Henry Acain won the $500-entry The Housewarming event on Tuesday night as he overcome the final table to turn his entry into a $701,215 windfall that represents the biggest result of his poker career. With a final table that only contained one former WSOP bracelet winner, Jordan Hufty, he crashed out in seventh place as half a dozen potential first-timers played down to a winner.
The final table saw 10 players gather to play down to a winner, and after Yavine Brewer left in 10th place for $54,705, the eliminations came thick and fast. Acain began his assault on the summit as his 
triumphed to knockout Isidro Martinez in ninth for $69,235, whose 
were no match for the chip leader who was piling up a big lead. Erik Carvalho was soon on the rail too, his short stack shove with 
crushed by Orez Mokedi’s 
for $88,214.
Hufty made his bow in a cooler as his 
was shot down by former Day 2 chip leader Christian Taylor’s 
, with the only remaining bracelet winner in the field cashing for $113,145 in seventh place. With Darnell White (6th for $146,080) and Jen-Yue Chiang (5th for $189,850) both crashing out too, the elimination of Orez Mokedi in fourth place for $248,340 came when his pocket sixes couldn’t hold against Christian Taylor’s ace-eight, a board of 
giving the latter an unassailable full house on the river.
Three-handed play started with both Taylor and Acain tight at the top, with the former in a marginal lead, but that changed very quickly as Acain took charge, doubling through Taylor with 
triumphing against 
to take a huge lead. Taylor was out moments later for $326,965, but Acain’s lead was huge and heads-up he had a better than 3:1 chip advantage.
One double up followed, but Jared Kingery couldn’t repeat the trick as an incredible last hand ended the event in Acain’s favor. Kingery was in the best shape he could be pre-flop when the chips went in with him holding . But although Acain started behind with 
, he four-flushed when the board came 
. Kingery cashed for $433,255 in second place, but it was Acain who won the $701,215 top prize and the biggest result by far of his poker career, along with his first bracelet.
WSOP 2022 Event #5 $500 The Housewarming Final Table Results:
- Henry Acain – $701,215
- Jared Kingery – $433,255
- Christian Taylor – $326,965
- Orez Mokedi – $248,340
- Jen-Yue Chiang – $189,850
- Darnell White – $146,080
- Jordan Hufty – $113,145
- Erik Carvalho – $88,214
- Isidro Martinez – $69,235
- Yavine Brewer – $54,705
Schutten Leads $50,000 High Roller with Six Remaining
Brek Schutten leads the final six players in the $50,000-entry High Roller event with over 10 million chips. Closest behind him is Thailand-born Punnat Punsri, but he has just 7.1 million by comparison.
With players such as Jake Schindler (4.65m), Shannon Shorr (3.65m) and David Peters (3.4m) a little further back, it is Andrew ‘LuckyChewy’ Lichtenberger who will take a short stack of 1.32m into the final day shooting for the $1.3 million top prize.
Across the day, there were plenty of appearances from poker’s legends, including Phil Ivey who registered at the start of Day 2 only to bust to the eventual monster chip leader Schutten. World champion Koray Aldemir was busted by Jake Schindler, who at one point looked like he might lead into the final day, but a late rush from Schutten saw him bust Sean Winter on his way to a mammoth overnight lead. With others such as overnight chip leader Dan Smith also departing, it will be a fascinating play down to a winner on Wednesday night.
WSOP 2022 Event #12 $50,000 High Roller Top 10 Chipcounts:
- Brek Schutten – 10,125,000
- Punnat Punsri – 7,150,000
- Jake Schindler – 4,650,000
- Shannon Shorr – 3,650,000
- David Peters – 3,425,000
- Andrew Lichtenberger – 1,325,000
Bracelet on Hold in Dealer’s Choice
Two players remained when play ceased for the night in the $10,000-entry Dealer’s Choice Event #10. With the elimination of Brian Rast in third place, both Mike Gorodinsky (1.6million) and Ben Diebold (5.7m) agreed to close out the event tomorrow after a night’s rest. It’s an interesting dynamic to return to, with the top prize of $299,488 on the line and neither man wishing to win the $185,095 runner-up prize.
Diebold has the chip lead, but has never won a bracelet, while Gorodinsky is going for his third win in the World Series. Others to cash in the top 10 of this event included Felipe Ramos (10th for $25,522), Jeff Madsen (8th for $32,608) and overnight chip leader Randy Ohel (6th for $55,329) and the aforementioned Rast, who cashed for $134,370 in third place after a very solid start to his summer.
WSOP 2022 Event #10 $10,000 Dealer’s Choice Final Table Results:
- TBC – $299,488
- TBC – $185,095
- Brian Rast – $134,370
- Christopher Claassen – $98,738
- Naoya Kihara – $73,453
- Randy Ohel – $55,329
- Anatolii Zyrin – $42,205
- Jeff Madsen – $32,608
- Greg Mueller – $32,608
- Felipe Ramos – $25,522
Vohra Claims First-Ever Bracelet, Denies Qing Liu Same Honor
The $600-entry NLHE Deepstack Event #11 saw 5,720 finally whittled down to a winner as Raj Vohra won his first-ever WSOP bracelet and an incredible top prize of $335,286. In doing so, Vohra denied Qing Liu that great achievement in the process.
The final table began with none of the nine players holding a previous victory on the WSOP, with Vohra taking control of the table when he eliminated the longest-lasting female player, Nicole Limo Greene in fourth place for $116,568. Greene was all-in from the cutoff with 
for her final 15 big blinds and Vohra called it off from the big blind with 
and Greene couldn’t catch him to give the eventual winner a vital pot.
Chips flew around the three remaining men but it was Hung Tran who busted in third place for $154,831 when his straight couldn’t top Liu’s flush. That pot gave Liu the lead with 103 million chips to Vohra’s 68.3 million, but the situation was flipped on its head soon into heads up after a hand that never got past the flop and minutes later, Liu was all-in with 
needing to hold to save his tournament life against Vohra’s .
The flop of 
was safe for Liu, but as Vohra’s rail chanted ‘Ace form space!’ over and over, it came true, and the landed on the turn. When the landed on the river, Vohra’s rail exploded with joy as Liu grimaced and shook his opponent’s hand inside Bally’s in Las Vegas.
WSOP 2022 Event #11 $600 NLHE Deepstack Final Table Results:
- Raj Vohra – $335,286
- Qing Liu – $207,192
- Hung Tran – $154,831
- Nicole Limo Greene – $116,568
- Michael Lin – $88,417
- Junxiu Zhang – $67,572
- Ralph Marquez – $52,035
- Stanislav Snitsar – $40,378
- Renaud Cellini – $31,574
Limit Action Sees Last Year’s Champion Fall
A busy day of Limit Hold’em action in Event #13 saw just 79 of the 160 Day 2 players survive as Christoph Kwon topped the lot with a chip stack of 1,695,000 chips, ahead of closest overnight rivals Lee Markholt (1,405,000) and Nick Pupillo (1,340,000), with former WSOP Main Event winner Joe McKeehen (1,195,000) not far behind.
With a prize pool of $696,000, players such as Jesse Lonis, defending event winner Yuval Bronshtein and Kevin Erickson busted out, along with others such as Brandon Shack-Harris and Anthony Zinno, both of whom made the top 50.
WSOP 2022 Event #13 $1,500 Limit Hold’em Top 10 Chipcounts:
- Christoph Kwon – 1,695,000
- Lee Markholt – 1,405,000
- Nick Pupillo – 1,340,000
- Joe McKeehen – 1,195,000
- Steven Wolansky – 1,180,000
- Pedro Rios – 985,000
- Ben Ross – 965,000
- Kenny Hsiung – 835,000
- Yueqi Zhu – 785,000
- Fred Lavassani – 710,000
Two Other Bracelet Events Reach End of Play
With two other events in the can, there were strong performances from Shankar Pillai (849,000) and Joe Cada (846,000) in the $1,500-entry Event #14, the NLHE Six-Max WSOP bracelet event. A total of just 160 players made it through the day which featured 2,393 entries and piled up a prize pool of $3.1 million.
With strong showings from chip leader Fabrice Bigot (1,076,000) among others such as Anson Tsang (758,000) and Shawn Daniels (732,000), there were some big names who made the next day, but plenty more who didn’t. Previous WSOP bracelet winners Daniel Lazrus, Cord Garcia, Dylan Linde, and Lara Eisenberg were among those who fell on Day 1.
WSOP 2022 Event #14 $1,500 NLHE 6-Max Top 10 Chipcounts:
- Fabrice Bigot – 1,076,000
- Tianyi Mu – 883,000
- Shankar Pillai – 849,000
- Joe Cada – 846,000
- Giuseppe Pizzolato – 802,000
- Derek Sudell – 783,000
- Blaise Hom – 782,000
- Anson Tsang – 758,000
- Leo Soma – 754,000
- Javier Garcirreynaldos – 750,000
Chip leader Bryce Yockey (398,000) and Alex Livingston (240,000) both thrived in the $10k Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship, with the latter aiming for the second bracelet of this year’s WSOP. With others to make the top 10 including Perry Friedman (214,000) and Kosei Ichinose (209,000), there were also chips to put in bags for Mike Matusow (175,000), Scott Clements (158,000), Randy Ohel (145,000) and John Racener (136,000).
A lot of big players busted across the day, with Todd Brunson, Richard Ashby, Eli Elezra, Steve Zolotow, Brian Hastings, Robert Campbell, Amnon Filippi, Nick Guagenti and defending champion Ari Engel all hitting the rail.
WSOP 2022 Event #15 $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Top 10 Chipcounts:
- Bryce Yockey – 398,000
- Ray Dehkharghani – 350,000
- Jesse Klein – 333,000
- Bart O’Connell – 295,000
- Aditya Prasetyo – 248,000
- Alex Livingston – 240,000
- John Esposito – 240,000
- Perry Friedman – 214,000
- David Prociak – 214,000
- Kosei Ichinose – 209,000
Double WSOP bracelet winner Barny Boatman bemoaned his luck in the $600 Deepstack when compared to his Vegas housemates.
I’m not saying I had a distressingly short day two in the 600 deepstack, but some of the guys in our house played more tournaments today than I played hands.
— Barny Boatman (@barnyboatman) June 8, 2022
‘Boston Rob’ Mariano was all too happy to congratulate his buddy Josh Arieh in yesterday’s 8-Max High Roller. Perhaps even happier than the man himself.
All of all the ones that aren’t busy celebrating winning 600k Look at the joy on this guys face! pic.twitter.com/ImfKn0g7Or
— Boston Rob (@BostonRob) June 7, 2022
There was bad news for Poker Brat fans as Phil Hellmuth announced that he’ll be out of action for more time this World Series.
Just tested positive for Covid. Thought maybe I was immune (neither of my sons got it, nor did my Mom)…Good news: no cough. Not hungry all day! Mind is a little foggy as I slept “17 awful hours.” I feel like my best chance for a bracelet was todays @WSOP $10,000 Omaha 8/B, sigh pic.twitter.com/nAe2WSf4H8
— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) June 8, 2022
Finally, Kid Poker referenced a certain 80’s TV show in declaring poker’s recent controversies may have led to it peaking.
Frog poison.
Nipple massages.
We have officially jumped the shark pic.twitter.com/M1bGliUJ1O
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) June 7, 2022
Official photographs courtesy of PokerGO, the home of live-streamed action throughout the 2022 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.
