Will It Be Nacho's Moment in Event #68: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em?
Only 23 out of a field of 2,229 will be back for Day 3 of Event #68: $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em at the 2024 World Series of Poker in the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. The final 23 will be back at noon local time as the biggest slices of a nearly $5 million prize pool are up for grabs.
The event is scheduled to play to a winner today, but don't be surprised if this tournament needs an extra day to crown its champion. The champion will receive an astonishing $667,963 on top of the coveted gold WSOP bracelet.
All eyes are on Nacho Barbero, who leads the pack with a stack just shy of ten million, nearly 100 big blinds in the new level. Despite having been around the poker world for about two decades, the Argentinian giant is coming off a career year including no fewer than three seven-figure scores worldwide and a slew of six-figure cashes.
Barbero has one bracelet, won in a Super Turbo Bounty in 2022, and can potentially add a second piece of hardware to his collection.
Top Ten Chip Stacks Leading Into Day 3
| Place | Name | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nacho Barbero | Argentina | 9,935,000 | 99 |
| 2 | John Reiter | United States | 7,280,000 | 73 |
| 3 | Ivan Stankov | Bulgaria | 6,400,000 | 64 |
| 4 | Andre Akkari | Brazil | 5,055,000 | 51 |
| 5 | Colin Robinson | United States | 4,835,000 | 48 |
| 6 | Gianluca Cedolia | Canada | 4,665,000 | 47 |
| 7 | Peter Park | United States | 4,540,000 | 45 |
| 8 | Carl Shaw | United Kingdom | 4,500,000 | 45 |
| 9 | Alisson Piekazewicz | Brazil | 3,500,000 | 35 |
| 10 | Gonzalo Almada | Argentina | 3,360,000 | 34 |
Although Barbero's position is strong, plenty of crushers are left in the field looking to deny the Argentinian. Among them is Brazil's Andre Akkari, who will return fourth in chips with 5,055,000. Bracelet winners Peter Park, Carl Shaw, Jin Hoon Lee, Rui Ferrera, Mike Holtz, David Guay, and the iconic Barry Shulman are all in contention as well.
Action will resume in Level 28 with blinds at 50,000/100,000 and a 100,000 big blind ante. Levels will be 60 minutes throughout, with breaks after every two levels and a 60-minute dinner break after the sixth level of the day (~6:30 p.m.). The plan is to play down to a winner today, but this can be subject to change depending on how the late stages go.
Keep following along with PokerNews as we get closer to crowning our next WSOP bracelet winner.