The Main Event is the big one, the big dance, the MAIN. Officially, it is Event 70 on the 2022 World Series of Poker Las Vegas schedule. And its proper name is the No-Limit Hold’em World Championship Main Event.
It started on Sunday, July 3. The first of four starting days paved the way for the others, all leading up to final chance to get into the tournament on Wednesday, July 6. Later into that evening, the WSOP will announce the numbers: number of players, exact amount of the prize pool, number of players who will be paid, and payouts.
Everyone will be waiting for that number. Many have predicted that this year’s Main Event will rival the largest in the past, potentially even becoming the largest in WSOP history. We will know this week.
Meanwhile, there are some other events in progress.
Event 66: $1K NLHE Mini Main Event
Five players returned for the final day of this Mini Main, and Cosmin Joldis held more than half of the chips in play. Phillip Lee and Young Sik were the shortest of the stacks.
Joldis immediately took control and busted Kei Nitta in fifth place. But then Sik doubled through Joldis, and Sik then busted Lee. Sik doubled again through Joldis, which put him in the lead. Sik eliminated Kartik Ved and had 274.98M chips going into heads-up play. Joldis had just 75M but doubled up almost immediately. Joldis tried it again but failed, and Sik won the tournament.
Sik had finished second in a WSOP event earlier in this series but secured his first bracelet in this tournament.
This new event welcomed a massive number of nearly 4K entries on the second flight of this four-flight tournament. The buy-in of $1K was affordable for many, and it showed in the numbers. The first two flights pushed the number of entries past 7500, but that was far from final.
Monday will tell how much this field will grow.
Event 68: Day 1B of 5
$1K buy-in
NLHE Million Dollar Bounty (1 RE/flight)
Total entries:
7554 (not final)
(1A = 3598 / 1B = 3936)
Players remaining:
389
(1A = 182 / 1B = 207)
Total prize pool:
TBD
($3,179,970 so far)
Players paid:
1,071
(1A = 536 / 1B = 535)
Minimum payout:
$1,062
Winner payout:
TBD
Top chip counts:
#1
Armando Figueroa (USA) 3,150,000
#2
Vincent Meli (UK) 2,705,000
#3
Gabriel Moura (Brazil) 2,530,000
#4
Freddy Granados (Costa Rica) 2,405,000
#5
Fabian Foster (USA) 2,130,000
Event 69: $10K PLO 8-Handed Championship
The first day showed 641 entries on the board for this championship-level event, quite a few more showed up before the start of Day 2. That put the total number of entries at 683, a new record for this event. The goal on the third day will be to play down to a final table.
Event 69: Day 2 of 4
$10K buy-in
PLO 8-Handed Championship
Total entries:
683
(518 in 2019, 344 in 2021)
Players remaining:
39
Total prize pool:
$6,368,975
Players paid:
103
Minimum payout:
$16,047
Winner payout:
$1,246,770
Top chip counts:
#1
Michael Duek (USA) 4,460,000
#2
Shiva Dudani (USA) 3,280,000
#3
Tom Hu (USA) 2,315,000
#4
Robert Nehorayan (USA) 2,105,000
#5
Iakov Onuchin (Russia) 1,950,000
Event 70: $10K NLHE Main Event
The first of the four flights of the Main Event brought in only 900 entries. That number was not impressive by itself. However, history shows that each starting day brings in larger numbers, with the last of them sometimes becoming overwhelming to WSOP staff.
The first day brought in quite a few big names in poker, with some of them ending the night among the 631 survivors. The larger of those stacks belonged to Andrew Moreno, Kelly Minkin, and Ryan Depaulo. Of the past Main Event champions to play, quite a few made it through the night to bag chips, including Ryan Riess, Qui Nguyen, John Cynn, and Martin Jacobson.
Event 70: Day 1A
$10K buy-in
NLHE World Championship Main Event
Total 1A entries:
900
(8569 in 2019, 6650 in 2021)
Players remaining in 1A:
631
Total prize pool:
TBD
Players paid:
TBD
Minimum payout:
TBD
Winner payout:
TBD
Top chip counts:
#1
Cedrric Trevino (USA) 317,800
#2
Wesley Fei (China) 300,000
#3
Suhaag Gandikota (USA) 269,700
#4
Chanracy Khun (Canada) 267,800
#5
Thomas Eychenne (France) 255,800
Today’s Poker Menu
Event 68 offers the third and fourth of four flights of the Million Dollar Bounty tournament.
Event 69 plays to a $10K PLO Championship final table.
Event 70 plays the second of four starting flights of the Main Event.
