The 2022 World Series of Poker is rolling along as it closes out its first week of action on Sunday. ‘The Housewarming’ will play out the fourth of its four Day Ones, finally letting those who have survived to this point know what they will be playing for. The “high rollers,” meanwhile, will have to move over to the Paris Las Vegas to start off their Day Two play.
‘Housewarming’ Cracks Guarantee with Day 1C Field
The first marquee event – those that feature a minimal buy in for a shot at massive amounts of cash – is wrapping up its Day One action on Sunday. ‘The Housewarming,’ the event that officially welcomes the world to the new home of the WSOP, Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas, will have its Day 1D play, but there is one thing that the players are assured of. The $5 million guarantee that was put on the event has been eclipsed, even before a card is dealt on Sunday.
The first two days of ‘The Housewarming’ brought in decent sized fields, but the Day 1C numbers crushed those figures. 5526 entries were received on Saturday and, added with the 7286 entries from the first two Day Ones, pushes the total to 12,812. That’s a prize pool of $5,381,040 and it will get even bigger as what is expected to be the largest Day One of the tournament comes to play on Sunday.
The Day 1C action saw a new overall leader take over. George “Tony” Degon was able to surge to a 4.665 million chip stack, besting Day 1A chip leader Justin Liberto’s 4.225 million for the first place slot. Interestingly, however, the extra chips from the larger field did not circulate around enough; only Degon will push his way into the Top Five overall:
1. George “Tony” Degon, 4.665 million
2. Justin Liberto, 4.225 million
3. Gianluca Pace, 4.085 million
4. Jordan Huffy, 3.765 million
5. Yavine Brewer, 3.705 million
There is the potential for ‘The Housewarming’ to crack the 20K entries mark. That would nearly double the prize pool and certainly make for a great housewarming gift for the eventual champion.
Three Events Continue on Sunday
A trio of tournaments will be in differing stages of action on Sunday, with one entering its final day and two entering their Day Two festivities.
Amnon Filippi will head the 26 players who remain in Event #7, the $1500 Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better tournament. Filippi has been hovering around the upper echelons since the tournament started on Friday and he has pulled out to almost a million-chip lead over second place Paul Zappulla. The plan for Sunday is for these 26 players to play down to a champion, although due to the split nature of the game that might be a challenge.
The Eight Handed No Limit Hold’em High Roller, Event #8 on the schedule, enters its second day of play on Sunday. The tournament clock shows 229 entered the tournament and only 87 of those entries has made it to the Sunday action. Sergi Reixach leads a star-studded field that includes David Miscikowski, Justin Young, Sam Grafton, and Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier in the Top Ten players.
Day One of the $1500 Seven Card Stud event is in the books, with 97 players remaining from the 329 entries in the tournament. The field is tightly packed together, with chip leader Manuel Labandeira less than 50,000 chips ahead of Daniel Weinman. There are some familiar names on down the leaderboard, with Andy Bloch, David Singer, Alex Livingston, Matt Grapenthien, and John Racener in the Top 20. The field has generated a $439,215 prize pool, with the eventual champion earning a six-figure payday ($103,282) and the WSOP bracelet.
First Online Event Starts Sunday
The first online events of the 2022 WSOP will kick off on Sunday. The $5000 High Roller Freezeout will be the exclusive purveyance of WSOP.com and should draw a decent sized field. There isn’t a precedent for this event, as it is the first time that it has been contested, but live versions at last year’s WSOP averaged around 500 players per event (four). A second online tournament, this one for those with a little less of a bankroll, will play alongside this tournament. The “BIG $500” will be in action, and these two tournaments will begin the thirteen events that will be exclusively online.
For the live players, there will also be a new tournament. The $10,000 Six Handed Dealer’s Choice Championship will step to the fore, with its opening play in Bally’s. There were 93 combatants in this tournament last year, with Adam Friedman making history by winning the event for the third consecutive year (2018, 2019, 2021). Can he make it four years consecutively? We will see as the 2022 World Series of Poker plays out the rest of its first week of action.
