jamie Gold won.
The people of WSOP knew that this was their last day as champions of the biggest WSOP main event in series history, so it was Jamie Gold herself who released “Shuffle Up and Deal” on Day 1D of the event.
In the end, it was seasoned professional Daniel Weinman who became king of poker, winning the $12.1 million reserved for first place, with the likes of Sean Deeve and Josh Ari acting as his railbirds and coach.
If there’s one thing to do to let the world know that poker is still going strong, having more than 10,000 people play in a $10,000 free-out tournament was clearly very high at the top of the list, making it the biggest poker moment of 2023.
- The cheating scandal is rocking Los Angeles Poker World
There was another big story in poker at the end of 2023, which was very negative, with Nick Airball and Wesley Fay accusing Mars, another HCL regular, of being a con artist.
The pair presented a series of strong evidence against Mars and alleged accomplices, and caused considerable uproar in the online poker community.
Whether Mars and his friends cheated in private games or not will remain a mystery, but the criticism alone was enough to make many potential players carefully reconsider playing games away from casinos.
Cheating has always been a problem in poker, and starting in 2023, this lesson is just another thing for some players to keep in mind. If the game is too good to be true, it’s generally because it’s true!
- Dewan took the biggest pot in the history of broadcast poker
Tournament poker has definitely grown quite a bit in 2023, attracting attention from states like Pennsylvania and Delaware, but it hasn’t lagged far behind cash games either, as we’ve seen some of the biggest broadcast cash games in poker history throughout 2023.
One of the biggest was done on Hustler Casino Live stream, with people like Doug Polk, Tom Dwan, and Nik Airball all at the table.
The stakes were huge and the pot grew, but it was nothing more than a play between the big-stakes legend Tom Dewan and Wesley Fay, one of the new faces in the big-stakes cash game world.
The HCL regular 3-bet opened its initial position from one of the other players, betting up to $30,000, before placing a 5-bet on the top of Tom’s $1 million 4-bet. The bet now stood at $275,000, Wesley had the Ace of Diamonds and King of Hearts, and Dewan decided to flat call out of the position.
Throughout, live viewers could not see Tom’s card, but it was pretty clear that he had a big hand to conduct such a vast five-bat.
Wesley shot a small shot at the flop of 8d8s3d and stuck the rest of the stack out, when 5h reached the turn.
Tom was in an uncomfortable situation with nothing but pure bravado, but after some deliberation, he called and was able to get $3.1 million worth of cold cash.
This was the biggest pot we’ve seen on TV or live streaming cash games.
e, And it’s no surprise that what Phil Helmers said Tom Dewan won after defeating the world’s biggest cash game for well over a decade.
- Hellmuth and Cates WSOP Entrance
Phil Helmus is one of the biggest entertainers in poker, and Daniel “The Jungle Man” Cates seems to have decided to follow in his footsteps because he has shown amazing antics over the past few years.
At this year’s WSOP main event, the two decided to pair up and enter the event in some style, with Helmus dressed as a ringmaster and Jungle Man dressed as a lion and entered the tournament room.
This was followed by 17 models, one for each of Helmut’s WSOP bracelets, and although many in the poker world thought it was all a bit too much, they made quite a fuss.
Whether you like them or not, Poker Brats and the Jungle definitely know how to create buzz and catch the media’s eye. This can’t be bad for Poker, after all.
- Airball drops $1 million to Bucky
The year began hotly with high-stakes communities buzzing with interest in big games and some of the biggest poker players challenging each other in all kinds of duels.
In fact, one of the few matches that was agreed upon and prepared was Nik Airball vs. Matt Berkey in May. It was played at the Resort World Las Vegas Poker Room, one of the coolest matches in Las Vegas.
The two ended up playing poker for only 58 of the agreed 100 hours on Live Felt, and despite all the trash talk and big threats from Nik’s corner, the seasoned pro quickly took the airball to a cool million dollars.
Not only did Bucky show the world what poker pro meant, but he did what no one else could do until then, blocking the airball and replacing him.
Since this defeat, Nik has become quieter and more humble, and the defeat seems to have helped him play better poker, which may be his only victory in the duel.
- First WSOP Paradise
Since WSOP Paradise was announced after WSOP’s summer in Las Vegas, WSOP held a festival in the Bahamas instead of the PokerStars PCA held there at the beginning of each year for the first time in its long history.
While there were many skeptics about WSOP Paradise, the festival was a huge success, with over 3,000 athletes doing the main event, and numerous others participating in 14 other WSOP bracelet events that lasted two weeks.
The Caribbean festival was a huge success, offering players from all over the world the chance to get out of the cold climate and enjoy December in Paradise while playing their favorite games for an unexpected prize pool.
- Adelstein is back in the ring
It’s definitely been a big year for poker, but without one of the toughest competitors in Felt, the high-stakes cash game fans couldn’t help but feel something was missing.
In the dying days of 2023, Garrett Adelstein finally decided to end his hiatus, which originally began after the Robbie Jade Lew drama in late 2022.
Adelstein was a huge success, winning volley live poker and WPT live streams and defeating strong contenders like Andrew Roble and Patrick Antony.
Garrett, who was one of our favorite fans, will definitely have a lot more time in 2024, and we can only expect one of the best cash game players to come back when there’s a lot going forward.
As for the past, I hope that scandals like the one that broke Garrett’s heart will remain and never happen again for the entire poker world.
- Perkins bet a cool million dollars
Poker players are known as silly bunch, especially when it comes to what they’re willing to bet on, and Bill Perkins is definitely someone who devises some crazy bets.
Div, a 2023 billionaire poker enthusiast, decided to pay Shawn Div a cool million dollars for whether he could lower his overall BMI to less than 17%. Div was given a full year to complete the task, which would be a mountain to go for a tournament pro who has lived his life with little regard for his physical form.
Div often talked about not expecting to get past 45, but with the help of his friend Perkins, he seems to change his life.
Win or lose, Div will be in much better shape following the next World Series, which could also bring about much better results in Felt.
- Game of Gold made its debut
The end of 2023 was really spectacular for a number of reasons, and season 1 of GGPoker’s Game of Gold show was one of them.
The show puts the game’s biggest players in the ring, such as Daniel Negreanu, Fedor Holz, and Jason Koon, and competes them against other successful players, YouTube streamers, and poker celebrities.
Combining elements of the classic tournament poker competition and reality TV, the show’s interesting format quickly made Game of Gold a hit.
After all, while the likes of Negrianu and Kuhn left the show early, it was Maria Ho who won $456,000 in cash and took the spoils of becoming the first gold game champion.
It will be interesting to see if Game of Gold will be back for a new season soon and what format people in GG Poker will decide to introduce.
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