Thai Ha Wins First Bracelet in Event #83: $1,500 Short Deck ($111,170)
There were nine players who returned for Day 2 of Event #83: $1,500 Short Deck No-Limit Hold'em at the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. After the dust had settled, it was Vietnamese player Thai Ha who walked away with his first career gold bracelet and the $111,170 top prize.
Ha bested a field of 363 players, last defeating start-of-day chip leader David Prociak in heads-up play to win the tournament.
2023 WSOP Event #83 Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1 | Thai Ha | Vietnam | $111,170 |
| 2 | David Prociak | United States | $68,712 |
| 3 | Wai Kiat Lee | Malaysia | $45,866 |
| 4 | Robert James | United States | $31,307 |
| 5 | Ryan Laplante | United States | $21,863 |
| 6 | Moses Alosh | Israel | $15,629 |
| 7 | Matan Gabay | Israel | $11,443 |
Winner's Reaction
Ha, who has two previous runner-up finishes at the WSOP, both in Short Deck No-Limit Hold'em, said that it feels great to have finally won a bracelet in this format.
"It feels great. Short Deck is one of the games I play the most and I got second twice already so this time it definitely feels great not to get second again. I feel like Short Deck is my strongest game."
When asked what it was like facing previous bracelet winner Prociak in heads-up play, Ha mentioned being comfortable due to his experience in Short Deck but also complimented his opponent's experience across a wide variety of games.
"He's pretty good but I have a little bit more experience in Short Deck than him so I felt comfortable playing heads up. But he's good in every game and he's picking up short deck very fast. He wasn't an easy opponent."
Ha mentioned a pivotal hand that happened during heads-up play as being the turning point for him being able to take control of the match.
"Definitely in the heads-up match when I flopped the nut-straight against him and he flopped the second nut-straight was the turning point for me."
When asked about his plans for the final week of the series, Ha mentioned that he will definitely be playing Event #93: $10,000 Short Deck No-Limit Hold'em that begins Sunday, July 16.
Final Day Action
There were nine players who bagged a stack for Day 2 which began at 12:00 p.m. Play was generally deep-stacked compared to the day before with eliminations occurring at a much slower pace.
Adam Adler was the first to fall after running into Ryan Laplante's pocket queens in a preflop confrontation.
It would take over an hour for the next elimination to occur. Marcos Exterkotter had a roller-coaster session from the start of the day, at one point doubling through Ha with pocket aces only to double up Matan Gabay a few hands later when Gabay flopped a straight. His deep run came to an end when his pocket kings were cracked by Ha who had turned a straight to send Exterkotter to the rail.
Exterkotter's elimination marked the start of the official final table, where Gabay would be the first to hit the rail after running into Ha's pocket kings. Moses Alosh would join him shortly after when he got the last of his chips in preflop with pocket sixes against the ace-king of Robert James, who rivered a king to end Alosh's run.
Laplante, one of two former bracelet winners to make the final table, was the next to be eliminated in a preflop confrontation against Ha, who turned a pair of queens to pull ahead of Laplante's pocket tens.
James started the day second in chips but was on the wrong end of several coolers to find himself as one of the shorter stacks during four-handed play. James would ultimately run into Prociak's pocket aces preflop and, despite improving to two pair by the turn, he would be eliminated when Prociak rivered a set.
Prociak would next eliminate Wai Kiat Lee, getting his chips in with ace-king against a short-stacked Lee who held ace-jack. Prociak's dominating hand held the whole way through to send Lee to the rail and commence heads-up play.
Prociak began the match with just over a 2-1 chip advantage against Ha. Ha refused to go down easily though, grinding a short stack for roughly an hour before taking the chip lead in a pivotal hand where he flopped the nut straight against Prociak. This was followed up by another hand where he called a bluff from Prociak with two pair before getting the last of Prociak's chips in a preflop confrontation with pocket-queens against Prociak's suited king-ten.
That wraps up the coverage for this event but stay tuned to PokerNews for all your coverage needs from the last week of the series, including the WSOP Main Event coverage taking place right now.