It’s not every day you get a $1 million buy-in tournament, a $7.1 million first-place prize and a $1.2 million bubble, all in the same package. But on Wednesday, that’s exactly what’s in store for the televised final table of the 2023 WPT Big One for One Drop.
Unsurprisingly, some of the games heaviest hitting high rollers are in the mix for it all, including three players in the top 10 on the all-time money list. Leading the way is Dan Smith, No. 6 all-time, who held the chip lead after Day 1 of the tournament and carries it forward after Day 2 as well. Also in contention are Isaac Haxton (No. 8) and Mikita Badziakouski (No. 10). With a win on Wednesday, Nick Petrangelo could jump all the way up from No. 19 to No. 11.
There are also two relative newcomers to the high roller scene who are still in contention for the win, though neither could be labeled an amateur by any means. Former soccer player turned poker player Mario Mosböck will start Day 3 second in chips, as he looks to build off a breakout Triton Super High Roller Series from back in October.
Finally, there’s Santhosh Suvarna of India, who has also enjoyed excess on the Triton tour. He’s also featured prominently recently in a series of high stakes live-streamed cash games.
Play is set to resume at 4 p.m. at Wynn Las Vegas, with the live stream with hole cards up beginning on a 30-minute delay at 4:30 p.m. on all of the World Poker Tour’s streaming platforms.
Here’s what they’re playing for:
1st: $7,114,500
2nd: $4,663,950
3rd: $2,806,750
4th: $1,224,800
As we await the ultra high stakes action to resume, let’s learn a little bit more about the remaining contenders.
1. Dan Smith | 4,865,000 (61 big blinds)
Age: 34
Birthplace: Manalapan, New Jersey
Currently Resides: Las Vegas, Nevada
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $49,631,818 (6th All Time)
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $8,765,628, 3rd, 2019 £1,050,000 Triton Million for Charity
Other Prominent Scores: 3rd, 2018 WSOP Big One for One Drop for $4,000,000; 1st, 2023 $200,000 Triton Invitational Monte Carlo for $3,870,000; 2nd, 2016 WSOP $111,111 High Roller for One Drop for $3,078,974
Dan Smith has been cashing in live poker tournaments since 2008, and he’s also no stranger to these $1 million-plus buy-in tournaments. Back in 2018, Smith recorded one of his career best results in a predecessor to this One Drop event at the WSOP.
“It’s a very big tournament,” said Smith. “Everyone will be watching. But I’ve been doing this for so long. For the most part you buy into the tournament, you can’t cash out, you’re stuck. You got to make the decisions and just do what needs to be done.”
As a matter of fact, Smith is the only player in the field for whom this wouldn’t be a career-best win. It would, potentially, put him as high as No. 3 on the all-time money list.
Smith will have far and away the most wiggle room as the final six look to avoid the dreaded fate of going out before the $1.2 million bubble bursts.
2. Mario Mosböck | 3,340,000 (42 big blinds)
Age: 27
Currently Resides: Austria
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $4,485,754
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $2,690,000, 2nd, 2023 Triton Super High Roller Series Monte Carlo $210,000 Super High Roller Invitational
Other Prominent Scores: 1st, 2023 Triton Super High Roller Series Monte Carlo $42,400 Mystery Bounty for $718,000
As recently as six years ago, Mario Mosböck was playing in the second and third tier of the Austrian football pyramid. But poker is where Mosböck truly found his calling, as he started posting results as far back as 2015. Mosböck took a major step forward in the 2018 WSOP Main Event, finishing 67th for his first career six-figure score, and progressed from there.
Mosböck started hitting the high roller circuit most seriously early this year, and started posting results in Triton Super High Roller Series Events in March. He took a significant leap with his $2.69 million second-place finish in Monte Carlo, and a win on Wednesday would likely be most significant to Mosböck among all six finalists. Mosböck most recently cashed earlier this week in the WPT World Championship, finishing 357th.
Of these players, Mosböck is also the youngest of the bunch, at 27 years old.
3. Mikita Badziakouski | 2,935,000 (37 big blinds)
Age: 31
Birthplace: Belarus
Currently Resides: Ljubjana, Slovenia
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $43,743,118 (10th All Time)
Biggest Live Cash: 1st, 2018 Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Main Event for $5,257,027
Other Prominent Scores: 1st, 2018 Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Montenegro Main Event for $2,499,184; 1st, 2022 EPT Barcelona Super High Roller for $2,031,303
If there’s such a thing as accumulating over $43 million in lifetime cashes quietly, than that’s what Mikita Badziakouski has done. The Belarusian-born pro started shooting up the all-time money list in 2018, with a pair of wins worth over $7.5 million combined in the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series.
With a win in the WPT Big One for One Drop, Badziakouski could potentially shoot past Dan Smith and Isaac Haxton (as well as Daniel Negreanu) into the No. 5 spot on the all-time money list, depending on where Smith and Haxton finish.
4. Isaac Haxton | 2,570,000 (32 big blinds)
Age: 38
Birthplace: New York, New York
Currently Resides: Las Vegas, NV
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $45,483,212 (8th All Time)
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $3,672,000, 1st, 2018 Super High Roller Bowl for $3,672,000
Other Prominent Scores: 1st, 2023 $300,000 Super High Roller Bowl VIII for $2,760,000; 2nd, 2014 Aussie Millions Poker Championship A$250,000 Challenge for $2,525,841
It’s hard to have a better year in poker than Isaac Haxton has enjoyed over the last 12 months. He’s cleared $15 million in 2023 alone, with wins including a long-awaited WSOP bracelet in the $25,000 High Roller over the summer and a second career $300,000 Super High Roller Bowl title. Haxton has no less than six separate seven-figure results to his credit heading into this final table, where he hopes to find lucky No. 7.
Haxton could end Wednesday as high as No. 5 on the all-time money list.
5. Santhosh Suvarna | 1,845,000 (23 big blinds)
Age: 43
Currently Resides: India
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $6,658,584
Biggest Live Cash: 3rd, 2023 Triton Super High Roller Series Monte Carlo $132,500 Main Event for $1,772,000
Other Prominent Scores: 1st, 2023 Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Cyprus $25,000 GG Super Millions for $700,000; 1st, 2023 WSOP Europe $50K Diamond High Roller for $695,291
Along with Mosböck, Suvarna has made his name in poker on his results posted in 2023. He is fresh off of winning his first career WSOP bracelet in the WSOPE $50K Diamond High Roller and took down his first Triton event back in May.
Suvarna has also featured in some of the biggest live streamed cash games of 2023, with appearances on both Triton and Hustler Casino Live. Suvarna could surpass the entirety of his career tournament earnings with a win in the WPT Big One for One Drop on Wednesday.
6. Nick Petrangelo | 4,865,000 (18 big blinds)
Age: 36
Birthplace: Massachusetts
Currently Resides: Las Vegas, Nevada
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $32,390,608 (19th All Time)
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $2,910,337, 1st, 2018 WSOP $100,000 High Roller
Other Prominent Scores: 2nd, 2022 $300,000 Super High Roller Bowl VII for $2,016,000; 1st, 2021 $200,000 PGT Aria High Roller for $1,468,800
Rounding out the top six is Nick Petrangelo, another player who is anything but a stranger to the high stakes tournament world. Like Mosböck, Petrangelo is coming off a cash in the WPT World Championship, with a very similar 381st place finish.
With a result of third place or better, Petrangelo will lock up 2023 being his best career year, in terms of total cash prizes won in tournaments.