With seven events taking place on Day 32 of the 2022 World Series of Poker, three bracelets were won by players taking on No Limit and Pot Limit Omaha events. With the action fast and friendly at both Bally’s and Paris casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, there was no end of excitement for poker players and fans alike.
With seven events taking place on Day 32 of the 2022 World Series of Poker, three bracelets were won by players taking on No Limit and Pot Limit Omaha events, including Poker Hall of Famer Eli Elezra, who won his fifth WSOP gold bracelet for $611,362. With the action fast and friendly at both Bally’s and Paris casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, there was no end of excitement for poker players and fans alike.
Elezra Wins Record-Breaking Fifth WSOP Bracelet
Poker Hall of Famer Eli Elezra battled to a fifth WSOP bracelet win on his wedding anniversary as the Israeli professional beat overnight chip leader Chino Rheem heads up for the title. With a bumper day of action, 20 players returned to the felt, playing all the way to a winner at Bally’s.
Last year’s event winner Josh Arieh started the day as one of the shortest stacks, planted firmly in the bottom half of the chipcounts, but he bounced off the canvas to survive the early levels with elan. Instead, others fell away from prominent positions, such as the 2022 bracelet winner Amnon Filippi, whose plummet to elimination in 15th typified the variance PLO8 provides players and fans with at all times.
By the time the final table of nine was reached, Arieh was again short-stack, but he outlasted two more players before busting in seventh as his stoic defense of the title that helped him become 2021 WSOP Player of the Year was finally ended.
The play raced to a conclusion with Elezra in command after busting Filippos Stavrakis in sixth place, and eventually, he saw off the challenge of Welsh 2022 bracelet winner Robert Cowen in third place and then Rheem heads-up as the Israeli claimed gold yet again. Going into the heads-up match, just a million chips separated the two men, but Elezra’s experience in WSOP heads-up matches is priceless and he utilized it yet again to make sure he added to his legacy.
Rheem, so often a final table finisher in WSOP events, saw his eighth visit to the last table in a WSOP tournament end without claiming the bracelet. He’s never been closer to ending his personal hoodoo than this and it must surely be a matter of time before that drought is over.
WSOP 2022 Event #63 $10,000 PLO Hi-Lo 8 or Better Final Table Results:
- Eli Elezra – $611,362
- Chino Rheem – $377,855
- Robert Cowen – $271,219
- Damjan Radanov – $197,637
- Ken Aldridge – $146,242
- Filippos Stavrakis – $109,910
- Josh Arieh – $83,920
- Charles Coultas – $65,113
- Seungjin Lee – $51,353
Eskandari Wins Super Seniors Event in Thrilling Finale
Five players returned to action in the $1,000-entry Super Seniors event, as Massoud Eskandari won Event #59 for a bumper top prize of $330,609. As play kicked off, Eskandari led from Jennifer Gianera and those two players would return for a fantastic final battle for the bracelet.
The eliminations began early, with Peter Mylenki skittled almost as soon as he sat down. All-in with 
, he was in massive trouble when James Jewell called with 
and after the board came 
, the field was reduced to four.
Sharri Crawford cashed for $113,755 when she busted in fourth place, losing her stack to Eskandari when her 
lost out to 
after a board of 
saw her bust out before the podium places. By that point, Jennifer Gianera had started her own march up the leaderboard, and was the chip leader with three remaining.
The next player to go only bolstered Gianera’s stack after a period of chip-swapping saw all three players grab the momentum at the table before Jewell left it in third for $151,882. He lost a lot of his chips to Gianera before busting to Eskandari, his 
no match for the overnight leader’s 
. A board of 
saw Eskandari grow his stack to 12.5 million, but he was some way behind Gianera with 40 million.
Heads-up, a crucial double-up gave Eskandari a way back into the match when his 
remained ahead when all the chips went in on a flop of with Gianera holding 
. The turn of a 
and river didn’t help Gianera and the only chance she would have to win the tournament with the chips in the middle faded away. Eskandari moved into the lead and with a flop of 
on display, Gianera got it all-in with 
. Eskandari called with 
and both his pair of kings and blocker to the flush helped him as the board ran out with a 
[ turn and river to proclaim him the champion.
WSOP 2022 Event #59 $1,000 Super Seniors Final Table Results:
- Massoud Eskandari – $330,609
- Jennifer Gianera – $204,293
- James Jewell – $151,882
- Sharri Crawford – $113,755
- Peter Mylenki -$85,940
Konstantin Angelov Wins PLO Deepstack for $200k
The next bracelet event to conclude was Event #64, the PLO Deepstack event, which saw Konstantin Angelov capture his first gold bracelet in the PLO Deepstack event. While the final table was filled with players who were yet to win a bracelet, the outer limits of a day that started with 102 players were packed were stars.
Popular triple PPC champion Michael Mizrachi was eliminated, as were five-time WSOP bracelet winner Shaun Deeb and the 2021 world champion Koray Aldemir. All that meant that by the time the final nine assembled under the lights to play for the bracelet, everyone was looking to become a first-time winner.
Despite the lack of previous WSOP success, there were some big names at the final table, but among them, overnight chip leader Guillaume Soumier busted in fourth place for $69,501 while popular Brazilian poker professional Vivian Saliba slid out in fifth for $52,795.
Angelov’s domination of the action was timed to perfection as he busted Igor Ioffe in third place to give himself the chip lead before swiftly taking care of Gregg Merkow in second, meaning the top prize of just under $200,000 went to the brilliantly aggressive player Angelov, along with the precious gold.
WSOP 2022 Event #64 $600 PLO Deepstack Final Table Results:
- Konstantin Angelov – $199,466
- Gregg Merkow – $123,251
- Igor Ioffe – $92,200
- Guillaume Soumier – $69,501
- Vivian Saliba – $52,795
- Philippe Pelluault – $40,417
- Benjamin Miner – $31,184
- Rafael Mota – $24,250
- Christopher Keller – $19,009
Ladies Event Down to Final Eight
Event #61, the $1,000-entry Ladies Event saw a Day 3 field of 42 players battle down to the eight-handed final table. Overnight leader Cherish Andrews was one of two former Day leaders who busted on the day, following Day 1 chip leader Sharma Gargee’s elimination early on.
Andrews would last a lot longer, having come into play with a big lead, but eventually, she busted in ninth place to set the chips in place for the eight finalists. Andrews was extremely unlucky to go out with pocket kings to pocket jacks, but the winner of the hand Lynh Nguyen won’t have cared a jot.
Nguyen leads the final eight with a stack of 3,870,000. That is marginally more than Christian Gollins, who will be looking to win her first-ever gold bracelet – a situation shared by every other player at the felt – while Julie Le (3,100,000) and Meikat Su (3,020,000) are a little further back.
With Felisa Westermann (2,910,000), Sandy Tran (2,555,000), Jessica Teusl (985,000) and Natalie Hof Ramos (965,000) all still in contention, both short stacks will be looking to spin as they start play with juts under 10 big blinds.
WSOP 2022 Event #61 $1,000 Ladies Event Final Table Chipcounts:
- Lynh Nguyen – 3,870,000
- Christina Gollins – 3,845,000
- Julie Le – 3,100,000
- Meikat Siu – 3,020,000
- Felisa Westermann – 2,910,000
- Sandy Tran – 2,555,000
- Jessica Teusl – 985,000
- Natalie Hof Ramos – 965,000
Phil Hellmuth on Course for Bracelet #17, Two More Events Close with Drama
In a busy end to Day 32 of the 2022 WSOP, three more events ended play for the night, with 16-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth thriving. The Poker Brat bagged up a top five stack of just under 3.3 million chips in Event #65, the $3,000 NLHE Freezeut event which is led by Keiji Ito with 6.3 million.
Others who will resume play on the next day with just 26 players still in seats include Neel Joshi (2,215,000), Julien Martini (1,825,000) and Anton Wigg (1,230,000) with Romain Lewis, Tom Middleton, Michael Gathy and Alex Lindop all busting from the 226 players who started the day.
WSOP 2022 Event #65 $3,000 NLHE Freezeout Top 10 Chipcounts:
- Keiji Ito – 6,360,000
- Richard Scardina – 4,835,000
- David Jackson – 4,700,000
- Jeffrey Lo – 4,585,000
- Phil Hellmuth – 3,290,000
- Timothy Sullivan – 2,615,000
- Neel Joshi – 2,215,000
- Samy Dubonnet – 2,045,000
- Chad Brewer – 1,975,000
- Onur Unsal – 1,875,000
In the $1,000-entry Mini Main Event, a phenomenal field of 5,833 entries took part at both Bally’s and Paris casinos as one of the busiest Day 1s of the 2022 World Series so far saw a registration line that 2021 WSOP Player of the Year Josh Arieh called ‘the longest I’ve seen in 20 years’ along the way.
That line put no-one off entering somehow, with just under 500 survivors featuring strong showings from players such as Jake Bluston (2,825,000), Jake Schwartz (2,275,000), James Calderaro (1,800,000), Leo Soma (1,175,000), Ivan Zufic (920,000), Shaun Deeb (700,000), Kathy Liebert (585,000), Joao Simao (525,000), and Jeff Madsen (510,000).
The penultimate day of the $1,000 buy-in Super Turbo Bounty Event #67 saw six players still in seats by the close of play, with Argentinian player Nacho Barbero (12,225,000) with a massive lead at the close of play. Ilya Nikiforov (4,875,000) is his closest challenger, while Rob Hollink (3,250,000) and Andrew Lichtenberger (2,500,000) will both be hoping to win their second braclert in tomorrow’s final. Potential debut winners Maria Ho (1,875,000 – nine big blinds) and Fabiano Kovalski (425,000 – two big blinds) have it all to do to capture the top prize of $587,520.
Daniel Negreanu revealed that the reason he continues with the WSOP video blogs is for fans like this.
It’s stories like this that make doing the VLOG worth it. pic.twitter.com/rOzX2Bltj5
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) July 1, 2022
Phil Hellmuth found a new fan…
How long before the whale with the hat blows up? pic.twitter.com/5EVSIKJ1AL
— Pav (@ALLinPav) July 2, 2022
….while the man himself was delighted with making the money in the $3,000 NLHE Event. Well, sort of.
In the money in @WSOP $3,000 No Limit Hold’em: 198 players left. Blinds 5,000 – 10,000, I have 407,000. Was able to get workout (cardio only) and @Breinfuel Follow “Live Updates” here: #POSITIVITY https://t.co/iTKEGvjy2z pic.twitter.com/xnbjHgTg6z
— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) July 1, 2022
Phil Galfond pointed out a startling fact about Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates’ PPC win as the Run It Once teammates continued the banter.
If nobody is going to point out the elephant in the room to @junglemandan, I suppose I will have to:
I didn’t play in the last two $50k PPC events.
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) July 1, 2022
Jesse Sylvia took time out from crushing to imagine the WSOP in several decades time.
The year is 2056.
Wsop has been moved from the flamingo to imperial palace 2.
Everyone’s excited for the 35 dodgecoin opening event.
The shiny new robot dealers are having trouble making change out of the pot. @subiime is still using the credit card option to pay
— Jesse Sylvia (@MrJesseJames4) June 30, 2022
Finally, if there are any 10/10 tweets we can get on with… it’s only poker-related ones.
She's AT but types it A10.
— Fintan Hand (@EasyWithAces) July 1, 2022
Official photographs courtesy of PokerGO, the home of live-streamed action throughout the 2022 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.
