We’re officially in the money of the 2023 WSOP Main Event with not one, but three bust-outs on the stone bubble! There was no shortage of players looking to put their Main Event life on the line, but for three unlucky people, their Main Event journey ended today.
Many people thought that coming back to Day 4 only 10 players away from the money meant that it wouldn’t take long until the bubble burst, but nothing is ever easy in the Main Event. It took around 40 minutes to get down to three players away from the money, at which point the tournament went hand for hand.
It took half an hour to get down to the stone bubble of the Main Event, and it was another half an hour before we saw an elimination; but like London buses, after spending ages waiting for one, three came along at once!
The Bust Outs
With three players all in and at risk, tournament director Jack Effel went around to each table to officiate the all-in. The first hand was the ultimate cooler and the last thing you want to see on the bubble of the Main Event - the KK of Jeppe Bisgaard running into AA for piles of chips.
Unfortunately for Jeppe, the board ran out 763JJ, making Jeppe the official bubble boy of the Main Event.
However, there were two all-in players remaining, and it’s the WSOP policy that if more than one player busts on the stone bubble, they split the bottom place prize - so there was still some hope for Jeppe to get something back.
The second all-in was a classic flip between the AK of Peter Nigh and the QQ of his opponent. The flop gave Peter plenty of outs, as he saw the J69 hit the table. However, the board bricked out, meaning that Peter was the first in-the-money elimination at the WSOP.
There was still one more all-in to officiate, and unlike the others, this one was all-in on the river. The board read 6A9K6, and Yue Qi Wang announced that when her opponent put her all in on the river, she left her decision in the hands of fate! She flipped her chip, saying that if it landed on the “777” side, she would call. That’s exactly what happened, and Yue called with her A8, only to be shown the quad sixes of her opponent, making her the third and final elimination of the WSOP money bubble.
Payouts
As it’s WSOP policy for the players who bust on the direct money bubble to split the prizes, the bottom two prizes of $15,000 were pooled and split evenly between the players. This means that each player received their $10,000 buy-in back, meaning they played for four days to break even!
However, it’s also customary for the WSOP to award the bubble person an entry to next year’s WSOP Main Event. With three players busting on the bubble, the three players had to flip for the seat.
The hands were relatively close in equity, with all three players having live cards to make it more of a sweat. Yue Qi Wang was dealt 73, Peter Nigh was dealt Q4, and Jeppe Bisgaard was dealt 92, giving Peter the slight lead going into the flop.
The flop came T3K, putting Yue Qi Wang into the lead. The turn came the Q, giving Peter the lead, but all three players were live going into the last card. The river was the J, giving Jeppe a straight and a $10,000 Main Event ticket for 2024.
Given that he received $10,000 after splitting the bubble prize and the $10,000 seat, he stands to receive more than the next few hundred players who bust the Main Event, as the next two prizes are only $15,000 and $17,500!
$20,000 in prizes isn’t bad for bubbling a tournament, is it?
Folding Aces Pre?
While we had three players bust on the bubble, not everyone was so quick to jam their chips into the middle. Harish Ananthapadmanabha was sitting on 70K (around 9bb) in late position, facing an under-the-gun raise from Timothy Lin.
Harish took an unusually long amount of time to make his decision, repeatedly saying he was “in agony” as he held his head in his hands. However, after a minute-long tank, he finally let the hand go, and Timothy Lin took it down pre.
After the big blind folded, Harish announced that he had folded AA preflop to a single raise! Obviously trying to secure a min-cash, this is a huge fold that many players couldn’t bring themselves to make - even with $15,000 on the line.
Whatever you make of the fold, he managed to secure his min-cash, and is still in the tournament at the time of writing!
Would you fold aces on the bubble of the Main Event to secure your min-cash? Could any of our bubble players have avoided their Main Event exit? Let us know on social media and stay tuned for all the latest WSOP news and events.
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