The 2022 World Series of Poker keeps recording big registration numbers. And it is doing so while fighting several issues, one of which was a lack of air conditioning in the main Bally’s ballroom for nearly a week. The other big issue is Covid-19, which has been rearing its ugly head since Day 1.
WSOP commentator Lon McEachern was one of the first to announce his positive Covid test after the pre-WSOP press conference. And one of the heads of the PokerNews live reporting team, Jesse Fullen, also missed the first week of the WSOP due to Covid. Many players have tested positive and responsibly reported it publicly and quarantined.
Nevertheless, WSOP tournaments keep setting records.
Event 16: $3K NLHE
Nine players started the final day of this event, but the first elimination didn’t happen until more than 1.5 hours into play. That was when David Miscikowski busted Davide Suriano in ninth. Another long while later, Alex Foxen took out Nicholas Dolen in eighth. While Stefan Lehner sat on the shortest stack, Nathan Russler busted Joey Weissman and Kevin Stevens.
Lehner made some moves and chipped up. Miscikowski eliminated Foxen, and Boas turned around and busted Miscikowski in fourth place. Lehner was the shortest of the three stacks but doubled through Russler several times and through Tony Boas. Lehner later busted Russler but took a chip deficit into heads-up play. Lehner never gave up and eventually doubled into the lead. His A-T then beat the A-7 of Boas to claim the first Austrian gold bracelet of the 2022 WSOP.
While 28 high rollers started the day, some like Noah Schwartz, Daniel Negreanu, and Ben Lamb didn’t make the eventual final table. Chance Kornuth didn’t either, and Jared Bleznick bubbled that table. David Williams busted the official final eight.
Gregory Shuda was the first to exit in eighth, followed by Emmanuel Sebag in seventh. Finally, later in the evening, Josh Arieh busted Jonathan Depa in sixth place for $256,582.
Von Altizer started the final day of this tournament with the lead and dominated much of the action. Hieu Luu and Yufei Zhong climbed the leaderboard early and busted players early, but play slowed dramatically. Zhong ended up finishing in fifth and Luu in fourth. Denis Nesterenko took over the lead from Altizer, though she busted Evan Sayer in third place. Nesterenko dominated from there and won it.
The second and final flight of the Monster Stack event put the total number of entries over 6500 and the prize pool at approximately $6.5M. The WSOP will announce the final numbers today, but this year’s event definitely surpassed last year’s Monster Stack (3520 entries) and event the 2019 one (6035 entries). Another sign that this WSOP is likely the biggest ever.
In the end, more than 2K players survived the starting flights and will meet today to play down into the money.
Event 21: Day 1B of 5
$1,500 buy-in
NLHE Monster Stack (1 RE)
Total entries:
2947+3561= 6508
(3520 in 2021, 6035 in 2019)
Players remaining:
898+1158=2056
Total prize pool:
TBD
Players paid:
TBD
Minimum payout:
TBD
Winner payout:
TBD
Top chip counts:
#1
Linus Richter (USA) 788,000
#2
Frank Lagodich (USA) 635,000
#3
Justin Lee (USA) 631,000
#4
Andrew Rosen (USA) 592,000
#5
Mustapha Kanit (Italy) 550,500
Event 22: $10K Seven-Card Stud Championship
Only eight players survived the playdown of the Stud’s championship-level event. Brandon Cantu bubbled the event. David Prager was the first to cash, followed by Brian Lieberman, John Monnette, Randy Ohel, and Cary Katz. Thomas Taylor busted in tenth, and Kevin Gerhart exited in ninth place for $23,536.
The final eight bagged their chips and will play for the win today.
Event 22: Day 2 of 3
$10K buy-in
Seven-Card Stud Championship
Total entries:
95
(62 in 2021, 88 in 2019)
Players remaining:
8
Total prize pool:
$885,875
Players paid:
15
Minimum payout:
$16,170
Winner payout:
$248,254
Final table counts:
#1
Adam Friedman (USA) 2,385,000
#2
Jean Gaspard (USA) 1,231,000
#3
Yuval Bronschtein (Israel) 837,000
#4
Ben Diebold (USA) 375,000
#5
Marco Johnson (USA) 236,000
#6
James Paluszek (USA) 235,000
#7
Yueqi Zhu (China) 231,000
#8
Phil Ivey (USA) 174,000
Event 23: $3K 6-Handed Limit Hold’em
A lotta limit poker took place on Saturday, with this event offering short-handed LHE action and the only new tournament of the day. The original 213 entries dwindled own to just 93.
Event 23: Day 1 of 3
$3K buy-in
6-Handed Limit Hold'em
Total entries:
213
(162 in 2021, 193 in 2019)
Players remaining:
93
Total prize pool:
$568,710
Players paid:
32
Minimum payout:
$4,939
Winner payout:
$142,147
Top chip counts:
#1
Daniel Vampan (USA) 217,500
#2
Phuong Nguyen (USA) 210,000
#3
Ruiko Mamiya (Japan) 207,000
#4
Bin Duan (USA) 193,000
#5
Joao Vieira (Portugal) 176,000
Today’s Poker Menu
Event 19 will play the rest of its final table on the PokerGO livestream.
Event 21 will combine Monster Stack survivors and begin the playdown into the money.
Event 22 will play its final table.
Event 23 will try to play to a final table.
Event 24 will begin the Flip & Go madness, where all players will play pineapple-style and all-in poker until only one player remains at each table. There are unlimited reentries, so it will be crazy.
Event 25 starts an $800 buy-in NLHE Deepstack two-day tournament.
Event 26 kicks off the $10K buy-in Limit Hold’em Championship.
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