WSOP 2022: Pastore and Panagiotou Notch Bracelets, Alex Foxen Dominates Super High Roller

Some of the most high profile tourneys on the World Series of Poker docket were on display during Day 24 at Bally’s and Paris Casinos in Las Vegas, as the Seniors Championship and the $250,000 Super High Roller rolled on, while the first flight of the Colossus kicked off. Two more bracelets were awarded, and another two events were on the schedule for a jam-packed day of tournament action.

Frenchman Pastore Holds Off Song For First Bracelet

The final day of WSOP Event #46: $5,000 6-Handed No Limit Hold’em brought five players back, with Americans Stephen Song and Elio Fox looking to add to their bracelet totals, while Paraskevas Tsokaridis (Greece), Tamer Alkamli (Canada), and Jonathan Pastore (France) all trying to bring their inaugural bracelets back to their respective countries. In the end, Pastore was able to overcome Song’s overwhelming chip lead at the start of play to earn his first WSOP gold bracelet and $771,765, which is almost ten times his previously recorded top cash of $73,382.

Tsokaridis came into the day as the short stack, and he swiftly blinded down to just four big blinds before busting to Pastore. Fox followed just moments later, his no match for Song’s when the flop delivered Song trip fives. Pastore’s climb continued shortly after, taking a healthy chunk from Song before busting Alkamli in third.

Pastore began heads-up play with a slight chip lead over Song, and he was able to take a healthy swipe out of Song with a flush to gain a 2:1 lead early in the match. The final hand of the short heads-up battle saw Song three-bet a Pastore open to 2.1 million with the blinds at 150,000/300,000, and Pastore called to see a flop fall. Song bet 900,000 more, and Pastore stuck around to see the on the turn. Song fired 2.5 million, and Pastore called again. Song barrelled off for his last 4.275 million on the river, and Pastore held firm and called with . Song held a complete airball with , and Pastore earned the win and the bracelet with his nice call.

WSOP 2022 Event #46: $5,000 6-Handed NLHE Final Table Results

1. Jonathan Pastore – $771,765
2. Stephen Song – $476,990
3. Tamer Alkamli – $331,503
4. Elio Fox – $234,036
5. Paraskevas Tsokaridis – $167,882

Panagiotou Returns in Style to Earn Eight-Game Mix Gold

The final day of WSOP Event #48: $1,500 Eight Game Mix Six-Handed brought 16 players back to play down to a champion, and Cyprus native Menikos Panagiotou ended up overcoming a game Nick Yunis in heads-up play to earn his first WSOP bracelet in his first cash in an official WSOP bracelet event. Despite winning a WSOP HORSE Daily Deepstack on June 20th, Panagiotou’s last recorded Hendon Mob cash actually came all the way back in 2017. The lack of cashes didn’t deter Panagiotou from playing an aggressive game all day long, which solidified his run to WSOP gold.

Panagiotou started off the day with an elimination, knocking Noah Bronstein (16th – $8,935) in Limit Hold’em. Notables Hye Park (15th – $8,935), Richard Bai (12th – $8,935), and Adam Friedman (10th – $11,387) swiftly followed, and after the first break of the day, short-stacks Robert Campbell (9th – $14,831) and Dustin Dirksen (8th – $14,381) busted in quick succession to bring the field to a final table of seven.

Adam Demersseman started the final table with two big bets, and despite an early double, was the first player to bust. Jake Liebeskind would be left with crumbs shortly after when Jason Stockfish made a seven-high straight and a seven-low in Omaha 8 or Better, and busted soon after in Razz. Stockfish would gain no further momentum, however, and bricked a draw to an eight-perfect in 2-7 Triple Draw when Eric Buchman held a ninety-eight to bust in fifth. Buchman’s fortunes turned next after a rough run in Omaha 8 or Better and Razz to fall in fourth, and once Joon Park exited in third, Panagiotou and Yunis were neck and neck with plenty of chips to work with for what could’ve been a lengthy heads-up duel.

Yunis started out hot, getting a 3:1 chip lead in the early going, but Panagiotou clawed back in Razz before winning a few big pots in Stud 8 or Better to regain the lead. Razz would give Panagiotou almost all the chips in play after Panagiotou made a seven-low on seventh street, and Yunis would lose his last crumbs in PLO when Panagiotou flopped a wheel.

WSOP 2022 Event #48: $1,500 Eight-Game Mix 6-Handed Final Table Results

1. Menikos Panagiotou – $180,783
2. Nick Yunis – $111,724
3. Joon Park – $75,938
4. Eric Buchman – $52,621
5. Jason Stockfish – $37,188
6. Jake Liebeskind – $26,814
7. Adam Demersseman – $19,735

Foxen in Command of Super High Roller

With the addition of four players at the start of Day 2, 34 players returned for Day 2 of Event #50: $250,000 Super High Roller, and only eight will come back tomorrow for the final day of play, with Alex Foxen holding court with 24,150,000 chips, over a quarter of the remaining chips in play. The always talkative Martin Kabrhel and Chris Hunichen are the only other player over 40 big blinds, while Brandon Steven, Phil Ivey, Adrian Mateos, Dan Zack and Sam Soverel round out the remaining field.

Michael Moncek was one of the final four to enter, but his $250,000 investment was worth a negative $1 million an hour ROI, as he lasted just fifteen minutes. Bryn Kenney, who bagged a stack yesterday, actually busted quicker than that, and Justin Bonomo also got no traction going and exited early on Day 2. Daniel Negreanu then was busted when his tens couldn’t hang on against David Peters, and when he was rivered by a runner-runner flush, DNegs took his frustrations out on his vlog equipment, but not Peters, who actually was next to go:

Correct. Poor guy ran AA into AK 5 minutes later!

I never show anger and frustration at a player, just the run out

— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) June 25, 2022

Andrew Robl, Sean Winter, Kathy Lehne and Koray Aldemir would all bust before the final two tables, and Stanley Tang and Cary Katz busted shortly after to bring the field to 14. With just nine players reaching the money and an over $400,000 bubble, play slowed down as players jockeyed for a massive payday. Foxen managed to cooler Zack with his aces surviving against Zack’s Big Slick to leap him to the top of the counts, and from there he used his big stack to apply max pressure on Nick Petrangelo with . Petrangelo had raised the button with however, and called off his last 30 big blinds, but failed to find any help to bubble, and after the elimination of Henrik Hecklen (9th – $414,815), play concluded for the day.

WSOP 2022 Event #50: $250,000 Super High Roller Final Table Chip Counts

1. Alex Foxen – 24,150,000
2. Martin Kabrhel – 17,800,000
3. Chris Hunichen – 12,375,000
4. Brandon Steven – 7,850,000
5. Phil Ivey – 7,300,000
6. Adrian Mateos – 6,950,000
7. Dan Zack – 4,375,000
8. Sam Soverel – 3,200,000

Sarnoff Leads a Packed House on Day 2 of Seniors

A whopping 1,439 fifty-and-over poker players returned from a record-setting start field of 7,188 entrants for Day 2 of Event #47: $1,000 Seniors No Limit Hold’em Championship. The field was trimmed considerably after ten levels of play, and just 198 will return for Day 3 on Saturday. Ben Sarnoff is the only player over the 3 million chip mark, while WSOP bracelet winner Andres Korn also managed a top-10 stack by day’s end. Allyn Shulman (1,130,000), Victor Ramdin (1,004,000), Ken “Teach” Aldridge (965,000), Neil Blumenfield (650,000) and Kathy Liebert (635,000) all also managed to advance.

Once the bubble burst in Level 14, nearly 1,000 players were sent to collect a payday before play’s end. David “The Dragon” Pham (440th – $2,879), Kevin Song (485th – $2,697), Humberto Brenes (507th – $2,597), and Barry Greenstein (535th – $2,361) all were able to earn some cash, while defending champ Robert McMillan won’t be going back-to-back, as he was knocked out in 778th for $1,750.

WSOP 2022 Event #47: $1,000 Seniors NLHE Championship Top Ten Chip Counts

1. Ben Sarnoff – 3,155,000
2. Valerii Lubenets – 2,810,000
3. Jan Pettersson – 2,600,000
4. Mike Landers – 1,995,000
5. Patricia Devine – 1,935,000
6. James Clarke – 1,920,000
7. Keith Littlewood – 1,802,500
8. Jeffrey Sims – 1,725,000
9. Andres Korn – 1,710,000
10. Michael Campitelli – 1,650,000

Trio of Events Round Out Day 24

Event #49: $2,000 No Limit Hold’em brought 310 players back from a starting field of 1,977, and just 40 of them bagged a stack for Day 3. Brazilian Lucas Tabarin (4,240,000) takes the chip lead and the only 4 million+ stack to the final day, while Heidi May (2,500,000), Eddy Sabat (1,605,000), Nate Silver (1,385,000) and Faraz Jaka (770,000) headline those that managed to navigate the day.

297 of the 310 players who returned today were guaranteed a payday, and Damian Salas (51st – $10,830), Eric Baldwin (71st – $7,885), Connor Drinan (187th – $4,006) and Melanie Weisner (193rd – $4,006) were just some of those that managed to earn some cash.

WSOP 2022 Event #49: $2,000 NLHE Top Ten Chip Counts

1. Lucas Tabarin – 4,240,000
2. Jack Corrigan – 3,910,000
3. Ioannis Angelou Konstas – 3,751,000
4. Valdemar Kwaysser – 2,945,000
5. Adam Geyer – 2,745,000
6. Nathan Rao – 2,335,000
7. Kyle Montgomery – 2,175,000
8. Heidi May – 2,005,000
9. Tyler Cornell – 1,830,000
10. Evan Sandberg – 1,755,000

Meanwhile, Day 1a of Event #51: $400 Colossus pulled 5,881 entrants in to take their shot with big stacks for a cheap buy-in. 684 of those players would remain at the end of 17 levels of play, with Kao Saechao leading the field with 1,514,000 in the bag for Day 2. Mary Dvorkin is right on his heels with 1,388,000, while Marle Spragg managed to bag a more modest 236,000 in chips.

Former WSOP Main Event champ Greg Raymer couldn’t manage to surf through the colossal field to earn a bag or a cash, and William Lahti, Ryan Depaulo, Jeff Boski, JJ Liu, Shaun Deeb and Joe Cada would all join Raymer on the rail before the end of the day. One more flight remains for players looking to advance to Sunday’s Day 2 flight, so any of these players who bust have another chance to bag up a stack.

WSOP 2022 Event #51: $400 Colossus Top Ten Chip Counts

1. Kao Saechao – 1,514,000
2. Mary Dvorkin – 1,388,000
3. Brett Silverman – 903,000
4. Jason Kolpin – 875,000
5. Brian Weaver – 864,000
6. Mark Marcellus – 722,000
7. Roger Edelen – 710,000
8. Gabe Ramos – 670,000
9. Gabriel Andrade – 650,000
10. Joey Gargiulo – 598,000

And finally, Event #52: $2,500 Nine-Game Mix brought 456 players out for Day 1 action in an event that mirrors the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship in game selection. Schuyler Thornton clocks in with a narrow chip lead of 220,400 over mixed game specialist Nick Guagenti’s 209,200 stack, while David Williams (206,500), Chance Kornuth (176,400), defending champ Nicholas Julia (151,200) and Daniel Negreanu (125,600) all put a solid chunk of change in the bag for Day 2.

WSOP 2022 Event #52: $2,500 Nine-Game Mix Top Ten Chip Counts

1. Schuyler Thornton – 220,400
2. Nick Guagenti – 209,200
3. Scott Bohlman – 208,200
4. David Williams – 206,500
5. Dane Coltman – 200,400
6. Peter Ippolito – 183,900
7. Joey Couden – 182,600
8. Chance Kornuth – 176,400
9. Mike Gorodinsky – 158,400
10. Nicholas Julia – 151,200

The man behind the #POSITIVITY movement and the Chainsaw, together at last. At least until Hellmuth eliminated Kessler soon after this photo was taken.

Sat down next to THIS guy, hello “Chain Saw!” @AllenKessler pic.twitter.com/7y6NCrt3pc

— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) June 25, 2022

When you’re fighting for the WSOP Player of the Year, every tournament counts, but for Shaun Deeb, watching Dan Zack flip the God Mode switch has to be tilting.

This is what my life has become battling a losing battle for poy trying to mincash a 400$ mtt while @Dan__Zack just cruising along as cl on bubble of 250k

— shaun deeb (@shaundeeb) June 25, 2022

Jeremy Ausmus singing the praises of the Bally’s/Paris rooms during the WSOP:

3+ weeks into @WSOP and I have to say, the experience has significantly improved with the move to Paris and Ballys. Also……

-Much less 10 handed
-Better quality cards (don’t dent as easy)
-More staff at cages for quicker in/out
-Improved space/comfort

Well done ?? ?? ??

— Jeremy Ausmus (@jeremyausmus) June 25, 2022

Official photographs courtesy of PokerGO, the home of live-streamed action throughout the 2022 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.