Jerry Wong takes home first gold WSOP bracelet

The 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Event #33: $10,000 Razz Championship attracted 123 players – which produced a $1,143,900 prize pool – and after four days of play it was Jerry Wong emerging victorious to capture a $298,682 top prize and his first gold bracelet.

Wong, who finished eighth in the 2016 WSOP Main Event, had been a perennial name on the "Best Without a Bracelet" list having made 11 prior WSOP final tables. That included two runner-up finishes over the past two years, a third-place finish in 2019, and a pair of fourth-place finishes the two years before that.

"I'm kind of speechless," said Wong when asked how it felt to get his long-awaited bracelet. "What I want to say is hello, Frisco, and give a shout-out to all my guys in Florida. I've played a lot of cash games, and I don't think either of these two guys had a lot of experience. I played the Russians heads-up on PokerStars for probably 10 years. Heads-up is very, very natural to me. There're spots you have to figure out on the fly like I already knew like the back of my hand."

Among those to cash the tournament were Day 1 chip leader Roy Thung (10th - $23,850), Nick Schulman (11th - $23,850), Adam Owen (13th - $20,331), David "Bakes" Baker (15th - $17,789), and James Obst (17th - $$17,789).

The first elimination of the final table was Yuval Bronshtein, whose all-in bet was called by three players before Talal Shakerchi finished him off with a six-five.

Bryce Yockey finished in seventh when he paired a three on seventh street. Yockey was the final player eliminated before the PokerGo Livestream.

The live stream began with six players. Hall of Famer John Hennigan, who started the day in tenth, finished in sixth place when he was unable to improve on a queen-eight against a queen-seven.

Fifth place went to Shakerchi, who was the Day 2 chip leader. Shakerchi found himself playing the most hands of anyone at the table, and a few bad runouts put him in danger. His last chips were taken by Carlos Chadha, who hit an ace on seventh street to eliminate Shakerchi.

Elior Sion finished in fourth place. He moved all in with a seven-three-two after three cards but received two more threes and was unable to overcome Wong's nine-eight.

Three-handed play lasted late into the night, and that required the remaining trio to come back on Friday for an extended Day 4. At that time, Wong sat with 15 big bets, Michael Moncek with 14, while Chadha was the "short stack" with eight big bets.

It took three hours of play on Friday for two-time bracelet winner Moncek, who earlier this series won Event #6: $5,000 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em/Pot-Limit Omaha., to fall first after slowly being ground down.

Chadha began heads-up play with a more than 4:1 chip lead, but Wong let him know he wasn't going down easy.

"Not gonna lie, it's gonna be tough for you," said Wong after winning a pot. "I've played a lot of heads-up razz."

True to form, Wong began to chop away and before long wrested away the chip lead, ultimately closing out a WSOP tournament for the first time.

"I felt kind of bad,” said Wong. “I wasn't trying to insult him or anything. I was just trying to gain an edge like this get this monkey off my back."

When asked what's next, Wong responded, "I'm just gonna play the same schedule I was playing before. I'll probably have a little bit more of myself now but I can just play a bunch of other stuff … I'm just trying to make money for my family."

Final table results:
Place Winner Country Prize (in USD)
1 Jerry Wong United States $298,682
2 Carlos Chadha United States $184,599
3 Michael Moncek United States $133,177
4 Elior Sion United Kingdom $97,960
5 Talal Shakerchi United Kingdom $73,495
6 John Hennigan United States $56,265
7 Bryce Yockey United States $43,970
8 Yuval Bronshtein United States $35,092