It’s closing time for poker players at the World Series of Poker, as the final two open gold bracelet events at Bally’s Casino in Las Vegas came to a conclusion today. One final event kicked off today; the exclusive Tournament of Champions with a guaranteed million-dollar prize pool for anyone who earned one of the 88 WSOP gold bracelets handed out during this year’s series, as well as WSOP Circuit ring winners, both virtual and live, from the 2022 WSOPC series.
Jensen Hedges His Bets to Earn $10k Six-Max Gold
Gregory Jensen, a hedge fund trader from Connecticut, returned to the final table of Event #86: $10,000 6-Max No Limit Hold’em Championship in second chip position, but went on a massive heater during today’s final day of play to earn his first WSOP bracelet and $824,649. This concludes a huge summer for Jensen, who came into the 2022 WSOP with just $18,094 in career Hendon Mob earnings before notching a fourth-place finish in Event #42: $100,000 No Limit Hold’em High Roller for $571,896, prior to this victory.
The final six players had already locked up $117,819 before play began on the day, and it didn’t take long for the first player to fall. Brock Wilson’s run was first to end, as he got his last 7.5 big blinds in good with 
against the 
of Jensen. Jensen got no help on the flop, and while he picked up a gutshot on the turn, the 
river was enough to send Wilson, who notched his eighth cash of the summer in this event, out in sixth place. Barak Wisbrod followed Wilson out a short time later after losing a flip to Ali Eslami, and that would be the last elimination at the final table that wasn’t caused by Jensen.
Eslami, who already earned his first WSOP bracelet earlier in the series in Event #36: $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better, found himself in what looked to be a favorable spot against Jensen one level later, as he flopped bottom set with 
on a 
flop. Eslami ended up getting his big stack of over forty-five big blinds in against Jensen, but was coolered by Jensen’s 
for top set. No miracle three fell on the turn or river, and Eslami went from jockeying for the chip lead to out in fourth, surely to the delight of short stack Lucas Foster, who earned a six-figure ladder thanks to the brutal set-over-set scenario.
Foster would succumb shortly after when his 
took a bad beat when Jensen’s rivered a wheel, leaving Pavel Plesuv heads up and at a 3:1 disadvantage against Jensen. Plesuv managed to get the stacks to nearly even before the final confrontation, which saw Jensen jam preflop with 
and Plesuv call it off with 
. Jensen found a pair on the 
flop to take a big lead, and despite Plesuv picking up a few outs on the 
turn with a gutshot, Jensen’s sunrun would not be denied when the fell on the river to send the 6-Max Championship bracelet back to Connecticut.
WSOP 2022: Event #86: $10,000 6-Max NLHE Championship Final Table Payouts
- Gregory Jensen – $824,649
- Pavel Plesuv – $509,674
- Lucas Foster – $341,902
- Ali Eslami – $234,396
- Barak Wisbrod – $164,304
- Brock Wilson – $117,819
Nguyen Closes out The Closer With Maiden Bracelet
An extra day of play was needed to conclude Event #85: $1,500 The Closer, with 17 players returning to decide the fate of one of the final WSOP bracelets to be awarded in the 2022 WSOP. Minh Nguyen started the day as chip leader, and ran into little trouble on the way to earning his first career WSOP gold bracelet and $536,280, despite a late rally by eventual runner-up Ahmed Karrim.
Tigran Gasparyan started the day near the bottom of the counts, and would only play one hand before busting out in 17th for $25,480. Before the official final table was reached, Triple Crown winner Chris Moorman (14th – $25,480) and Canada’s Vincent Lam (10th – $40,020) were among those to fall by the wayside.
With the average stack at the start of the final table sitting just a hair above 20 big blinds, it didn’t take long for the numbers to thin out, as Zach Johnson and Rudy Cervantes found themselves out in the same hand, courtesy of Michael Liang. Two levels ticked by before Samuel Brown jammed 
for his last 11 big blinds, only to run into the of Madelyn Carr to fall in seventh. After Daniel Tabello busted in sixth, Manuel Herrera Garcia was next to go, first losing with 
against the 
of Liang, then shortly after losing with 
against the 
of Nguyen to bust.
Another double elimination brought the field down to the final two, as Carr jammed her last few big blinds with 
and Liang ended up committed for slightly more with . Nguyen had them both at risk with 
, and despite the 
flop giving Carr the lead, the turn gave Nguyen trips, and a safe 
river left Nguyen with just a slightly chip disadvantage against his heads-up opponent Karrim. The final hand of the tournament saw Karrim commit his stack with a pair and an open-ended straight draw on the turn, but he was drawing dead against the made nut straight of Nguyen, securing Nguyen’s first WSOP gold bracelet with zero drama going to the river.
WSOP 2022: Event #85: $1,500 The Closer Final Table Results
- Minh Nguyen – $536,280
- Ahmed Karrim – $331,470
- Michael Liang – $247,890
- Madelyn Carr – $186,770
- Manuel Herrera Garcia – $141,770
- Daniel Tabello – $108,420
- Samuel Brown – $83,540
- Rudy Cervantes – $64,870
- Zach Johnson – $59,759
Cowen Leads Talent-Laden Field in TOC
A wealth of poker talent took the opportunity to leap into the final event of the WSOP, the invitation-only Tournament of Champions, with a total of 463 eligible players taking part in the million-dollar freeroll freezeout. Ten one-hour levels trimmed the field down to 144 players by day’s end, with registration still open until the start of Day 2 Tuesday at 11 a.m. local time. The UK’s Robert Cohen, who notched his second career WSOP bracelet during this year’s series in Event #28: $50,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller, leads the field with an impressive bag of 428,000, good for 214 blinds when play resumes tomorrow.
Ali Eslami leapt into the fray immediately after busting in fourth in the $10k 6-Max Championship, and he kept the heat on with a healthy 305,000 chip bag. Other notable players who will return to Day 2 include Daniel Strelitz (235,000), former WSOP Main Event champs Joe McKeehen (125,000) and Joe Cada (95,500), newly-minted 2022 WSOP POY Dan Zack (100,500), and Ari Engel (19,500).
Embattled poker pro Jake Schindler snuck in late to try and spin up a stack, but to the sure delight of many, the $50k High Roller bracelet winner’s WSOP came to an end after losing a late-night flip against Michael Bohmerwald. Other players who won’t be returning to claim the final bracelet of the 2022 WSOP include Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin, La Sengphet, Adam Friedman, David Peters, Ethan “RampagePoker” Yau and Eli Elezra.
WSOP 2022 Tournament of Champions Top Ten Chip Counts
- Robert Cohen – 428,000
- Ali Eslami – 305,000
- Daniel Sepiol – 285,000
- Aleksejs Ponakovs – 247,500
- Zachary Seymour – 241,000
- Daniel Strelitz – 235,000
- Cheryl Svenson – 221,500
- Carlos Loving – 203,000
- Fred Li – 183,500
- Erik Bauer – 183,000
Daniel Negreanu pumped out a ton of content during this year’s WSOP, and he shared his last hurrah with fans today:
Day 48 Vlog is LIVE in 25 minutes…The final Vlog of the WSOP is here and I try to make it a memorable one with a deep run in the last event. Thanks for all the support this year!https://t.co/St9PeS4xEh
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) July 18, 2022
What a difference a year makes for Francis Anderson!
My WSOP 2022 has came to an end and it was an amazing one! I entered this WSOP on the biggest downswing of my life. I was fortunate enough to hit my biggest score ever as well. What a difference a year makes ?
My WSOP 2021:
3 for 73 -$64,138My WSOP 2022:
16 for 47 +$461,039— Francis Anderson (@FrancisPoker123) July 18, 2022
Erik Seidel ends his summer by avoiding the doghouse with his backer:
The scary part of having a bad WSOP was thinking my backer was going to drop me. Since I’m married to her, things could’ve gotten very awkward
— Erik Seidel (@Erik_Seidel) July 18, 2022
Official photographs courtesy of PokerGO, the home of live-streamed action throughout the 2022 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.
