WSOP 2022: results, scandals, records and results
On July 20, the 53rd World Series of Poker festival came to an end in Las Vegas. Within 1.5 months, tens of thousands of players have identified the best of the best from among their number, along the way playing millions of dollars in prize money. During this time, 89 events were held in the format of “live” tournaments, as well as 11 tournaments online. But the World Series isn’t just about chips, cards, and cash prizes. The World Series is primarily about stories of incredible successes and bad luck, about hopes that have come true and the bitterness of defeat. About the formation of legends and the overthrow of favorites. About new records and incredible scandals. All this was in abundance at the WSOP 2022.
The PokerMach blog and Tribuna.com have prepared for you the final material, in which they tried to collect all the most interesting and significant things that we remember about the World Series of Poker 2022.
WSOP 2022 Major Winners
Speaking about the champions of the World Series in the first place, they always mean the winner of the main poker tournament in the world – the WSOP Main Event. This year it was Espen Jorstad. The Norwegian, who spent his entire childhood in his room playing WoW, and to whom everyone said that he would not achieve anything in his life, won the biggest prize of the entire series – $ 10,000,000. As you can see, he not only proved that everything is possible, but also covered his recent losses that he suffered due to unsuccessful investments in cryptocurrency.
Speaking of avid video game players. Former professional StarCraft player Jinho Hong of Korea also won the WSOP 2022. He won Event #76: $1,979 Poker Hall of Fame Bounty for $696,011 in prize money.
William Foxen took home $4,563,700 by winning the second largest tournament in the series, Event #50: $250,000 Super High Roller No-Limit Hold’em.
Well, Dan “Jungleman” Cates became the champion of the Poker Players Championship for the second year in a row. And if last year he did it in the form of a character from the Dragon Ball anime, this time he was helped by the costume of an American wrestler from the eighties – Randy “Macho Man” Savage.
In total, as a result of the series, 34 players at once earned more than $1,000,000 in prize money this summer.
The best players of the series
American Daniel Zak was recognized as the best player of the entire series. In the official WSOP Player of the Year rankings, Zach scored 4,530 points, over 600 points ahead of his closest rival. This success was made possible thanks to Zack’s two WSOP 2022 tournament victories at once. He won Event #15: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship and Event #40: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better tournaments. championship. In addition, Zach scored 14 more cashes, including two more final table appearances. The total prize money he won was $1,456,927.
At the same time, Sean Deeb, ranked 4th in this ranking, was named the best player of the decade. Dib’s WSOP tournament performances between 2013 and 2022 are estimated to have brought in 18,768 points, which is the best result for this period. In second place in this ranking is Daniel Negreanu, who has 13,218 points. The top three is closed by the same Daniel Zach.
Poker Favorite Results
As for the performances of poker celebrities, the series has developed quite differently for each of them. So, the previously mentioned Daniel Negreanu had not the most successful summer, losing more than $1,100,000 during the series. The Canadian managed to cash in 12 tournaments of the series, but most of them were minimum payouts. For the first time since 2011, he failed to make the final table in a live tournament, although he finished in fifth place ($88,081) in the $7,777 online tournament, his best finish of the series.
The biggest financial loss for the Canadian was the $250,000 Super High Roller tournament, in which he made two entries (totaling $500,000), missed the money and threw his selfie stick out in desperation.
The series was much more successful for Phil Ivey, who, despite the slow start and the absence of a bracelet, managed to earn about $2,000,000 in prize money during the series. His best result was 2nd place in the $100,000 High Roller.
At the same time, Phil Hellmuth was forced to miss part of the series due to health problems, and therefore failed to fully realize his potential. However, he managed to earn close to $500,000 in prize money and come close to finishing his 17th WSOP bracelet.
Well, the legend and living icon of poker, Doyle Bronson, did not take part in any of the tournaments of this series at all due to fears of contracting COVID-19.
WSOP 2022 Records
The most anticipated World Series record update never happened. We are talking about the number of participants in the WSOP Main Event. This year, 8,663 participants registered for the tournament, which fell short of the record of 8,773 set in 2006.
However, among the set records, it is worth noting the largest bounty in the history of the series in the amount of $1,000,000, which Matt Glantz was lucky to win.
Scott Seaver also set a record of sorts, making 43 attempts, each costing $1,000, in the WSOP 2022 Flip & Go tournament, but never managed to make it to the money. The mathematical probability of such an outcome was estimated at 0.3%.
Moldovan player Pavel Plesuv can be considered the unluckiest player of the WSOP 2022. He was twice a step away from the coveted bracelet, but both times he finished only in second place. It was in the $10K 6-max Championship ($509,600 in prize money) and the $600 Online Deepstack Championship ($92,300 in prize money).
Yuchi “Rich” Zhu, a player of Chinese descent, scored the most cash hits with 21 ITM. This result brought him $312,210 in prize money.
Significant incidents and events
Like any Series before this, this year was also not without scandals and high-profile incidents. It all started with an unexpected wave of Covid-19 that swept the WSOP halls and forced the likes of Phil Hellmuth Justin Bonomo to miss the start of the series.
Also, in the early days of the series, a scandal erupted over the dismissal of a masseuse who agreed to massage the player’s nipples. Frank Stepuchin, “for fun” asked the masseuse to massage his nipples. And she agreed. As the poker player himself said, there was no sexual connotation in his request, and it was just a joke. But in social networks, not everyone appreciated his trick, and there was a mini-scandal. The masseuse was fired, and the man had to publicly apologize to the fans.
German professional Christoph Vogelsang, who took part in the Event #6: $25,000 Heads-Up NLH Championship, was the next to provoke public outrage and decided to tilt his opponents and viewers of the WSOP broadcast. To do this, he spent two to three minutes for each round of each decision, even if he made a normal check. This behavior caused the anger of both players and spectators, and many began to voice demands for the disqualification of the German.
There were also some funny moments. So Phil Hellmuth went to the toilet during the next break in the tournament, and when he returned, he found that some of his chips were in the stack of one of his opponents. A scandal arose, and only on CCTV cameras it was possible to establish that the dealer had mistakenly counted part of the chips due to Hellmuth, another player.
All the same Hellmuth was marked by an ambiguous costume in which he decided to appear on the first day of the WSOP Main Event. It was a Darth Vader costume. Under the appropriate musical accompaniment, Hellmuth entered the hall, but instead of applause, he heard the booing of annoyed players.
Well, the loudest event happened in the final days of the series, when the halls of the WSOP panicked before rumors about the appearance of a possible shooter in one of the casinos in Las Vegas. Enough fear made everyone quit the game and turn the gaming tables and chips into shelters and barricades. Fortunately, the rumor turned out to be false and there was no shooter. However, the panic played its evil role and many of the players and staff of the hall received injuries of varying severity.
Celebrities who took part in the WSOP 2022
Like any major international event, the World Series attracted the attention of not only poker professionals, but also fans of the game from all over the world. Among them were many well-known personalities.
So, for example, the Brazilian PSG star Neymar decided not only to visit the WSOP, but also to play in several tournaments. He failed to achieve poker success.
Other notable athletes in the WSOP halls included NFL star guard Calaius Campbell, four-time NBA champion Tony Parker, boxer Chris Eubank Jr. and chess legend Magnus Carlsen. Moreover, the last two took part in the Main Event of the series. However, both without much success. Eubank reached the second game day, while Carlsen left the tournament almost at the very start.
Hollywood actor Vince Vaughn, not only became the master of ceremonies for the start of the WSOP Main Event, but also took part in the tournament at the poker table. Well, the most successful among unknown personalities not from the world of poker was the popular tiktoker and blogger Antonio Livano. Arriving at the WSOP for the first time, Livano managed to get as many as 14 hits in the money in the tournaments of the series. His prize money totaled over $400,000, and his best results were 7th place in the $25K High Roller ($184,000 in prize money) and 51st place in the $10K Main Event ($176,200 in prize money).
Results of Ukrainian players
As for the performance of players from Ukraine at the WSOP, despite the limited presence, our players still managed to make themselves known. Andrey Lyubovetsky, Pavel Veksler, Evgeniy Kachalov, Artem Metalidi and Artem Sugak were noted for the best results.
Thus, Andriy Lyubovetsky made 4 cashes, as well as the largest amount of prize money among Ukrainians – $131,142. His best results were 11th place in Event #53: $5,000 Mixed No-Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha ($42 953 in cash) and 9th in Event #39: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed ($30,729 in prize money).
Pavel Veksler chalked up the most passes, bringing him a total of $57,649 in prize money. The best result was 41st place in Event #86: $10,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em Championship ($20,000 in prize money).
PokerMatch Ambassador Evgeny Katchalov finished in the money in five tournaments of the series, which brought him $32,207. Recall that Evgeny came to the WSOP not only to fight for bracelets and prize money, but also with a humanitarian mission – to tell the poker world about the war in Ukraine, about how civilians suffered from it, and to do everything so that as many well-known people in the poker community as possible spoke out against the war. Also, PokerMatch will completely transfer its share of Kachalov’s winnings to charity.
WSOP 2018 Main Event final table participant Artem Metalidi this time scored four cashes and a total prize pool of $68,909. #82: $800 No-Limit Hold’em Deepstack ($55,849 in prize money)
Well, the best result in the Main Event of the 2022 World Series was shown by Artem Sugak from Kiev. He went the farthest among the Ukrainians who took part in the WSOP Main Event and finished in 120th place ($62,500 in prize money). As a result, Sugak scored 7 cash finishes in the series tournaments and earned about $80,000 in prize money.
In total, over the entire series, players from Ukraine managed to get into the money 43 times (5 of them in the Main Event), earning almost $500,000 in prize money.
This is what we remember about the 53rd World Series of Poker 2022, which has already become part of poker history. Of course, these are not all the bright events that took place during these 1.5 months, because in order to feel and feel them all, you should visit this grandiose poker festival at least once in your life. Well, in order to do this, you need only two conditions: hone your skills in the game and form a starting bankroll. And with the first and second, PokerMatch can help you. Register in our poker room and hone your poker skills. And constantly passing promotions and tournaments will help you build a bankroll sufficient to conquer Las Vegas. Go for it, and perhaps in a year your name will be on the lists of the main winners of the WSOP 2023.