It all comes down to this. The 2022 World Series of Poker Europe has reached the €10,000 Main Event (unlike its Vegas counterpart, which is called the Championship Event, the WSOPE has always been called the Main Event) and, in a unique twist, the Day 1A field turned out to eclipse the Day 1B field. The combined Day Ones brought out a strong field that bested the guarantee of €5 million, but it did not crack the record set last year.
Monster Day 1A Field Sets the Pace
Usually in a multiple Day One event, the play builds slowly at first before having a monster final flight. The 2022 WSOPE Main Event did not follow this normal course, however. Day 1A would, in fact, be the pacesetter for the two-Day Ones as Day 1B was minimal by comparison.
What was broken immediately was the guarantee for the event. The 514 entries that were received in the King’s Casino cages on Friday smashed the €5 million guarantee outright, meaning that whatever came in for Saturday’s action would be gravy. The Day 1A outpouring of players would also put many of the competitors through for Day Two play, a total of 343 players.
It almost seemed like the notable names in the field knew that the Day 1A field would be the one to be in if they were to book a big stack. Such players as Benny Glaser, Henrik Hecklen, Jack Sinclair, Jason Wheeler, and Yuval Bronshtein all found a healthy stack to take to battle on Sunday. The big winner, however, was Italy’s Rolando Camardese, who went under the radar on his way to building a massive 559,800 chip stack that will be the overall leader for Sunday’s Day Two festivities.
1. Rolando Camardese (Italy), 559,800
2. Milan Aloric (Serbia), 486,900
3. Xiaozeh Liu (China), 437,000
4. Killan Dris (France), 421,100
5. Simone Andrian (Italy), 411,000
6. Dzelo Marinze (Bosnia and Herzegovina), 408,400
7. Patrick Brooks (United Kingdom), 398,000
8. Nicola Angelini (Italy), 388,300
9. Timo Kamphues (Germany), 376,000
10. Jonas Kronwitter (Germany), 369,000
Day 1B Much More Sedate, Smaller
Now, this is the place where we would normally say that the Day 1B field vastly outpaced those who came out for Day 1A. In a strange twist, this did not happen in the 2022 WSOPE Main Event. With a singular re-entry, you might have expected that those who failed to come through the Day 1A carnage would have been eager to jump back into the fray. Instead, it looks as though many will wait until the last moment to reenter the tournament, as late registration will continue until the start of Level 13 on Sunday.
That doesn’t mean there wasn’t a competition on Saturday, however. Canada’s Daniel Dvoress was able to battle through the smallish 132-entry field to build an impressive 409,000 chip stack. That was behind only Georgios Vrakas, who booked 489,700 chips to take the crown as the Day 1B chip leader.
1. Georgios Vrakas (Greece), 489,700
2. Daniel Dvoress (Canada), 409,000
3. Alex Peffly (United Kingdom), 392,800
4. Orpen Kisacikoglu (Turkey), 362,800
5. Markus Sturz (Germany), 324,800
6. Alexandre Reard (France), 305,500
7. Suleyman Erdar (Turkey), 296,800
8. Aaron Mermelstein (USA), 296,400
9. Cornelis De Moree (Netherlands), 292,300
10. Daniel Heredi (Hungary), 292,000
Final Numbers Not Set Yet
Naturally, Day 1A will dominate the overall leaderboard as Day Two prepares for action on Sunday:
1. Rolando Camardese (Italy), 559,800*
2. Georgios Vrakas (Greece), 489,700
3. Milan Aloric (Serbia), 486,900*
4. Xiaozeh Liu (China), 437,000*
5. Killan Dris (France), 421,100*
6. Simone Andrian (Italy), 411,000*
7. Daniel Dvoress (Canada), 409,000
8. Dzelo Marinze (Bosnia and Herzegovina), 408,400*
9. Patrick Brooks (United Kingdom), 398,000*
10. Alex Peffly (United Kingdom), 392,800
(* – Day 1A competitors)
With the late registration being cut off before the start of Level 13, there is ample time for players who still have a reentry left – or those who have waited until this moment – to take their shot. What we do know currently is that there have been 646 entries for the tournament and, as of the start of action at noon on Sunday in Rozvadov, there are 427 players that are vying for the title. Once the final stragglers come in on Sunday, the prize pool and the payouts (which will easily be north of €1 million to the eventual champion) will be set and we’ll be on our way to crowning the next champion of the World Series of Poker Main Event.