With the Main Event now underway at the World Series of Poker, rounders from around the world are playing for the dream of winning the biggest event in poker.
As the action continues, several international players have scored some nice finishes in recent days. That included Team PartyPoker’s Patrick Leonard (pictured in lead image with tag team partner Espen Jørstad) grabbing his first bracelet.
Another PartyPoker ambassador, Yuri Dzivielevski, came just short of a bracelet as well. 888poker’s Vivian Saliba also found a nice finish in recent days. Here’s a look at some of the recent action from Las Vegas.
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Event 51: $400 Colossus
A huge field turned out for this tournament again with 13,565 entries, building a $4.5 million prize pool. Paul Hizer, of London, England, took the bracelet for his first live poker tournament victory and the $414,490 top prize.
“Played many tournaments, had lots of deep runs,” he said afterward. “But I’ve never actually won a tournament outright. I don’t know if many people know that about me. I’m sure my close friends do.
“Maybe today was just written in the stars and I was meant to go all the way. I felt really confident, I felt like I had a really good game plan, and I’m just really thankful that it worked out.”
Hizer trailed Sam Laskowitz when heads-up play began, but he was able to complete the comeback. Laskowitz added a $256,170 payday for runner-up. France’s Jordan Pelon finished third for $193,240.
Event 55: $1,000 Tag Team
The tag team event has become a popular WSOP tournament each year with plenty of excitement. That continued this year and the United Kingdom’s Patrick Leonard and Norway’s Espen Jørstad came out on top.
The pair earned a total of $74,042 each for their efforts. A member of Team PartyPoker, Leonard won his first WSOP bracelet and now has $2.8 million in live tournament winnings. Jørstad also scored his first bracelet as well.
Leonard said the two players split their time at the table well, providing some much-needed rest for later in the event.
“A lot of people had played solo for the last few days,” he said. “Some had played four days by themselves, whereas we’ve probably played about 50/50. We were fresh and taking hours in, hours out, and when I was out I was studying and I knew what to do coming in, so that was our biggest advantage.”
First Bracelet and in such fun fashion. Thanks so much for the rail in Vegas and on Instagram! #COTB #NowWereCooking pic.twitter.com/UhVwWdoB2g
— Patrick Leonard 🫡 (@padspoker) June 30, 2022
Jamie Kerstetter and Corey Paggeot found the silver medal for $45,756 each in an event that saw 913 entries for a $406,285 prize pool. Japan’s Yutaro Tsugaru and Taichi Ichikawa finished third for $65,059 each. Argentina’s Franco Spitale and Martin Pochat finished fourth for $46,904.
Event 57: $600 Deepstack Championship
This lower price point event also produced a nice field of 4,913 entries for a prize pool of $2.5 million. Hungary’s Tamas Lendvai won his first bracelet for $299,464.
Getting there wasn’t easy as he entered the final table on the shortest stack but turned things around in a big way. Germany’s Frank Reichel scored second place for $185,027.
Event 60: $10,000 Short Deck
Japan’s Shota Nakanishi found the top position in this slimmed-down deck action for $277,212. Short Deck has become more popular in recent years and all 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s are removed from the deck, making for plenty of action.
The tournament attracted 110 entries for a $1 million prize pool. Ben Lamb took runner-up for $171,331 with Brian Rast coming in third for $121,718.
Online Event 6: $500 NLHE Turbo Deepstack
The online action saw Bulgaria’s Martin “115FTW” Stoyanov secure his first bracelet for $132,783 at WSOP.com. Arkadiy “WBGTour” Tsinis finished runner-up for $81,870 in an event with 1,746 entries and a $785,700 prize pool.
Event 63: $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Championship
This popular event brings out some of poker’s biggest names with a poker legend coming out on top.
Eli Elezra earned his fifth bracelet for $611,362. The win was emotional for Elezra afterhis father passed away just over two weeks earlier.
“I wanted to win for him,” he said. “And I did it.”
The tournament brought in 284 entries for a $2.6 million prize pool. Chino Rheem finished runner-up for $377,855. The UK’s Robert Cowen continued his nice run in the series, finishing third for $271,219. He also had a win in the $50,000 Pot Limit Omaha High Roller earlier in the series for $1.4 million.
Event 67: $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty
This quick-play tournament action saw Argentina’s Nacho Barbero rise to the top. He secured $587,520 and his first bracelet for the win. The tournament brought in a field of 419 entries for a $3.9 million prize pool.
“It feels amazing,” Barbero said. “I’m so happy. Literally, my dream in poker was to win one. It’s amazing. I’ve been coming since 2007, I think, or 2005. So many close ones and never could close it out. And, finally.”
Brazilian Fabiano Kovalski finished runner-up for $363,116 and Estonia’s Ilya Nikiforov took third for $254,791. Rob Hollink, of the Netherlands, finished fourth for $181,667.
A look at other big WSOP finishes
Plenty of other players have won big in recent days as well. In Event 54: $500 Salute to Warriors, Austria’s Patrick Pilkom finished third for $75,486.
The nice run for Team PartyPoker continued in Event 56: $50,000 Poker Players Championship. The tournament featured some big names among the top five including Party ambassador Yuri Dzivielevski.
The Brazilian poker pro finished runner-up for $895,614. Unfortunately for Dzivielevski, a big bluff against eventual winner Dan Cates backfired in the heads-up match.
The heads-up battle rages on in the $50K Poker Players Championship as @YuriNerdguy pulls the trigger on a bluff.@junglemandan has trip jacks and doesn't waste time calling to double, bringing the stacks back to even.
▶️ – Stream is live! Watch it here: https://t.co/TUwvTCktxt pic.twitter.com/f2NcGplhbd
— PokerGO (@PokerGO) July 1, 2022
Japan’s Naoya Kihara took third for $639,257 and the United Kingdom’s Benny Glaser finished fourth for $464,420. Germany’s Johannes Becker found a fifth-place finish for $343,531.
In Event 62: $1,500 Super Turbo Bounty, the Czech Republic’s Jan Bednar took fourth for $103,325. Canada’s Harpreet Padda finished fifth for $77,945.
In Event 64: $600 Pot Limit Omaha Deepstack, France’s Guillaume Soumier found a fourth-place finish for $69,501. 888poker ambassador Vivian Saliba, of Brazil, finished fifth for $52,795.
Event 65: $3,000 Freezeout NLHE saw Hong Kong’s Jeffrey Lo take third for $266,559. Event 66: $1,000 Mini Main Event saw several international players find nice finishes including:
- 2nd – Cosmin Joldis (Romania) $367,233
- 3rd – Kartik Ved (India), $275,593
- 5th – Kei Nitta (Japan), $158,515
In Event 68: $1,000 Million Dollar Bounty, Austria’s Wojciech Barzantny finished fourth for $268,550 and Canadian Michael Smith finished fifth for $206,250.
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Upcoming tournaments
Those who busted out of the Main Event still have plenty of action to check out in the coming days. Here’s a look at tournaments running throughout the weekend.
- $1,111 One More for One Drop (Event 71) – July 7, 8, 9 (three starting flights)
- $1,500 Mixed: PLO Hi-Lo 8 or Better; Omaha Hi Lo; Big O (Event 72) – July 8
- $1,500 Razz (Event 73) – July 9
- $1,500 Bounty Pot Limit Omaha (Event 74) – July 10
- $777 Lucky 7s NLHE (Event 75) – July 10, 11, 12 (three starting flights)
- $1,979 Poker Hall of Fame Bounty (Event 76) – Jul 10
- Online Event 8: $7,777 Lucky 7s High Roller – July 10
- Online Event 9: $1,000 NLHE Online Bracelet Championship – July 10