An intense day of action in the 2022 World Series of Poker saw Eric Smidinger win his first-ever bracelet in an emotional ending to the Seniors Event, while the second day of action in the $50,000-entry Poker Players Championship saw some of the best players in the world duke it out for the chip lead and bragging rights among the elite set.
Kenney the Leader After Epic Day 2 of Poker Players Championship
Bryn Kenney bagged the biggest stack on Day 2 of the Poker Players Championship, totalling 2,064,000 by the close of play. It’s a galaxy of stars behind him as Michael Moncek (1,702,000) and Koray Aldemir (1,427,000) chase down the leader, with other luminaries of the world of poker such as Yuri Dzivielevski (1,405,000) and Adam Friedman (1,220,000) both making the top 10 chipcounts.
A little further back, players such as Scott Seiver (982,000), Phil Ivey (850,000) and Stephen Chidwick (342,000), with that trio of players meeting each other at the same table in tomorrow’s Day 3 action. One table draw will pitch David Williams (1,082,000), Benny Glaser (1,255,000) and Dan Smith (1,065,000) together too as clashes between some of the best players in the game are set to take place all over again.
| WSOP 2022 Event #56: $50,000 Poker Players Championship Top 10 Chipcounts: |
| Position |
Player |
Country |
Chips |
| 1st |
Bryn Kenney |
U.S.A. |
2,064,000 |
| 2nd |
Michael Moncek |
U.S.A. |
1,702,000 |
| 3rd |
Koray Aldemir |
Germany |
1,427,000 |
| 4th |
Yuri Dzivielevski |
Brazil |
1,405,000 |
| 5th |
Scott Bohlman |
U.S.A. |
1,379,000 |
| 6th |
Taylor Paur |
U.S.A. |
1,344,000 |
| 7th |
Johannes Becker |
Germany |
1,338,000 |
| 8th |
Benny Glaser |
United Kingdom |
1,255,000 |
| 9th |
Adam Friedman |
U.S.A. |
1,220,000 |
| 10th |
David Williams |
U.S.A. |
1,082,000 |
Smidinger Wins Seniors Event in Emotional Victory
The gruelling Seniors Championship, which costs $1,000 to enter, saw Eric Smidinger rise from the middle ranks to claim a sensational victory at Bally’s as Kathy Liebert’s bid for a second WSOP bracelet 18 years after her first fell away early in Event #47.
Liebert, who came into play third in chips, was the first player to bust after a disastrous time at the felt. It could hardly have gone worse for her in the final hand, either. All-in pre-flop with pocket kings against the chip leader, Liebert was dreaming of a vital double-up, only for Ben Sarnoff to flip over pocket aces, which held to send the Women’s Hall of Famer home in fifth place for $186,541.
Next to go was the short-stacked Italian Biagio Morciano, who left in fourth place for a score of $244,664, before an all-American trio battled for the bracelet. Charles Mitchell lost out on the heads-up clash when he busted in third place for $323,057, leaving Sarnoff to take on Smidinger.
Sarnoff was well ahead when heads-up play began, holding 115 million chips to Smidinger’s 31 million. But that situation didn’t last long, as Smidinger chipped away at his opponent in a series of small pots, working his way into a small chip lead after winning half a dozen important pots.
The pair swapped a small chip lead for a time until the crucial hand saw Smidinger take a 6:1 chip lead after making a big call when Sarnoff had bluffed. The cards may have been mucked, but the momentum was all with Smidinger and he sealed victory minutes later when his pocket eights held against Sarnoff’s ace-king when all the chips went into the middle pre-flop.
| WSOP 2022 Event #47: $1,000 Seniors Championship Final Table Results: |
| Place |
Name |
Country |
Prize |
| 1st |
Eric Smidinger |
U.S.A. |
$694,909 |
| 2nd |
Ben Sarnoff |
U.S.A. |
$429,420 |
| 3rd |
Charles Mitchell |
U.S.A. |
$323,057 |
| 4th |
Biagio Morciano |
Italy |
$244,664 |
| 5th |
Kathy Liebert |
U.S.A. |
$186,541 |
Colossus Final Table Sees Laskowitz Build Huge Lead
The final table of seven players has been reached in Event #51, the Colossus event, which cost $400 to enter and will award the winner $414,490 tomorrow afternoon. New Yorker Sam Laskowitz busted the only bracelet winner among the Day 3 crowd in David Jackson and used his chips as a springboard for a successful assault on the summit of the leaderboard, racking up 206.5 million chips by the close of play. Paul Hizer of the U.K. has the nearest amount to Laskowitz, but even his 132 million is dwarfed by the chip leader’s mountainous pile.
Elsewhere in the final seven, no player has more than a third of Laskowitz’s stack, with overnight chip leader Jordan Pelon from France totalling 68 million. Jeff Loiacono (56m), Luong Quach (38.5m), Anthony Ruttler (32m) and James Scott (13.5m) complete the field, with the top prize and a debut bracelet on the line tomorrow on
the live PokerGO stream.
| WSOP 2022 Event #51: $400 Colossus Final Table Chipcounts: |
| Position |
Player |
Country |
Chips |
| 1st |
Sam Laskowitz |
U.S.A. |
206,500,000 |
| 2nd |
Paul Hizer |
United Kingdom |
132,000,000 |
| 3rd |
Jordan Pelon |
France |
68,000,000 |
| 4th |
Jeff Loiacono |
U.S.A. |
56,000,000 |
| 5th |
Luong Quach |
U.S.A. |
38,500,000 |
| 6th |
Anthony Ruttler |
U.S.A. |
32,000,000 |
| 7th |
James Scott |
United Kingdom |
13,500,000 |
Todd Leads Salute to Warriors Event with 21 Remaining
Just 21 players survived a frantic day at the felt as James Todd ended up as chip leader of the $500-entry Salute to Warriors Event #54. The penultimate day of action began with 498 players who then played to the 482 places that got paid. Post money bubble, the day reached its final three tables with dozens of well-known players busting out of the action, such as former bracelet winners Yueqi Zhu (194
th for $1,277), Steve Zolotow (141
st for $1,460) and Barry Greenstein (63
rd for $2,691).
The final day will see Todd’s lead of 20 million chips to his nearest competitors Rigoberto Rodriguez (14.95m) and Todd Saffron (11.9m) play all the way down to a winner, with the Day 3 drama also including players such as Matthew Vaughan (7.75m) and Randy Levin (4.3m) both still in the hunt. No-one among the final day’s players has ever won a WSOP gold bracelet before.
| WSOP 2022 Event #54: $500 Salute to Warriors Top 10 Chipcounts: |
| Position |
Player |
Country |
Chips |
| 1st |
James Todd |
U.S.A. |
20,000,000 |
| 2nd |
Rigoberto Rodriguez |
U.S.A. |
14,950,000 |
| 3rd |
Todd Saffron |
U.S.A. |
11,900,000 |
| 4th |
Nicholas Sena-Hopkins |
U.S.A. |
10,305,000 |
| 5th |
Zyad Qasem |
U.S.A. |
10,000,000 |
| 6th |
Patrick Pilko |
U.S.A. |
9,900,000 |
| 7th |
Brett Coltman |
U.S.A. |
9,300,000 |
| 8th |
Elias Neto |
Brazil |
9,200,000 |
| 9th |
Matthew Vaughan |
U.S.A. |
7,750,000 |
| 10th |
Richard Strainis |
U.S.A. |
6,650,000 |
Tag Team Event Sees 20 Duos Reach Final Day
Day 2 of the $1,000-entry Tag Team Event saw 183 play down to just 20 as the latest WSOP bracelet event worked its way to its final day. At the close of the action on Day 2, the chipleaders were Mackenzie Kraemer and Jon Schiller, who between them built a stack of 1,715,000 chips. That was some way clear of Adam Russell and Ryan O’Grady with 1,575,000 and Justin Barnum and DJ Buckley with 1,505,000.
While some teams such as Veronica Brill and K.L. Cleeton and Jerod Smith and Melissa Bryne both busted, others thrived, with perhaps the highest-profile pair left being Patrick Leonard and Espen Jørstad (1,060,000), with ‘Pads’ a hugely experienced player both live and online. Corey Paggeot and Jamie Kerstetter (700,000) made the final day but start in 12
th place of the 20 remaining teams, with the top prize of $148,067 on the line tomorrow.
| WSOP 2022 Event #55: $1,000 Tag Team Event Top 10 Chipcounts: |
| Position |
Player |
Chips |
Big Blinds |
| 1st |
Mackenzie Kraemer & Jon Schiller |
1,715,000 |
57 |
| 2nd |
Adam Russell & Ryan O'Grady |
1,575,000 |
53 |
| 3rd |
Justin Barnum & DJ Buckley |
1,505,000 |
50 |
| 4th |
Nick Yunis & Reynel Hernandez |
1,350,000 |
45 |
| 5th |
Franco Spitale & Martin Pochat |
1,270,000 |
42 |
| 6th |
Curtis Knight & Chris Barnes |
1,205,000 |
40 |
| 7th |
Patrick Leonard & Espen Jørstad |
1,060,000 |
35 |
| 8th |
Julian Rugna & Franco Gasparini |
1,020,000 |
34 |
| 9th |
Colin Robinson & Harry Lodge |
965,000 |
32 |
| 10th |
Jason Lipiner & Dekel Balas |
830,000 |
28 |
Engel and Lybaert in Top 10 of NLHE Deepstack
Just 560 players remained at the end of Day 1 of the $600-entry Deepstack Championship as no limit hold’em action finally saw the bubble burst late in the day after 17 levels of action. Event #57 on the schedule saw an amazing 4,913 entries fill seats in both Bally's and Paris ballrooms, to create a prize pool of just over $2.5 million.
With Bradley Miller the chip leader on 1,165,000 chips, everyone else will be chasing him down in a bid to win the $299,464 top prize, with Mark Olivo (1,052,000) and John Ypma (1,000,000) closest in pursuit. Well-known pros such as Jesse Engel (864,000) and Bart Lybaert (834,000) both survived, too.
With many big names such as four-time bracelet winner Jeremy Ausmus (502,000), popular American player Kelly Minkin (297,000), 2021 WSOP Main Event finalist Jack Oliver (115,000) and double WSOP bracelet winner Chris Moorman (96,000) all staying in the hunt, Day 2 will prove to be a pivotal day at the felt in this event.
| WSOP 2022 Event #57: $600 Deepstack NLHE Championship Top 10 Chipcounts: |
| Position |
Player |
Country |
Chips |
| 1st |
Bradley Miller |
U.S.A. |
1,165,000 |
| 2nd |
Mark Olivo |
U.S.A. |
1,052,000 |
| 3rd |
John Ypma |
U.S.A. |
1,000,000 |
| 4th |
Christopher Grim |
U.S.A. |
980,000 |
| 5th |
Yota Mitsui |
Japan |
918,000 |
| 6th |
Marc Tremblay |
Canada |
875,000 |
| 7th |
Justin Kushi |
U.S.A. |
872,000 |
| 8th |
Jesse Engel |
U.S.A. |
864,000 |
| 9th |
Uri Kadosh |
U.S.A. |
855,000 |
| 10th |
Bart Lybaert |
Belgium |
834,000 |
Justin Liberto Leads PLO Event #58
In a top 10 featuring nine Americans and one British player, Justin Liberto (791,000) leads the remaining 203 players in the $1,500-entry PLO Hi-Lo 8 or Better event. With a total field of 1,303 players, there are still seven players who will leave with nothing as the bubble will burst close to the start of Day 2 with just 196 players being paid.
With a prize pool of over $1.7 million, players will be fighting for a top prize of $289,610 in this event and Liberto’s closest challengers, Richard Crooks (675,000) and Jacob Ferro (639,000) will be keen as anyone to put their name at the top of the leaderboard as soon as possible. British star Richie Allen (425,000) is the only non-American in the top 10.
Elsewhere, players such as Connor Drinan (270,000), Jared Jaffee (251,000), Eoghan O’Dea (244,000) and Daniel Zack (178,000) all made the top 80.
| WSOP 2022 Event #58: $1,500 PLO Hi-Lo 8 or Better Top 10 Chipcounts: |
| Position |
Player |
Country |
Chips |
| 1st |
Justin Liberto |
U.S.A. |
791,000 |
| 2nd |
Richard Crooks |
U.S.A. |
675,000 |
| 3rd |
Jacob Ferro |
U.S.A. |
639,000 |
| 4th |
Peter Neff |
U.S.A. |
568,000 |
| 5th |
Michael Banducci |
U.S.A. |
555,000 |
| 6th |
Rodney Spriggs |
U.S.A. |
499,000 |
| 7th |
David Prociak |
U.S.A. |
432,000 |
| 8th |
Richie Allen |
United Kingdom |
425,000 |
| 9th |
Bradley Helm |
U.S.A. |
424,000 |
| 10th |
Corey Wade |
U.S.A. |
415,000 |
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