WSOP 2022 Day 30: Brandt and Team Leonard Win Gold

Written by Jennifer Newell

Last updated on July 1st, 2022

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Everyone was in play on Day 30 of the 2022 World Series of Poker. The 60-year-old-plus seniors and women were both in action at their respective tournaments, with Hold’em and Omaha also in play. And the Poker Players Championship put high-stakes players to the test with multiple poker variants. It’s the busy season at the WSOP, with many tournaments all leading to the start of the Main Event in just a few days.

Event 55: $1K Tag Team NLHE

Five two-player teams returned to the final table of the tag team event. Jamie Kerstetter and Corey Paggeot were the chipleaders and fan favorites. One of the short-stacked teams moved in quickly, and Kerstetter pushed the Kraemer-Schiller team out in fifth place. Patrick Leonard’s team then doubled through the Tsugaru-Ichikawa team. Kerstetter was back in business, though, to bust Franco Spitale and his partner in fourth place. Paggeot then busted Tsugaru team in third place. Kerstetter and Paggeot took 15.6M chips into heads-up against the 2.65M of Leonard and Jorstad. The latter, however, doubled twice to become contenders, and the two teams battled back and forth for the lead. After hours of heads-up play, Leonard and Jorstad finally got the last word and won the tournament. The winning team met via an Instagram post, and the two worked together throughout the tournament to win. Both said they made adjustments for the structure and tag team aspect of it all, and they felt fresh and ready to win. And they did.   https://twitter.com/WSOP/status/1542368695455870978?s=20&t=94NDpdttTBtFIGXcsCk-ow

Event 56: $50K Poker Players Championship 6-Handed

Starting with 13 players, play started cautiously. It took a bit for the first player to go, but it was Matthew Gonzales who busted in 13^th place. John Racener followed to the payout desk, as did Philip Sternheimer, Lou Garza, and Dan Weinman. After Dan Cates eliminated Matthew Ashton in eighth place, the final seven players gathered at the unofficial final table. Cates led the group, with Yuri Dzivielevski closing in from second. Hours passed without a bustout, but finally, reigning WSOP champion Koray Aldemir eliminated Taylor Paur in seventh place. The final six live to play another day.  

Event 57: $600 NLHE Deepstack

From the 60 players who started the day, they thinned the field to just two tables before the dinner break and then saw exits from Ronald Hunt, Sarah Wasch, Nick Marchington. Jeremy Ausmus busted in 14^th place, and the eventual elimination of Kohichi Manago set the official final table. The day’s original chipleader John Ypma busted in ninth place, followed by Tamir Saidman in eighth place. That left seven to return for one more day.  

Event 58: $1,500 PLO-8

As 14 players started the final day, it didn’t take long for players to start making moves. Frank Salese was the first to go, followed by Benjamin Miner, Jason Adams, Joey Couden, and Stuart Eason. The final nine made one table, just one player short of making an official final table. Short-stacked Alexander Orlov doubled on the first hand but then hit the rail, courtesy of Jared Jaffee. Corey Wade took out Jerry Odeen in eighth place, and Jacob Ferro busted Peter Neff in seventh. Lawrence Brandt then took out Jacob Ferro, and when play resumed after dinner, Robert Tanita busted Jared Jaffee and then Richard Crooks. Brandt doubled through Tanita, but Wade doubled through Brandt, and the latter doubled through Tanita again. Wade soon busted Tanita in third place and took a dominating lead into heads-up. Brandt quickly doubled and eventually started chipping up. He took the lead and busted Wade to grab his first gold bracelet.   https://twitter.com/WSOP/status/1542464452536049670?s=20&t=i_q6hfcA18JS6NKekShlSg

Event 59: $1K NLHE Super Seniors

This event started its second day with more than 700 players but worked through the money bubble and down to just 87 players by the time the night ended.  

Event 60: $10K Short Deck NLHE

This tournament also played through the money bubble, with Mike Watson exiting in 18^th place with no money. From there, Pieter Aerts was the first to make the money, and those who followed him to the payout cage were Ryan Riess, Daniel Negreanu, Chino Rheem, Yong Wang, David Aldridge, Carlos Leiva, Todd Ivens, Elior Sion, and Chris Brewer. The final seven took to one table, and the elimination of Robert Wilke in seventh place left the official final table of six. Play continued for a while until Scott Smile busted in seventh place. The final six bagged to play one more day.  

Event 61: $1K NLHE Ladies Championship

There was a large crowd of women who showed up to play the ladies-only event this year, more than last year and in 2019. The field played down to just 274 by the end of the night.  

Event 62: $1,500 NLHE Super Turbo Bounty

This was a big one, with more than 2500 players ready for some fast-structured poker. Per that structure, action played all the way into the money and through to just 20 players.  

Event 63: $10K PLO-8 Championship

A couple hundred players sat down for this championship-level tournament. Late registration remained open until the start of Day 2, so the final numbers were not tabulated. In the end, play stopped with 124 players still in contention.  

Today’s Poker Menu

Event 56 plays the final day of the Poker Players Championship. Event 57 plays the NHLE Deepstack final table. Event 59 plays to a Super Seniors final table. Event 60 plays the rest of its Short Deck final table. Event 61 plays its second day of the Ladies Championship. Event 62 plays its Super Turbo Bounty NLHE final table. Event 63 plays another day of the $10K PLO-8 Championship. Event 64 starts the $600 PLO Deepstack. Event 65 kicks off a $3K NLHE Freezeout.