The 2022 World Series of Poker Championship Event made a run at the all-time record number for the tournament but, in the end, it would come up just short. The tournament will guarantee almost the entire final table a million-dollar payday, however, while the field comes together on Saturday for the first time. It will not see any change on top of the leaderboard, though, as Gavin Munroe remains the only player over a million chips.
A Mystery Solved
One of the things that WSOP officials had to manage on Friday morning was the verification of the stack of Day 1D chip leader Hao Chen. Chen was reported to have amassed over 580K chips, an outlier in that the next highest stack did not even crack the 400K mark. The mystery was solved when the bags were cracked open, and it appears that it was just a misunderstanding.
According to contact with WSOP officials, Chen’s stack was misreported by the staff in attendance. Instead of 580,100 in chips, Chen actually had 58,100, not even close to the lead. As a result of this adjustment, Randal Heeb was the leader of the Day 1D festivities with his 339,000 in chips, taking the 3294 players to the post for action on Friday.
One other thing that was up for consideration was whether the tournament would break the all-time record for number of players. In 2006, 8773 players would take part in the Championship Event and, with a strong late registration run, the 2022 version had a chance at breaking that number. In the end, the players would come up just short as 454 late entries on Friday brought the total field up to 8663 runners, the second largest field in the tournament’s history.
It also guaranteed that the eventual champion of this tournament will earn an eight-figure payday:
1. $10,000,000
2. $6,000,000
3. $4,000,000
4. $3,000,000
5. $2,250,000
6. $1,750,000
7. $1,350,000
8. $1,075,000
9. $850,675
The total prize pool for the 2022 WSOP Championship Event is $80,782,475, with 1300 players eventually earning a cash and the min-cash earning its recipient $15,000.
Matthieu His, Bryn Kenney Move on Friday
Two players were particularly noteworthy from those who took part in Friday’s action.
Matthieu His was bumped up to second place with the correction at the start of the day, and he continued to storm through the field. He started the day with 316,000 in chips and never dropped below that total on his way to ending the day with nearly double that amount (616,000). That stack in good enough to have him in the upper echelons of the leaderboard heading to Saturday’s play.
The other noteworthy performance was that of Bryn Kenney, who certainly could use some good news about his poker experiences of late. Flying completely under the radar, Kenney climbed the Day 1D leaderboard to put himself in the mix. Kenney would end the day with a sizeable 665,000 stack, good for fifth place at the end of Day 2B action:
1. Muhammad Abdel Rahim (USA), 936,500
2. Marsel Backa (USA), 738,000
3. Ryan Torgersen (USA), 731,500
4. Mauricio Solano (USA), 674,000
5. Bryn Kenney (USA), 665,000
6. Jared Hyman (USA), 661,500
7. Shota Nakanishi (Japan), 643,000
8. Michael Huynh (USA), 640,500
9. Matthieu His (France), 616,000
10. Florian Guimond (France), 595,000
Combined with the players from Day 2A (the 1A/1B/1C survivors), the unofficial Top Ten for the 2022 WSOP Championship Event looks like this:
1. Gavin Munroe (USA), 1,061,500*
2. Muhammad Abdel Rahim (USA), 936,500
3. Karim Rebel (France), 932,000*
4. Nick Howard (USA), 810,000*
5. Ariya Iwato (USA), 755,500*
6. Marsel Backa (USA), 738,000
7. Ryan Torgersen (USA), 731,500
8. Steven Stolzenfeld (USA), 708,500*
9. Mauricio Solano (USA), 674,000
10. Bryn Kenney (USA), 665,000
(* – Day 2A competitors)
Action is underway with the 2993 survivors from the two-Day Twos coming together for the first time. It is unlikely that they will reach the money on Saturday, setting up for a thrilling run to the money tomorrow for the competitors in the 2022 WSOP Championship Event.
(Photo courtesy of PokerGO.com)
