Sam Soverel Wins World Series of Poker Online and Live Hybrid Event

Sam Soverel has won his second career World Series of Poker gold bracelet. The high-stakes tournament regular took down a unique online and live hybrid event that was part of the 2023 WSOP Online festival, topping a field of 408 total entries in the $5,300 buy-in no-limit hold’em high roller event.

Soverel earned $393,516 for the win. He now has nearly $22.1 million in lifetime cashes under his belt, with 67 six-figure scores made along the way.

This tournament began on Monday, July 3rd. Day 1 took place online at WSOP.com for players located within the borders of Nevada and New Jersey. By the end of the online session, the field had been narrowed from 408 down to just six contenders.

The final six then resumed play two days later in person inside the Horseshoe Las Vegas at noon on July 6. Soverel, who went by ‘ApesSonIMHO’ during the online portion of the event, was the chip leader when the live segment got underway.

The first elimination of the day took place when Gergely ‘wildace_hun’ Kulcsar raised with pocket jacks from under the gun and short stack Ethan ‘Rampunts’ Yau three-bet shoved for just over six big blinds with A-10 from the big blind. Kulcsar called and held to send Yau to the rail in sixth place. The bracelet winner and popular poker vlogger earned $80,784 for his deep run in this event. He now has nearly $2.5 million in recorded tournament earnings to his name.

Lingkun ‘CN_23’ Lu was the next to fall. He got all-in with pocket kings leading the K-10 suited of Kulcsar, but the flop gave his opponent an open-ended straight draw. The turn brought an ace, giving Kulcsar Broadway and a stranglehold on the hand. The river was a brick and Lu was eliminated in fifth place, earning $109,344 for his efforts. With that, Kulcsar moved into second place in the chip counts heading into four-handed play.

Soverel was the only player with more chips than Kulcsar at that point, and he added to his lead when he picked up pocket tens against the committing raise of two-time bracelet winner Aleksejs Ponakovs. The bigger pair held up and Ponakovs was knocked out in fourth place, adding $150,144 to his career earnings that already exceeded $10 million.

Two-time bracelet winner Yuval Bronshtein got involved in a battle of the blinds that brought about his elimination. Kulcsar open-shoved from the small blind with pocket sevens and Bronshtein called off his remaining 11 big blinds with K-6. Kulcsar flopped a set and held from there to take the chip lead going into heads-up play. Bronshtein was awarded $207,264 for his third-place showing, growing his lifetime total to more than $3.5 million in the process.

Kulcsaar held 5.7 million to Soverel’s 4.5 million to start. Soverel battled to within a few big blinds in time for the next major confrontation. Kulcsar raised from the button with AK and Soverel defended his big blind with 32. The flop came down KQ2 and Soverel check-called a small continuation bet from Kulcsar, who had hit top pair, top kicker. The turn brought the 3 to give Soverel two pair and the lead. He check-called again, this time for a bet of 710,000 into the pot of 850,000. The 3 completed the board and Soverel checked his full house. Kulcsaar bet 1,950,000 into the pot of 2,270,000. Soverel then moved all-in for 3,825,000 total. Kulcsar went deep into the tank, but eventually folded to leave himself with 2,160,000. Soverel took down the pot without having to show down his boar, climbing to 8,045,000 after the massive hand.

Soverel was able to extend his lead even further by the time the final hand of the event arose. Kulcsar open-shoved from the button with 109 for 13.5 big blinds. Soverel quickly called with A8 and the board ran out J43K2. Soverel faded both flush and straight draws for Kulscar, winning the pot with ace high to secure the title. Kulcsar took home $284,784 as the runner-up finisher.

Here is a look at the payouts awarded on the final day:

Visit the Card Player 2023 World Series of Poker page for schedules, news, interviews, and the latest event results. WSOP coverage sponsored by Global Poker.

Winner photo credit: WSOP / Danny Maxwell.

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