Chris Klodnicki Wins 2023 World Series of Poker Secret Bounty Event

In two pivotal moments at the final table of the 2023 World Series of Poker $10,000 no-limit hold’em ‘Secret Bounty’ event, Chris Klodnicki found himself in need of help on the river. Both times, an ace peeled off the deck to send the pair of critical pots his way. In the latter instance, the ace on the river was the decisive card that secured Klodnicki the title, the top prize of $733,317, and his second career WSOP gold bracelet.

“It was very shallow, it was very gamble-y, not a ton of actual poker being played which is kind of unfortunate for an event this size but, whatever, I’m happy I won,” said Klodnicki in his post-win interview with PokerGO, the exclusive live streaming coverage provider of the WSOP. “I was down super short, I think I was in last place with eight people left but just hung around, obviously ran good in the spots I needed to, and just happy to be here right now.”

Klodnicki now has nearly $11.3 million in lifetime tournament earnings after this latest victory. His first bracelet win came six years ago, when he took down a 2017 $1,500 no-limit hold’em event for $428,423. The New Jersey native now has more than $7.1 million in career cashes in WSOP bracelet events to his name.

This win also saw Klodnicki earn 2,100 Card Player Player of the Year points. While this was his first POY-qualified score of 2023, it alone was sufficient to catapult him into 57th place in the 2023 POY race standings presented by Global Poker. He also shot up the standings on the PokerGO Tour leaderboard, with his 733 PGT points moving him to 14th place in the high-stakes-centric point race.

A total of 568 entries were made in this event, with $3,000 pulled from each $10,000 buy-in for a separate bounty prize pool. Notable bounty payouts included Ali Shahni drawing a $250,000 bounty, while European Poker Tour Sochi main event champion Artur Martirosian and bracelet winner Tyler Cornell each secured $100,000 bounties.

The third and final day began with just eight players remaining and Klodnicki in the lead. Five-time bracelet winner Jeremy Ausmus was not far behind, though.

Klodnicki ran pocket kings into pocket aces early on to fall out of the top spot. Ausmus scored the first two knockouts of the day to overtake the lead, eliminating Eric Yanovsky (8th – $73,756) and Daniel Rezaei (7th – $96,265). He and bracelet winner Barak Wisbrod then chopped a pot in a three-way all-in that spelled the end of bracelet winner Angel Guillen (6th – $127,515).

The first of Klodnicki’s two critical aces on the river came during five-handed action. The chips all got in preflop in a classic race situation, with Klodnicki’s A-K facing pocket queens for Ausmus. The queens held through the first four community cards, but the A on the end saw Klodnicki double into a big lead while Ausmus fell back down toward the rest of the pack.

Tracey Nguyen was the next to hit the rail. Her A-Q was outflipped by the pocket tens of a surging Klodnicki to see her sent home in fifth place ($171,389).

Ausmus soon followed when his K-2 suited ran into the pocket aces of Klodnicki. He earned $233,690 for his fourth-place showing. This was his 13th final-table finish of the year, with one title won and more than $2 million in POY earnings accrued along the way. As a result, Ausmus moved into sixth place in the 2023 POY rankings. He also climbed to third place in the PGT standings.

Wisbrod was the next player to run into the Klodnicki buzzsaw. He shoved with 10-9 from the small blind and Klodnicki thought it over for a while before eventually calling with K-6. Wisbrod picked up an open-ended straight draw on the flop, but in the end, neither player connected with the final board, and Klodnicki won with his king high. Wisbrod earned a career-high $323,181 payday for his third-place showing.

With that, Klodnicki took a massive lead into heads-up play with Aram Oganyan, who has broken out on the high-stakes tournament scene in the past year.

In the final hand, Onganyan shoved with 98 from the button and Klodnicki quickly called with AA. The flop came down Q1010 to give Oganyan a gutshot straight draw. The J on the turn filled his straight, leaving Klodniki in need of an ace or a ten on the end. The A appeared, giving Klodnicki aces full for the win. Check out a replay of the dramatic finish from PokerGO’s exclusive streaming coverage:

That’s a hell of a way to win your second WSOP</a> gold bracelet! <br><br>Chris Klodnicki (<a href="https://twitter.com/SLOPPYKLOD?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">SLOPPYKLOD) spikes another ace on the river to seal the deal in the $10,000 NLH Secret Bounty for $733,317.

– A full replay of the event is available now on PokerGO: https://t.co/Pd4BiyKITn pic.twitter.com/GLLc9zpeJm

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) June 17, 2023

Oganyan took home $453,226 as the runner-up, the second-largest score of his career. He now has nine final-table finishes in 2023, with one title and more than $1.5 million in POY earnings accrued so far. As a result, he now occupies the tenth-place spot on both the POY and PGT leaderboards.

Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:

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

Winner photo credit: WSOP / Spenser Sembrat.