Chad Eveslage wins Dealer’s Choice events at the 2023 World Series of Poker

Chad Eveslage has completed a clean sweep of Dealer Choice events through 2023 World Series of Poker.

The 31-year-old poker pro from Indiana won the $1,500 buy-in version of the tournament on June 2 for his second career gold bracelet and $131,879. Just a few days later, Eveslage backed it up with a win in the $10,000 buy-in dealer’s choice championship. The subsequent victory saw Eveslage take home $311,428 and his third career bracelet.

With this one-two performance, Eveslage became the latest player to make some run in the house pick events at the WSOP. Adam Friedman secured consecutive wins in the $10,000 Dealer’s Choice event in 2018, 2019 and 2021 (the event was not held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Jaswinder Lally has also had a strong streak in this format, winning the $1,500 buy-in in 2021 and finishing runner-up in the same event in 2022.

Eveslage also kept alive a 24-year streak of at least one player winning multiple bracelets during a single WSOP. Chris Ferguson kicked off this run by winning both a $2,500 seven-card stud event and the WSOP main event in 2000. In 2022, three players have achieved the same feat: Dan Zack, Lawrence Brandt and Espen Jorstad, who have won the main event and tag team tournament.

This most recent win saw Eveslage take home 600 Card player Player of the Year Points. The two titles of him run to WSOP currently they are only his POY extension-qualified scores from 2023. Now sits 136th in the all-around, sponsored by Global Poker.

Eveslage now has more than $7.9 million in recorded tournament earnings over his career. In addition to her three bracelets, she also has two Poker World Tour main event titles. All five of those major victories have come in the past two years.

A total of 115 players showed up for this event, creating a $1,069,500 prize pool that was paid out to the top 20 finishers. The third and final day began with Eveslage leading and only 13 contenders remaining.

The official final table was set when two-time bracelet winner Mike Gorodinsky moved all-in with pat 9-8-7-3-2, only to find himself just behind pat 9-7-6-3-2 of three bracelet winner Dutch Boyd. Gorodinsky, who finished second in this event last year, took home $42,965 as seventh-place finisher. He now has nearly $3.8 million in recorded tournament earnings.

The sixth-place finisher was also a two-time bracelet winner. Marco Johnson was knocked out during a round of badeucey. He lost a large chunk of his stack to Eveslage, and then put his few remaining chips against more callers. Dustin Dirksen bet Eveslage and showed 7-6-4-3-2 with a badugi seven. Johnson mucked and was eliminated in sixth place ($56,528). This score increased his career earnings to over $3.8 million.

Yet another two-bracelet winner was eliminated from the event in fifth place. Ari Engel also came across the Eveslage badeucey circular saw. He had a smooth 8-6 one-card draw with an 8-6-3-2 badugi made, but was in tough form against an 8-6-5-4-3 made with a big six badugi for Eveslage. Engel hit an ace in the end and was sent home with $75,341.

Dustin Dirksen fell during a round of no-limit hold’em. He called all-in on the river with second pair, only to call Eveslage’s top pair. Dirksen earned $101,709 as the fourth-place finisher.

“Big O” marked the end of Zachary Freeman’s run. He moved the last of his stack preflop with A-10-8-6-5 double-suited. Eveslage arrived with K-7-5-4-2 with three spades. He rivered a flush on a single high board to win the pot, eliminating Freeman in third place ($139,048).

With that, Eveslage took an almost 4:1 chip lead in heads-up play against Boyd. The final hand came in another round of Big O. All chips went all-in after a series of raises over Kings62 flop. Boyd had AkQ85 for top pair, live cards and low draw. Eveslage held K9843 for top pair, live cards, flush draw and straight draw.

The 5 the turn gave Eveslage a six-high straight flush and best minimum. The 10 he eventually closed the deal, eliminating Boyd for $192,479. He now has nearly $3 million in lifetime tournament earnings.

Here’s a look at the prizes and ranking points awarded at the final table:

Visit the Card Player 2023 World Series of Poker page for schedules, news, interviews, and the latest results from the event.

Winning photo credit: WSOP / Rachel Kay Miller.