Getty Image / Denise Truscello
Nate Silver, the founder of FiveThirtyEight who was named to the ‘100 Most Influential People in the World’ list back in 2009, made a very deep run in the 2023 World Series of Poker Main Event.
Silver has been an avid poker player for years and has notched 15 cashes in World Series of Poker events for $279,725. His biggest cash came in 2021 when he finished 2nd in the $10K buy-in Event #16: Limit Hold’em Championship for $151,842.
Nate Silver began Day 6 of the 2023 WSOP Main Event with a chip stack of 2,130,000. There were 149 players left to start Day 6.
His day started strong at the PokerGo featured table when he doubled up through Nikita Luther who was one of the last two remaining women in the Main Event.
It's a double for @NateSilver538 through @nikitaluther on Day 6 of the @WSOP Main Event as his ace-king catches a king on the flop and holds for the win.
📺 – Watch live here: https://t.co/dGLv7f1yTF pic.twitter.com/EO6t9n1gmX
— PokerGO (@PokerGO) July 12, 2023
But things came to an end for the pollster wunderkind and London School of Economics grad when he ran up against a ‘set vs set’ scenario. With three players holding low pocket pairs pre-flop, it didn’t seem like a hand where the chips would be flying.
But the flop came out and both Nate Silver and Henry Chan hit sets, Silver’s with the lower of the two, and all of the chips went in the middle:
A brutal end for @NateSilver538 who goes set under set against Henry Chan to be eliminated from the 2023 @WSOP Main Event.
📺 – Watch Live Here: https://t.co/dGLv7f1yTF pic.twitter.com/yQWAYTSrMF
— PokerGO (@PokerGO) July 13, 2023
Nate’s immediate reaction:
Just made a huge, correct preflop all in call in the prior hand. Thought I was gonna go from 2.5m to 11m in two hands maybe having to fade some flush outs. Instead busto. Used my "one time" too and the case 6 didn't come. Fucking poker. 87th for 93k. Still so much fun.
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) July 13, 2023
Making a run that deep *again* in the Main Event seems quite improbable, but you never know:
If you're gonna bust out on Day 6 of the Main Event you may as well maximize the experience by having it be set-over-set on the feature table which is literally being broadcast to the entire poker room!
Really appreciate all the support! Lots more deep runs in our future.❤️ https://t.co/DtfbHqmvQm
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) July 13, 2023
Day 6 of the World Series of Poker Main Event played down to just 49 players out of a record field that saw 10,043 entrants and the largest prize pool in Main Event history ($93,399,900).
Nate Silver took home $92,600 for his 87th place finish.
Day 7 coverage of the WSOP Main Event begins on PokerGo at 4 pm and again tomorrow. Saturday is a rest day with Sunday marking the first day of the Final Table where 8 of the 9 players will take home at least a million dollars.
Meanwhile, this hand from Day 5 was a must-see. It was called the ‘most ridiculous’ hand of the 2023 World Series of Poker. Do you agree?