Chad Eveslage Wins 2023 WSOP Event #10 Dealer’s Choice Championship

Ask any professional poker what they’d like to do most about the first week of the World Series of Poker and almost all of them would say they’d like to win a WSOP bracelet. For Chad Eveslage has gone twice as well as he could have expected, with the Dealer’s Choice master winning not only Event #5 in the format but Event #10 too, the $10,000-entry Dealer’s Choice Championship.

Unprecedented Success for Eveslage Starts with Big Lead

When play made it to the final six players in Event 10, Chad Eveslage was the chip leader. In fact, not only was he the leader, but of the 77 big bets in play, Eveslage held 33 of them with a stack of 3,300,000 chips. His nearest challenger was Dustin Dirksen, a man with recent experience of winning a WSOP bracelet in recent years, but no-one else of the final six had double digits in terms of big bets. The power was with Eveslage.

“One minor leaguer… look at all these major leaguers here.” ~ Ari Engel

The first player to lose their stack at the final table was Marco Johnson, who was defeated in Badeucey when Eveslage and then Dustin Dirksen took away his chips in consecutive pots.

“Stupid Badeucey hands.” Johnson said as he left the table and headed to the rail.

Eveslage and Dirksen were strengthening their chances of victory, but Ari Engel, a former two-time WSOP champion himself, couldn’t survive in Badeucey either. This exit came after he eulogised about his company at the final table in a video on Twitter.

Final table dealers choice! pic.twitter.com/Rjk12mb1Mw

— Ari Engel (@AriEngelPoker) June 6, 2023

Engel was eliminated by Eveslage and in scoring that scalp, the eventual winner put himself into a commanding chip lead with 43 big bets, as just three men stood in his way of the second bracelet win in Dealer’s Choice of the Series, and his third overall in a glittering career.

Dirksen and Freeman Fall

With four remaining, Eveslage continued to keep up the pressure and it eventually told for Dustin Dirksen in fourth place as Eveslage’s fellow American earned $101,709, the first six-figure result of the Championship. Eveslage got his man in No Limit Hold’em this time, as Eveslage turned over two pair at the close of the board. Dirksen only had a busted straight draw in jack-ten and play was three-handed with Eveslage in some control.

Two hands in Big O ended the hopes of Zack Freeman as he busted in third place for $139,048. Eventually, Eveslage hit a flush to mean it was he who would go into the heads-up with the lead. Eveslage had 6.2 million chips, while Dutch Boyd held 1.6 million.

Boyd is fondly remembered by many for a key hand that played out on the way to Chris Moneymaker winning the 2003 Main Event. Boy shoved with two high cards on a paint-free flop only for an at-risk Moneymaker to call with just a pair of threes. The rest is poker history:

Boyd Beaten as Eveslage Grabs Glory

Eveslage came out the gate quickly after a brief break for the last two players in the tournament. Winning the next two major pots, he soon had an unassailable 12:1 lead on Boys and in Big O once more, Eveslage became the first double bracelet winner of the 2023 World Series. With both stacks in the middle, Eveslage’s suited connectors managed to hit a gutshot five of clubs on the turn to end matters.

“That’s a straight flush.” Said Eveslage, almost in shock as much as anything else.

Boyd quipped back: “That’s pretty good.”

With the river card, Boyd congratulated Eveslage on a massive achievement and having won back-to-back Dealer’s Choice events in the same WSOP, he has his friend Adam Friedman’s record of three in a row in his sights.

“If there’s another World Series next year – if the singularity doesn’t get us – I suppose that I will try to win,” Eveslage told PokerNews in the aftermath of his victory. “I think I’ve got an edge on Adam. He might have his own little opinion.”

His opponents on the final day included poker legends and Eveslage was keen to praise them as he celebrated getting the gold again.

“Playing with [John] Hennigan was fun,” he said. “He’s a character. I’ve never played with somebody like him. He’s a complete alien, but in like the best way ever.”

With 10 events in the can, Eveslage somehow has two bracelets and is a favorite to scoop the WSOP Player of the Year crown at this early stage.

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