Event #65: $5,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em

Weiran Pu has emerged victorious in Event #65: $5,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold'em, capturing his first bracelet and China's fifth this year after defeating Hungarian Norbert Szecsi in heads-up play.

There were a total of 1,199 entrants in this event, an increase from last year's attendance of 920. Those 1,199 entrants created a total prize pool of $5,046,200, which paid out 180 places. The money was reached during Day 2 and a who's who of big names secured a cash in this event including Stephen Song, Chris Brewer, James Obst, Phil Ivey, Scott Seiver, David "Bakes" Baker, Ryan Leng and Ian Matakis.

2023 WSOP Event #65: $5,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Results

Winner's Reaction

When asked how he felt, Pu said that he was still in game mode, and hasn't come back to the real word just yet.

"I'm so thankful. I didn't start traveling to play poker until this year. I went to the PCA and other events like EPT's and the results were not what I expected. This is a big moment. It's a big surprise because the first half of this year wasn't so smooth. Right now I'm a social media influencer for poker in China. I've made hundreds of vlogs, but this one may be my biggest".

Pu, who's been playing poker for 13 years, previously had a top cash of approximately $187,000 in Macau before this event. When asked how this win (worth over five times that amount) compared, he mentioned it was more meaningful due to the high level of competition.

"The win was more meaningful because the players were more competitive. It's probably the second toughest field I've competed in, next to the $25,000 WSOP event I placed 15th in earlier this year".

This is Pu's first bracelet, but the fifth bracelet won by a Chinese player this year. When asked what it was like having his friends and fellow players to support him on the rail during his final table, he described the group as a close-knit community.

"So this is China's fifth bracelet of the series. I feel we're not only a team, but also a family. All the members support each other and cheer for each other. I not only played a final table this series, but also cheered for the previous gold bracelet winners".

When asked what it was like facing Norbert Szecsi in heads-up play, Pu mentioned that he was surprised at how quickly the match went but that he still had full respect for his opponent.

"So Norbert is a very strong player, but early on we had a cooler against him. Norbert flopped two pair but I had a pair of kings. I called him on two streets and on the river caught another king and he made a very good fold. But he was behind because of that hand. And the last hand was the same, like Ace-Queen versus Ace-King was a cooler, two monster hands going heads up. So I was expecting the heads-up match to be much longer than this but it kind of came to a stop all of a sudden. Still, I was prepared for an extended battle. If the match kept going I would've been prepared".

When asked about his plans for the rest of the series, he said he was planning to play "from start to finish, every Texas Hold'em event of the series".

Final Day Recap

Vitor Dzivielevski was the first to be eliminated from the final table today. Dzivielevski came to the final table short-stacked and ultimately lost a preflop confrontation versus Tyler Cornell when his king-nine could not catch up to Cornell's Ace-Queen.

Angelina Rich was next to be sent to the rail. Rich began the day with the second-biggest stack, but lost two big pots against Weiran Pu where both players caught a significant piece of the board. She later doubled up Pedro Garagnani in a preflop, blind versus blind confrontation to be left as the short-stack before running into Garagnani's pocket kings to lose the rest of her chips.

Garagnani himself was next to be sent to the rail. Garagnani was a short-stack throughout most of the day, but did a good job of finding the right spots to accumulate chips and ladder up. His luck ran out when he got the last of his chips in against Weiran Pu who had him dominated with a bigger ace.

Pu began to take a commanding lead during three-handed play, first catching a major bluff from Tyler Cornell before picking up pocket aces to capture the rest of Cornell's chips.

Heads-up play lasted approximately one hour. Day 4 chip leader Norbert Szecsi put up a valiant effort, but was on the wrong side of the deck after his flopped two pair was counterfeited and he was left short-stacked against Pu. Szecsi would get the last of his chips in against Pu in a major cooler with Szecsi's ace-queen being dominated by Pu's ace-king.

This concludes the PokerNews coverage of the event, but there is still plenty of more action to come at the 2023 World Series of Poker at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas so stay tuned for all your live coverage needs.

Norbert Szecsi opened to 900,000 from the button and Weiran Pu defended his big blind.

Both players checked the     flop, leading to the   turn. Pu bet 800,000 and received a call from Szecsi.

The river came the   and Pu fired another barrel for 2,500,000. Szecsi made the call.

Pu showed down    which was good for the winner versus Szecsi's   , giving Pu nearly a 2-1 chip advantage over his opponent.

Weiran Pu	39,800,000	-2,300,000
Norbert Szecsi	20,800,000	2,900,000

Weiran Pu opened to 1,000,000 from the button and Norbert Szecsi defended his big blind.

The flop came     and Szecsi checked. Pu bet 1,000,000 and Szecsi raised to 3,200,000. Pu made the call.

Szecsi fired a 4,500,000 bet on the   turn which was called by Pu.

On the   river Szecsi checked and Pu bet 13,200,000, enough to put Szecsi all in.

Szecsi went deep into the tank, clearly faced with a difficult decision. After three minutes and seven seconds he released his cards into the muck and Pu took down a colossal pot, bringing his chip stack to the highest point it's been the entire night while Norbert was left with just just over 30 big blinds.

Szecsi had folded    for a flopped two-pair that was counterfeited on the river, while Pu had    for top pair on the flop that turned into trip kings on the river.

Weiran Pu	46,800,000	8,625,000
Norbert Szecsi	13,200,000	-8,550,000

Norbert Szecsi and Weiran Pu are on a break, while the table is being set up for the heads up.

Pu will be in the lead with two-thirds of the chips (38,200,000). But nothing is over, as Szecsi still has 54 big blinds (21,800,000).

Weiran Pu	38,175,000	-25,000
Norbert Szecsi	21,750,000	-50,000

Weiran Pu opened to 1,000,000 from the button and was called by Tyler Cornell in the big blind.

The dealer fanned a flop of    , and Pu bet 800,000. Cornell check-called and checked again on the turn  . Pu checked as well to find the   on the river.

This time, Cornell bet 2,800,000 with   . Pu took 30 seconds to think about this move, and called with   , catching Cornell's bluff.

Weiran Pu	29,000,000	5,500,000
Norbert Szecsi	20,400,000	1,100,000
Tyler Cornell	10,600,000	-6,600,000

Norbert Szecsi was in the big blind when Weiran Pu opened to 900,000 from the small blind. Szecsi called, and a     board appeared on the table.

Pu stopped his aggression at this point as he checked. Szecsi took this opportunity to bet 700,000. Pu called and checked once again on the turn  . Szecsi checked back.

On the river  , Pu took the lead again and added 1,100,000 chips to the pot with    and a pair of jacks. What he didn't know is that Szecsi hit a straight on the river with   . The Hungarian player called and took the pot.

Thanks to this hand, Norbert is back in the lead with 19,500,000 chips.

Norbert Szecsi	22,700,000	5,700,000
Tyler Cornell	18,875,000	875,000
Weiran Pu	18,400,000	800,000
Pedro Garagnani	5,725,000	-1,575,000

Fans are welcome to come to celebrate the life of the late poker legend Doyle Brunson at Horseshoe Las Vegas on July 2 at 11:30 a.m.

Many high-profile poker players will speak at the memorial, which will take place inside the Jubilee Theater near the Horseshoe poker room, about a two-minute walk from the World Series of Poker (WSOP) tournament area.

Brunson, a 10-time WSOP bracelet winner and 1988 Poker Hall of Fame inductee, passed away last month at 89. He left behind quite a legacy in poker and will forever be remembered as one of the all-time greats.

Some former Brunson opponents and long-time friends such Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, and Dewey Tomko will speak at the event. Jack Binion, former owner of Binion's Horseshoe, the original site of the WSOP, will also give a speech.

Read more about the celebration of life here.

Everybody folded to Weiran Pu, who limped in the small blind. Norbert Szesci simply checked in the big blind to see the flop    , where both players checked.

On the turn  , Pu bet 300,000, and Szesci called. Then on the river, Pu placed a bet of 1,750,000 with    for a set of kings. This time, it was too much for Szesci with   , who folded.

After this hand, Szesci's stack decreased to 18,500,000, making Tyler Cornell the new chipleader of the tournament with 19,400,000 chips.

Tyler Cornell	19,400,000	2,125,000
Norbert Szecsi	18,500,000	-1,450,000
Weiran Pu	14,800,000	325,000
Pedro Garagnani	5,000,000	-775,000
Angelina Rich	2,300,000	-150,000