Sometimes, two poker tournaments collide. As the 2022 World Series of Poker Main Event began this week, the new Million Dollar Bounty tournament was setting its field, not to mention doing Day 1 payouts. It was a lot.
Today, things will get even more complicated. The field size for Day 1C of the Main Event will likely be larger than the two previous flights. And the Million Dollar Bounty starts Day 2 with more than 800 players returning. And the somewhat-complicated bounty system begins on this second day of that event, awarding random bounties with the top one being worth $1M.
The only other bracelet event on the schedule for the day is the five-handed final table of the PLO 8-Handed Championship. That will take place at a featured table and off of the general tournament floor area.
It could still be a bit of madness. We will see.
Event 68: $1K NLHE Million Dollar Bounty
They set the field. The staff could finally tally the four starting days, and it came to 14,112, per PokerNews. And the prize pool exceeded $12.5M. Payouts began for players on their initial flights, so everyone on Day 2 is guaranteed some money.
Today, they will play forward and thin the field quite a bit. It is unclear if they will be able to set a final table or not.
Event 68: Day 1 of 5
$1K buy-in
NLHE Million Dollar Bounty (1 RE/flight)
Total entries:
14,112
Players remaining:
825
Total prize pool:
$12,559,680
Players paid:
2,060
Minimum payout:
$1,062
Winner payout:
$272,769
Top chip counts:
#1
Armando Figueroa (USA) 3,150,000
#2
Ismail Abou Sharkh (USA) 2,800,000
#3
Vincent Meli (UK) 2,705,000
#4
Gabriel Moura (Brazil) 2,530,000
#5
Freddy Granados (Costa Rica) 2,405,000
Event 69: $10K PLO 8-Handed Championship
The third of four days brought 39 players back to the tables and shrunk that number in the first few levels. Players like Brandon Adams and Jeff Madsen departed from there. Once the field thinned to just two tables, Robert Nehorayan busted in 16th place, followed by Hank Yang, Michael Russell, and Firas Kashat. After the dinner break, Allan Le busted in 12th place, Elior Sion in 11th, Dzimitry Urbanovich in tenth, and then Jered Bettencourt in ninth.
The final table of eight players began with Tom Hu holding the chip lead, Michael Duek in second, and Toby Lewis on a short stack. Lewis was the first to bust at the hands of Duek, and Shiva Dudani took out Nitesh Rawtani in seventh place and then Thair Kallabat in sixth. The final five bagged their chips to return for Day 4.
Event 69: Day 3 of 4
$10K buy-in
PLO 8-Handed Championship
Total entries:
683
(518 in 2019, 344 in 2021)
Players remaining:
5
Total prize pool:
$6,368,975
Players paid:
103
Minimum payout:
$16,047
Winner payout:
$1,246,770
Final table counts:
#1
Shiva Dudani (USA) 15,650,000
#2
Michael Duek (USA) 9,405,000
#3
Tom Hu (USA) 7,330,000
#4
Sean Troha (USA) 5,045,000
#5
Joachim Haraldstad (Norway) 3,580,000
6th place:
Thair Kallabat (USA) $215,326
7th place:
Nitesh Rawtani (USA) $162,542
8th place:
Toby Lewis (UK) $124,611
Event 70: $10K NLHE Main Event
After the first of four Main Event flights brought in 900 players, the second upped that number to 1,245 new players. Day 1C and Day 1D will each take the numbers much higher. In fact, the WSOP is anticipating such high numbers on Day 1D that it changed the Day 2 schedule. The plan had been to combine A and B survivors for Day 2AB and C and D survivors for Day 2CD. But to better handle the Day 1D survivors, that one will have its own Day 2 on July 8. That means A, B, and C survivors will all combine on July 7 for their Day 2.
This Day 1C on Tuesday will be larger than each of the previous days but manageable. Again, we will see.
Event 70: Day 1B
$10K buy-in
NLHE World Championship Main Event
Total (not final):
2145 so far
(8569 in 2019, 6650 in 2021)
Total 1A entries:
900
Total 1B entries:
1,245
Players remaining in 1A:
631
Players remaining in 1B:
634
Total prize pool:
TBD
Players paid:
TBD
Minimum payout:
TBD
Winner payout:
TBD
Overall chip counts:
#1
Patrick Hagenlocher (USA) 332,800
#2
Cedrric Trevino (USA) 317,800
#3
Wesley Fei (China) 300,000
#4
Suhaag Gandikota (USA) 269,700
#5
Matthias Kribben (Germany) 268,100
Today’s Poker Menu
Event 68 brings Day 1 survivors together in the Million Dollar Bounty tournament, and bounties begin.
Event 69 plays its PLO Championship final table.
Event 70 plays the third of four starting flights of the Main Event.
