The 2022 World Series of Poker continued at Bally's and Paris in Las Vegas, and several notable pros added bracelets to their collection this week. Brian Hastings joined the six-timer club after shipping the $10K 2-7 Triple Draw, Adam Friedman won $10K Stud for his fifth bracelet, Jeremy Ausmus won $3K 6-Max NL for his fourth bracelet, and Robert Cowen binked the $50K PLO High Roller for a score worth nearly $1.4 million.
It was another busy week at the poker tables in Las Vegas, while COVID-19 continues to run rampant among the participants, yet the World Series of Poker continues. We're more than 30 tournaments into this year's series, and this week saw several well-known pros pad their bankrolls while accumulating another piece of hardware to their collection. Those multi-bling winners this week included Adam Friedman, Jeremy Ausmus, and Brian Hastings.
Adam Friedman won another bracelet and it wasn't in the $10K Dealers Choice, which he dominated with three bracelet victories since 2018 including back-to-back-to-back victories in 2018, 2019, and 2021 (they didn't play it in 2020 due to the pandemic). But the mixed-game specialist shipped his first Stud bracelet when he took down WSOP Event #22 $10,000 Stud Championship. This year's event attracted 95 runners and a prize pool worth $885,875. The stack final table included Marco Johnson, Phil Ivey, Jean Gaspard, Yu Zhu, and Yuval Bronshtein. Other notables who cashed included Cary Katz, Kevin Gerhart, Randy Ohel, John Monnette, and David Prager.
Ivey missed his chance to return to the winner's circle when he busted in third place. His elimination set up a heads-up battle between Jean "The Prince" Gaspard and Friedman. Alas, it was not Gaspard's day and he hit the rail in second place which paid out $153K. Friedman banked $248,254 and slapped a fifth bracelet around his wrist. He won his first bling back in 20212 with a Stud 8 bracelet, and has three Dealers Choice, and now a old-school Stud bracelet to add to his collection.
WSOP Event #23 $3,000 Limit Hold'em 6-Max attracted 213 runners and a prize pool worth nearly $569K. Only the top 32 places paid out with $142K set aside to the winner. Notable players who went deep and cashed included Shaun Deeb, Andrew Kelsall, Zach Grech, Rob Como, Ian Johns, Brian Kim, Will Smith, Glenn Cozen, Ray Henson, Koray Aldemir, Brian Hastings, Jameson Painter, and Joao Vieira.
Michael Rocco and Jeremy Ausmus were heads up for the LHE bling. Rocco could not rally from behind and he hit the rail in second place. Ausmus was the last player standing and he won $142,147 for a couple of days of grinding.
Ausmus won two bracelets last year including the $50K PLO High Roller and the COVID-19 Relief Charity Event. He shipped his first bracelet back in 2013 at the WSOP Europe with a PLO bracelet.
WSOP Event #28 $50,000 PLO High Roller attracted 106 runners and a prize pool worth over $5 million. Only the top 16 places paid out with nearly $1.4 million set aside to the champion. Notables who went deep and cashed included Chance Kornuth, James Park, Joni Jouhkimainen, Aaron Mermelstien, Scott Seiver, Aaron Katz, Jason Mercier, Jared Bleznick, and Ben Lamb.
Dash Dudley and Robert Cowen found themselves heads up for the High Roller blind, but the Welshman from Swansea emerged victorious. Dudley busted in second place, which paid out $861,420. Not too shabby, eh? Cowen won the bling and $1,393,816 for the PLO High Roller victory.
WSOP Event #31 $10,000 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Championship attracted 118 runners and a prize pool worth $1.1 million. Only the top 18 places paid out with $292K set aside to the champ. Notables who went deep and cashed in the Triple Draw Championship included Zan Zack, Shaun Deeb, Marco Johnson, Yuval Bronshtein, Phill Hellmuth, Andrew Kelsall, Freddy Bonyadi, Danny Wong, Mike Thorpe, and Jon Turner.
Eric Wasserson and Brian Hastings slugged it out heads up for the Triple Draw title. When the dust settled Wasserson was picked off in second place, which paid out $180K. Hastings banked $292,146 for the victory, which happened to be his sixth bracelet win.
Hastings won his first bracelet at the 2012 WSOP with a victory in the $10K Heads-up NL Championship. He added a second bracelet at the 2015 WSOP with a $10K Stud Championship title. He won a third bling with a 10-Game Mix title in 2015. In 2018, he added a HORSE bracelet to his collection. Last year, Hastings joined the five-timer club with a win in the $10K Stud 8 Championship. He's in exclusive club of six-time winners which is only 17 players deep. Heck of a run for the 33-year-old pro. At his current pace, he could totally reach double digits by the time he's 40.
