Day 4 of the 2023 WPT World Championship is set up to separate those who have made deep, impressive runs to this point in this historic event from those who will ultimately go on to contend for the title and the $5,678,000 first-place prize.
At the outset, both halves of the hyper-successful Foxen poker pairing are still in the mix with only 132 players to go.
As cards go into the air, Kristen Foxen starts in the top 10 with 7,260,000, after a Day 3 in which she played on a featured table with a killer lineup that included Chance Kornuth, among many others. Kristen’s husband, WPT Champions Club member Alex Foxen, will have more work to do with 2,115,000 to start Day 4.
At the very top of the chip counts lie four players with a significant head start in their push towards Day 5. Naj Ajez of Australia carries 11,435,000 into play, followed by Artur Martirosyan of Russia (10,930,000), who has found significant success on the high roller circuit in recent years. Andres Campero (10,535,000) of Mexico sat in third overnight, and online poker legend and WPT Champions Club member Chris Moorman (9,400,000) rounded out the top 4.
In addition to Moorman and Alex Foxen, Alessio Isaia, Jack Hardcastle, Roberto Romanello, Ben Palmer, Vitalijs Zavorotnijs and Davidi Kitai make it 8 remaining WPT Champions Club members who have a chance to make the 2023 WPT World Championship a repeat performance.
There are other notables up and down the chip counts, including a seminal figure in the earliest days of the WPT, Lyle Berman. WPT Ambassador Brad Owen is in the midst of his second consecutive deep run. High roller regulars Christoph Vogelsang and Ren Lin are still well in the mix, as is 2009 WSOP Main Event champion Joe Cada, poker player turned angel investor Igor Kurganov, ‘Love and Hip Hop’ standout Princess Love, emergent online star Roman Hrabec and LearnWPT’s Andrew Lichtenberger, among many others.
At the conclusion of five 90-minute levels on Monday, some of these stars will rise, while others fall. And only time will tell one group from the other.