Dan Smith finally got off the schneid with his first bracelet victory in 2022 WSOP Event #6 $25,000 Heads-Up NL Championship when he banked $509,717 for besting a field of 64 players. Amnon Filippi outlasted a record-setting field of 1,068 players in Event #7 $1,500 Omaha 8 for a score worth $252,718 and his first bracelet. The first French player at the 2022 WSOP won a bracelet when Leo Soma outlasted 2,393 runners to win Event #14 $1,500 6-Handed NL for $456,889.
If you blinked, you missed the first ten days of action at the 2022 World Series of Poker. In the last week or so, two well-known pros stepped into the winner's circle for the first time in Las Vegas and got to slap a bracelet around their wrist. And French poker players will be raging hard tonight in Sin City after the first player from France emerged victorious in at the 2022 WSOP at Paris/Bally's on the Strip.
2022 WSOP Event #6 $25,000 NL Heads-Up Championship was capped at 64 players with a prize pool worth $1.5 million and only the final eight players getting paid out. The Elite 8 who cashed in the $25K Heads-Up Championship included Dan Smith, Christoph Vogelsang, Dario Sammartino, Kevin Rabichow, Sean Winter, Jonathan Jaffe, Chance Kornuth, and Dylan Destefano.
Smith and Dario Sammartino squared off in the semifinals and Smith took out the Italian. Christoph Vogelsang and Kevin Rabichow threw down in the other side of the bracelet, but the German pro won and advanced to the finals against Smith.
Smith picked of Vogelsang to win Event #6 and snag the bracelet plus $509K in cash. The cash was nice, but the bling is what Smith really wanted. He had been pegged as one of the best players in the world to never have won a bracelet, but he's no longer on that infamous list now that he finally has some shiny bling of his own.
Omaha Hi/Lo is no longer just a game for old people. This year's Event #7 $1,500 Omaha 8 field set a record with 1,086 runners who generated a prize pool worth $1.45 million. The top 165 places paid out with most of the cheddar set aside to the champion.
Among those who went deep and cashed in Event #7 included Andrew Yu, Robert Mizrachi, Ryan Hughes, Felipe Ramos, Shaun Deeb, Chris Bell, Yu Zhu, Miami John Cernuto, Carol Fucks, Nathan Gamble, Daniel Ospina, David "Bakes" Baker, Frankie O'Dell, Scott Baumstein, Wendy Freedman, Brandon Shack-Harris, Chino Rheem, and Capt Tom Franklin.
The final table of Event #7 included Mel Judah, Ramo Boukai, David Funkhouser, Matt Glantz, Murilo Figueredo, Paul Zappulla, Matt Vengrin, and Amnon Filippi.
Filippi and Vengrin were heads up for the bling, but Filippi could not put away with Vengrin late into the night, so the event was extended another day. On Day 4, Filippi needed just an hour to become the last player standing in Event #7. He shipped the Omaha 8 Donkament for a heady score worth $252,718. It also marked his first bracelet victory.
WSOP Event #14 $1,500 6-Handed NL attracted 2,392 runners, who generated a prize pool worth nearly $3.2 million. When it ended, France's Leo Soma was the last player standing and the first French player to snag a bracelet in 2022.
The final table of seven included Leo Soma, Thomas Schultz, Maximiliano Gallardo, Daniel Wellborn, Derek Sudell, Ivan Zhechev, and Joe Cada.
A total of 359 lucky souls cashed in Event #14 including Mustapha Kanit, Anson Tsangg, Shawn Daniels, Harry Lodge, Jeremy Ausmus, Taylor Paur, Justin Liberto, Matt Berkey, Antoine Saout, Ryan Tosoc, Alex Keating, James Romero, Anthony Spinella,
rett Murrau, Matt Waxman, Ryan Laplante, Dejuante Alexander, Patrik Leonard, Erwann Pecheux, Kyle Julius, Maria Ho, Kevin MacPhee, Galen Hall, and David the Dragon Pham.
Leo Soma and Thomas Schultz were heads-up for the bracelet, but the Frenchman was the one who got to bask under the bright lights of the winner's circle. Soma won $456,889 in cash, plus his first bracelet. Schultz banked $282,358 for a runner-up finish. Not too shabby, eh?
2022 WSOP - Event #14 6-Handed NL
Buy-in: $1,500
Entrants: 2,392
Prize Pool: $3,193,320
Payouts: 359
Final Table Results:
1. Leo Soma (France) $456,889
2. Thomas Schultz (USA) $282,358
3. Maximilian Gallardo (Argentina) $203,451
4. Daniel Wellborn (USA) $148,171
5. Derek Sudell (USA) $109,083
6. Ivan Zhechev (Bangladesh) $81,188
7. Joe Cada (USA) $61,098
