Each year at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, there is at least one player who wins two bracelets. This has been happening for more than two decades.
Last year, three players (Michael Addamo, Josh Arieh, and Jeremy Ausmus) did it. This year, Daniel Zack did it by winning Events 15 and 40. Espen Jorstad did it by winning the Tag Team event with Patrick Leonard and then winning the Main Event. And this week, Lawrence Brandt added his name to the list by winning Event 84 after having taken down Event 58 just a few weeks ago.
It is not an easy feat. However, it often happens by sheer momentum. In addition, those who win a WSOP bracelet early in the series often play more events to follow in the hopes of keeping that momentum. And with the money they won, they are more financially able to do so.
As the 2022 WSOP winds down, it appears that Zack, Jorstad, and Brandt will be the only ones with that double-bracelet honor this year…until the WSOP Europe provides another small window of opportunity.
Event 84: $3K HORSE
Only three players remained in the HORSE tournament on Sunday. Tomasz Gluszko had the chip lead, Roberto Marin was next in chips, and Lawrence Brandt was on the shortest of the three stacks. Marin started with momentum, but Brandt quickly took over the chip lead and busted Gluszko in third place. Marin started to catch up to Brandt, but the latter got aggressive and took down the title.
This was his second career bracelet, both won in the same year. Brandt was thrown off a bit by the panic that ensued from an active shooter scare, but he was able to find the zone again by putting his headphones back on and focusing. “I felt like it was my tournament to win,” he said.
This was a bit of a confusing day, trying to pull it together after Day 1B ended early due to the Las Vegas chaos. That day moved forward, and those survivors combined with ones from Day 1A, and they did play the tournament down to just 17 players. Now on schedule, the action will finish on Monday.
Event 85: Day 2 of 3
$1,500 buy-in
NLHE Closer (1 RE/flight)
Total entries:
2,039
(2800 in 2019, 1903 in 2021)
Players remaining:
17
Total prize pool:
$3,962,280
Players paid:
245
Minimum payout:
$3,360
Winner payout:
$536,280
Top chip counts:
#1:
Minh Nguyen (USA) 20,275,000
#2:
Michael Liang (USA) 19,200,000
#3:
Rudy Cervantes (USA) 16,475,000
#4:
Daniel Tabello (USA) 14,450,000
#5:
Zachary Johnson (USA) 12,050,000
Event 86: $10K NLHE 6-Handed Championship
Only 45 players started the day, which moved along at a steady clip. Initial bustouts included Taylor Paur and Upeshka De Silva, with Brian Rast following in 39th place. Aaron Mermelstein departed in 31st place, Daniel Weinman in 28th, Adrian Mateos in 24th, and Jared Jaffee in 22nd. The day’s chipleader, Daniel Rezaei, exited in 18th place, followed in short order by Davidi Kitai, Anthony Zinno, and Romain Lewis.
As the final table approached, Jerry Wong busted in ninth place, Scott Bohlman in eighth, and then Martin Zamani bubbled the final table.
Event 86: Day 2 of 3
$10K buy-in
NLHE 6-Handed Championship
Total entries:
394
(272 in 2019, 329 in 2021)
Players remaining:
6
Total prize pool:
$3,674,050
Players paid:
60
Minimum payout:
$16,000
Winner payout:
$824,653
Top chip counts:
#1:
Pavel Plesuv (Moldova) 6,890,000
#2:
Gregory Jensen (USA) 4,740,000
#3:
Ali Eslami (USA) 3,785,000
#4:
Barak Wisbrod (Israel) 3,205,000
#5:
Lucas Foster (USA) 2,380,000
#6:
Brock Wilson (USA) 2,080,000
Event 87: $5K NLHE 8-Handed
A lot happened on Day 2 of this event. The WSOP had to announce the final number of entries and prize pool, since the tournament stopped during the chaos of the previous night without that information. The second day of the tournament put players back in their seats, worked some of them into the money, and set a final table.
Kartik Ved, Farid Jattin, and Michael Wang led the eight-handed final table. Short-stacked Will Nguyen started off with a few double-ups, but Ved still knocked him out in eighth place. Jattin ousted Fred Goldberg, and though Billy O’Neil doubled through Jattin, Wang knocked O’Neil out in sixth. Jattin also busted Yuval Bronshtein in fifth and then Ved in fourth.
Erik Seidel had doubled through Ved before his departure, and Seidel did it then through Wang. But Jattin sent Seidel out in third and took 23M chips into heads-up against the 5.5M of Wang. But Wang doubled until he evened the stacks and then took over. Wang quickly beat Jattin and captured his second career gold bracelet. “It’ll take some time to process,” Wang said of the victory, “but I’m feeling great right now.”
The last event on the primary live WSOP calendar for the Las Vegas series was a single-day tournament with a super-turbo structure. It brought in 1,288 entries, played out in approximately 15 hours, and left only one player standing.
Kurt Jewell busted in tenth place to set the official final table, which Jesse Lonis led with a significant stack. Medium-stacked Jaspal Brar started the action with a double through Huy Nguyen, as Jesse Capps eliminated Jonathan Hilton and Brar finished off Nguyen and then Vinicius Escossi in seventh place. Capps resumed his eliminations by sending Ronald Sullivan out in sixth. Boris Kolev dispatched Christopher Garman in fifth, but Brar busted Kolev in fourth.
Brar also busted Capps in third to take the lead into heads-up. And it took only a few minutes for Brar to eliminate Jesse Lonis in second place for the win. Brar called his first bracelet the highlight of his career and a lifelong dream.
Event 85 plays through to find a NLHE Closer champion.
Event 86 plays the NLHE 6-Handed Championship final table.
All bracelet winners from the 2022 WSOP in Las Vegas and all WSOP Circuit winners from the 2021-2022 season will begin the Tournament of Champions.
