A dramatic day at the World Series of Poker at Bally’s and Paris in Las Vegas saw Jeremy Ausmus, Christopher Chatman and Rob Wazwaz all win gold on Day 14 of the 2022 World Series of Poker. With a total of eight events taking place across both venues, it was one of the busiest days of the summer so far, with the $50,000-entry PLO High Roller event seeing the return of a poker legend to the felt.
Jeremy Ausmus Wins Limit Hold’em Gold
The final day of Event #23, the Limit Hold’em 6-Max event, was a dramatic one. Jeremy Ausmus was the eventual winner, taking home his fourth WSOP bracelet and third in the last year, but along the way, plenty of big names missed out on glory.
The final table was six-handed, but the final seven made the trip to the same table to compete for the bracelet. Shaun Deeb had already been eliminated by then, and Ausmus saw Gabe Ramos take out the only other man to have previously own a WSOP bracelet in Andrew Kelsall, as the latter’s 
couldn’t catch Ramos’ 
.
Out in fifth place was Mike Lancaster, whose 
was dominated by Ramos’ 
to see Lancaster crash out for $29,185. Some time later, Rocco took out Zachary Grech in fourth place for $41,191 when Grech’s was no match for the former chip leader’s 
, but by that point, Ausmus was in charge chips-wise and that continued when he took out Ramos in third place. Ausmus held 
and Ramos couldn’t catch up with his coolered 
.
A huge bluff with Rocco might have got through many others when heads-up reached its pivotal stage, but Ausmus called with a pair of fives on a board showing 
after his opponent had bet every street. Ausmus closed it out soon after for victory, leaving Rocco to take home the $87,854 runner-up prize and Ausmus to claim gold again at the WSOP.
WSOP 2022 Event #23 Limit Hold’em 6-Max Final Table Results:
- Jeremy Ausmus – $142,147
- Michael Rocco – $87,854
- Gabe Ramos – $59,486
- Zachary Grech – $41,191
- Mike Lancaster – $29,185
- Andrew Kelsall – $21,170
Chatman Takes Flip & Go Crown
Christopher Chatman won the $1,000-entry FLIP & GO event on Monday night for a score of $187,770 after a busy day at the felt. With nine players making the final table, it was Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow who busted first, his dominated by Pete Chen’s 
despite Matusow’s boast that he knew ‘the queen in coming’. It didn’t and he hit the rail for $17,010.
Next to go was Zach Cheatum, before Austin Apicella busted in sixth place. In fifth, Chen himself was on the rail after his was unable to overtake Chatman’s 
, a board of 
meaning Chen was drawing dead by the turn. In fourth place, Ian Steinman crashed out with a dominated king, before Tyler Willse busted in third for $85,420, his 
unable to hold against Chatman’s 
, two larger pairs than threes coming to counterfeit Willse’s hand and cruelly deny him a double up.
Heads-up, Chatman had 12 million, but Rafi Elharar had 13 million. That situation flipped on its head quickly, however, after both men hit top pair and Chatman had the better kicker. Soon after, it was all over as Chatman’s sailed home against Elharar’s , the board of 
giving Elharar hope of a flush on the turn but denying him the pay-off on the river.
WSOP 2022 Event #24 $1,000 FLIP & GO Final Table Results:
- Christopher Chatman – $187,770
- Rafi Elharar – $116,050
- Tyler Willse – $85,420
- Ian Steinman – $63,530
- Pete Chen – $47,760
- Austin Apicella – $36,290
- Zach Cheatum – $27,880
- Georgios Sotiropoulos – $21,660
- Mike Matusow – $17,010
Wazwaz Takes Deepstack Crown for Huge Top Prize
Event #25, the $800-entry Deepstack event was won for a first-time WSOP bracelet by Rob Wazwaz in the early hours of Tuesday morning. On what was a busy day, three figures of players played down to a winner as stars such as Melanie Weisner (101st) and Adam Levi (108th) both missed out on the latter stages of the event.
Once at the nine-handed final table, Israel’s Liran Betito was eliminated first, losing to Wazwaz’ aces as the eventual winner took an early command. After Frenchman Sebastian Clot busted in eighth place, it was a race to heads-up, with players such as Indian player Abhinav Iyer and overnight leader Maxine Duhamel losing their chips along the way.
Wazwaz did not have the lead going into heads-up, but an inspired call of Crow’s bluff once he took the lead sealed the win for the impressive Wazwaz, who with much less experience than many other players on the final day, managed to put in the performance of a lifetime to win a life-changing top prize of $358,346 and capture bracelet winning memories that will last forever.
WSOP 2022 Event #25 $800 NLHE Deepstack Final Table Results:
- Rob Wazwaz – $358,346
- Robert Crow – $221,399
- Terence Reid – $166,011
- Sean Legendre – $125,371
- Dov Markowic – $95,363
- Maxime Duhamel – $73,064
- Abhinav Iyer – $56,388
- Sebastien Clot – $43,839
- Liran Betito – $34,336
Monster Stack Day 3 Sees 39 Players Survive to Final Day
Just 39 of the 271 players who kicked off the penultimate day of action in the Monster Stack $1,500 buy-in event survived on a day of drama inside Bally’s. With Japanese player Yoshiya Agata (19,475,000) the chip leader, just 38 opponents stand between the overseas player and Japan’s first bracelet of the summer, with the top prize of $966,577 very much on all the remaining players’ minds.
From a total field of 6,051 entries, others to make the cut for the final day included Anthony Spinella (15,850,000) in the top ten, while other former bracelet winners Calvin Anderson (9,925,000), Joao Simao (4,900,000), and Justin Saliba (2,900,000) will all be dreaming of taking down the tournament and adding another bracelet to their trophy collections.
WSOP 2022 Event #21 $1,500 Monster Stack NLHE Top 10 Chipcounts:
- Yoshiya Agata – 19,475,000
- Frank Lagodich – 16,450,000
- Anthony Spinella – 15,850,000
- Andrej Senic – 15,375,000
- Francis Anderson – 15,300,000
- Jeremy Saderne – 14,400,000
- Ricardo Caridade – 14,000,000
- Max Steinberg – 12,875,000
- Alexios Zervos – 12,100,000
- Ricardo Eyzaguirre – 12,100,000
Eveslage Shoots for Second Bracelet This Summer
Chad Eveslage will attempt what no player has done so far this summer and become the only person to win two WSOP bracelets in 2022, as he chip leads Event #26, the $10,000-entry Limit Hold’em Championship final table. With 1,080,000 chips, Eveslage leads from both Matthew Schreiber (970,000) and Joey Coulden (830,000) who are his closest challengers.
In a rollercaoster day at the felt, many big names battled in vain to reach the 14 paid spots in the event, with Joao Vieira (38th), Anthony Zinno (35th), Dan Zack (32nd), Josh Arieh (31st), Yueqi Zhu (30th), Yuval Bronshtein (23rd), and Brian Rast (15th) all falling short.
It was Jesse Lonis who finished 14th for $16,920 before Matthew Rightnour (13th) and Marco Johnson (13th) both cashed for the same. Yi Klassen (11th) and Nick Pupillo (10th) both won $18,506 as they just missed out on making the final table.
WSOP 2022 Event #26 $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship Final Table Chipcounts:
- Chad Eveslage – 1,080,000
- Matthew Schreiber – 970,000
- Joey Couden – 830,000
- Kyle Dilschneider – 705,000
- Jonathan Cohen – 605,000
- Matt Woodward – 530,000
- Matthew Gonzales – 435,000
- David Litt – 190,000
- Amir Shayesteh – 175,000
Arieh and Seiver Both Chasing PLO High Roller Leader Jouhkimainen
The 2021 WSOP Player of the Year Josh Arieh and 2022 WSOP bracelet winner Scott Seiver both sit in third and fourth place in Event #28, the $50,000-entry PLO High Roller, with Finnish pro Joni Jouhkimainen leading the field.
With 106 entries whittled down to just 36 survivors, Jouhkimainen (2,935,000) leads from nearest rival Aaron Mermelstein (2,375,000) with Scott Seiver (1,835,000) and 2021 WSOP Player of the Year Josh Arieh (1,825,000) both right behind the top two. There is a massive $5 million prize pool in the event and $1.3 million up top.
Others to survive the day and reach the final three dozen with just 16 places paid included returning poker legend Jason Mercier (1,070,000), who took some time off in recent years to have a family with his wife Natasha. He has come back at the right time given his love of mixed games and is joined in the Day 2 seats draw by WSOP bracelet winners Chance Kornuth (895,000) and Ben Lamb (845,000) among others.
With so many players busting out, we lost some big names on Day 1, with bracelet winners Anthony Zinno, Jeremy Ausmus, Stephen Chidwick, Daniel Negreanu, Dan Zack, Shaun Deeb, Phil Ivey and Dylan Weisman all busting before the close of play.
WSOP 2022 Event #28 $50,000 PLO High Roller Top 10 Chipcounts:
- Joni Jouhkimainen – 2,935,000
- Aaron Mermelstein – 2,375,000
- Scott Seiver – 1,835,000
- Josh Arieh – 1,825,000
- Michael Heritsch – 1,795,000
- AP Garza – 1,390,000
- Aaron Katz – 1,250,000
- Manuel Stojanovic – 1,180,000
- Krasimir Yankov – 1,120,000
- Veselin Karakitukov – 1,110,000
Two More Events Close Out Marathon Day
In Event #27, the $1,500-entry Shootout event, there were soe terrific players who made it through the 1,000-strong field make the money and the last 100 places. Each 10-handed table played down to a winner who cashed and their number included stars of the felt such as Chris Moorman, Tom Schneider and Brian Yoon. Others to make the cut were Mustapha Kanit, Patrick Leonard, Maria Konnikova and the WSOP Main Event winner of 2016, Qui Nguyen.
Joining others players such as Kevin Song, Cole Ferraro, Alan Sternberg, Ben Keeline, Dalibor Dula and JJ Liu in the next round is Ukrainian pro and Eugene Katchalov, who told us earlier in the series of his journey from his war-torn home country to take on the best in Las Vegas to raise money for Ukrainian humanitarian charities.
Finally, Phil Hellmuth returned to action after a week-long COVID lay-off in Event #29, the $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Event, bagging over 120,000 chips on Day 1 of the vent he won last year. Of the 437 starters, 122 players were still in seats at the close of play, with Ian O’Hara (294,500) Brandon Shack-Harris (235,500) and Tom Schneider (207,500) all making the top 10 with O’Hara the chip leader.
Others to survive the day included Mike Matusow (149,500) and Chris Brewer (117,500), Greg Raymer (62,000), and Barry Greenstein (61,500). With over 300 players busting, some luminaries whose lights went out on Day 1 included Daniel Negreanu, Maria Ho, John Monnette, Galen Hall, Dylan Linde, Melanie Weisner and the 2021 Main Event winner Koray Aldemir.
WSOP 2022 Event #29 $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Top 10 Chipcounts:
- Ian O’Hara – 294,500
- Brandon Shack-Harris – 235,500
- Jon Kyte – 213,500
- Tom Schneider – 207,500
- Gabe Paul – 189,500
- Michael Lang – 185,000
- Ilkka Heikkila – 172,500
- Jonathan McGowan – 172,000
- Yosif Nawabi – 170,500
- Yanni Raz – 166,000
Building a stack in a World Series of Poker event is exciting in any event, but in the Monster Stack, it looks amazing!
Chipleader in the @WSOP Monster stack. pic.twitter.com/TCZsVFZDGL
— Max Steinberg (@MaxJSteinberg) June 13, 2022
A certain Rounds quote sprang to mind when considering the illness sweeping through sections of the WSOP.
listen…here’s the thing: if u can’t spot the player with covid within the first half hour at your table…#WSOP
— Matt ? (@Matt_Itkin_23) June 13, 2022
Finally, it’s great to see that the 16-time WSOP bracelet winner, Phil Hellmuth, return to action. The Brat is back…
End of Day 1 in @WSOP 2-7 No Limit Lowball Draw tourn: 437 started, 130 remain, 66 get paid. Ave stack is 80,000, I have 121,500. I am defending Champion!! Feels great to be back playing in WSOP, after one week off for Covid…Only played 4 tourneys, MISSED PLAYING! #POSITIVITY pic.twitter.com/oAL4N4qv4v
— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) June 14, 2022
Official photographs courtesy of PokerGO, the home of live-streamed action throughout the 2022 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.
