The world’s biggest poker festival, World Series of Poker (WSOP) 2022, is now running full steam at its new home Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas Casino. Since its start on 31st May, the 53rd annual series has been all the rage with players flocking from all across the world to join the high-octane action.
The series is expected to attract bigger participation than its predecessor with Covid-19 restrictions now lifted. Opening events saw the first three of 88 gold bracelets claimed. Kate Kopp shipped the opening tournament, with David Peters winning the second event of the series. One of the recent bracelet winners crowned at the series is Scott Seiver who shipped Event #3: $2,500 Freezeout NLH for his fourth gold bracelet and a $320,059 cash prize, topping $24 Million in live MTT earnings.
- Total Entries – 752
- Prize pool – $1,673,200
- Places paid – 113
- Min cash – $4,027
Featuring a buy-in of $2,500 buy-in, the first of the 10 freeze events saw 752 players battling it out over a span of three days for a prize pool of $1,673,000. Eventually, the field whittled down, and the final table was set with nine players. Seiver, who resumed Day 3 as the chip leader, had a swingy ride on the FT. With three players remaining, he was the shortest stack but fought back and busted David Goodman in third place to enter the heads-up as a chip leader with Alexander Farahi who could not go all the way, losing it to a more experienced Seiver and settling for $197,806 as a runner-up.
Talking about his win, Seiver said, “I’ve wanted another No-Limit bracelet for a long time, the fields are so tough, everyone is so good at Hold’em, and they are so large, so while I never thought I was due, it was something I really wanted for a while.” He added, ” I’m going to play a lot of events and maybe chase some player of the year.”
Final Table Action
The final table was set with Seiver leading the way. Aditya Agarwal (2,150,000) was the only Indian on the event’s final table but sadly was the first one to exit, finishing 9th for $23,634 (INR 18.36 Lac). He pitted his As Qh against David Goodman’s Ah Kh on a board reading 2c 9s 5d Jd 8d. Sadly for Agarwal, Goodman’s Big Slick worked out and Agarwal’s dream run ended in the 9th place.
Goodman continued his momentum and busted Chris Hunichen (8th spot for $30,478) who had pitted his A-J against Goodman’s Q-Q. Later, Lewis Spencer ran his Ks-3s into Scott Seiver’s Ah-2c. The latter won the pot with Ace-high kicker and Spencer got busted in the 7th position for $39,970.
Three-time WSOP bracelet winner Nick Schulman (6th for $53,296) was the next player to go out and he was followed by Sergio Aido (5th for $72,233). Steve Zolotow (K-5 suited) got busted after losing it to Goodman (4-3 suited) who got a full house. Zolotow earned $99,483 for his 4th place finish. With three players remaining, Goodman became a short stack and got eliminated in 3rd place, with his A-10 losing to the pocket queens of Seiver. He took home $139,193 for his deep run.
Heads-up began with Seiver holding more than a 3:2 chip lead over his opponent Alexander Farahi. He won several early pots to extend his advantage to more than 5:1. Farahi made a small comeback, but then shoved all-in with Ad 8c against the Qs Qh of Seiver. The board opened 9s 5s 3s 5d 3h and Seiver won the title. Farahi earned $197,806 as the runner-up, the second-largest score of his career.
Final Table Payouts (USD)
- Scott Seiver – $320,059
- Alexander Farahi – $197,806
- David Goodman – $139,193
- Steve Zolotow – $99,483
- Sergio Aido – $72,233
- Nick Schulman – $53,296
- Lewis Spencer – $39,970
- Chris Hunichen – $30,478
- Aditya Agarwal – $23,634
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