2023 World Series of Poker Round Up & Tight Poker Review

The 2023 World Series of Poker is well underway and what a start it has had. Every year, players make the trip to Las Vegas unsure if the summer will meet their expectations, but there is always something interesting going on; always some high-profile news story involving a top player hitting the headline.

So, what’s been happening so far this year at the Horseshoe and Paris casinos?

The first story of note was Doug Polk’s challenge for his fourth WSOP bracelet. The Upswing Poker founder was in his element in Event #8: $25,000 Heads Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship.

After years of being one of the top names in the heads-up cash space — possibly the best in the world — transferring those skills to heads-up tournament games shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

In the semifinals, Polk faced Chris Brewer, and fate seemed to favour Polk as he miraculously drew one of his only two outs to defeat Brewer’s kings, with ultimate victory coming soon after.

In the final, the stars looked to have aligned, but it’s never that simple, is it?

Up against Chanracy Khun, Polk finally came unstuck after the Canadian pulled off an amazing hero call with only third pair to win his first bracelet. So close and yet so far, but Polk will be back for more.

Nick Schulman went one better than Polk and actually sealed the deal to win his own fourth bracelet after a four-year wait.

The Mystery Millions proved to be as popular as the inaugural edition last year after attracting 18,188 entries, easily beating the 14,112 from last year. This record-breaking achievement makes this the biggest ever $1,000 poker tournament of all time.

This is not surprising as there isn’t a poker player in Las Vegas who wouldn’t be ecstatic to pull out the top mystery bounty envelope of $1,000,000.

It’s not all been puppies and sunshine, however, because as is the norm, this year’s dose of controversy is already here. Czech high stakes tournament player Martin Kabhrel has been accused of marking cards during play.

Andrew Robl tweeted that he was surprised Kabrhel hadn’t been banned for his alleged antics.

How is Martin Kabrhel not banned from the WSOP? He makes any tournament no fun for anyone and on top of it I’ve seen him mark cards in every tournament I’ve ever played with him.”

We await further news as the Czech player is now threatening legal action.

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WSOP Satellites

It’s easy to get carried away when seeing all of these massive prize pools being paid every single day during the World Series of Poker. For the majority of casual players who try to stick to some kind of bankroll management, WSOP buy-ins are out of reach. The vast majority of events cost at least $1,500 to enter.

Fortunately, WSOP satellite tournaments are plentiful and are the perfect way to jump into major tournaments at a drastically reduced cost.

Those of you who are new to the poker scene might not even be aware that the popularity of the game today is predominantly down to one man who won a satellite event exactly two decades ago.

Yes, it really is 20 years since Chris Moneymaker decided to jump into an $86 satellite on PokerStars to see if he could get into the WSOP Main Event. He not only won the satellite but also the $10,000 big one for $2.5 million. The rest, as they say, is history.

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Tight Poker Review

Tight Poker is an independent poker website dedicated to bringing high-quality, exclusive content to its readers. Magazine style content includes the latest news, interviews with top players and features that cover what the current talking points in poker are, plus much more.

The real gold of the site is the detailed reviews of online poker platforms with a focus on what is available for the US-based market. A comprehensive look over the most important criteria gives readers the best shot at signing up to the best possible options they have.

Then there is strategy to think about. After all, what chance do you stand if you sign up to play but have no idea what you’re doing? Tight Poker has a library of strategy articles that is more than comprehensive enough to get a player up and running from the beginning of their poker careers.

Finally, Tight Poker has a dedicated section laid out for WSOP information. This is well worth checking out and the answers to most basic questions can be found there.