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The massive 20,080-entry field in Event #5: $500 The Housewarming No-Limit Hold ’em of the 2022 WSOP finally named a champion on Tuesday, with Henry Acain (cover image) coming out on top to collect his career-first gold bracelet and the $701,215 top prize!
Only 12 runners made it back for the final day’s play, and it took a little over an hour for the unofficial final table to be formed. Acain was second in chips with ten players remaining and eliminated Yavine Brewer, Isidro Martinez, Christian Taylor, and runner-up Jared Kingery to claim the prestigious hardware.
Talking about his win, Acain said, “Amazing, I feel pretty good about it. It’s like my dream come true.”
Acain started playing poker in 2008. “My skills developed in 2013, and I never looked back after that. I was mainly a cash game player before.”
While the heads-up between Acain and Kingery lasted for about 40 minutes, the final hand was a nerve-wracking one. Kingery’s pocket aces were pitted against Acain’s Ace-Three (off-suit), and the latter scored the victory after hitting a runner-runner flush!
Sharing his views on the final hand, Acain said, “I got so lucky on that one. I knew he got me when he snap-called. Poker god is with me.”
The event kicked off on June 2 and hosted four starting flights, and brought between them a record-shattering field of 20,080 entries. The $5 Million guarantee was crushed on the third starting flight, with the final prize pool reaching $8,435,280.
Day 2 saw 889 players return to the felts. Among the survivors was India’s Neel Joshi. The Young Gun had carried forward a below-average stack of 945,000 and eventually walked out in 572nd place for $2,365 (~₹1.83 Lakhs), picking up his first cash of the series.
A flurry of eliminations took place on Day 2, and by the time the bags were brought out, only 12 runners were still in contention for the grand prize.
Day 3 began with Christian Taylor (221,300,000) in the chip lead. With the elimination of Indo-American player Sridhar Sangannagari (11th place for $54,705), the unofficial 10-player final table was formed.
Unofficial Final Table Chip Counts
About 10 minutes later, Yavine Brewer‘s were cracked by Henry Acain’s that rivered trip eights on the , eliminating Brewer (10th for $54,705).
Final Table Recap
Just three minutes later, Acain picked up his subsequent elimination in Isidro Martinez, whose went up against his . The board blanked, ending Martinez’s run in ninth place.
Towards the end of Level 42, Erik Carvalho‘s were bested by Orez Mokedi’s . The runout opened a straight on the board but Mokedi’s King-high straight sent Carvalho packing in eighth place.
Jordan Hufty was the next one to fall in seventh place. In a classic cooler hand, Hufty’s fell to Christian Taylor’s .
Sixteen minutes later, Darnell White made his way to the cashier’s desk to collect the sixth-place payout after his were overpowered by Jared Kingery’s .
About an hour after the first break of the day, Jen-Yue Chiang jammed from UTG with and Kingery defended his big blind holding . Kingery rivered a Jack-high straight on the runout , eliminating Chiang in fifth place.
Just after the start of Level 45, Orez Mokedi open-shoved his remaining 153 Million. Taylor was on the button and tanked for some time before making the call.
Orez Mokedi
Christian Taylor
The community cards opened , and Taylor hit a boat on the river, ousting Mokedi in fourth place.
Three-handed play continued for over two hours before start-of-day chip leader Christian Taylor’s elimination set the heads-up play in motion. Taylor jammed from the button for his last 38 Million. Acain and Kingery called from the blinds. The flop opened , and Acain fired a bet of 16 Million, forcing Kingery to fold.
Christian Taylor
Henry Acain
Having flopped top pair, Acain was in the lead, and he held through the runout, dispatching Taylor in third place.
Taylor’s elimination set up the heads-up between Henry Acain (790,000,000) and Jared Kingery (210,000,000). Acain had a runaway chip lead with nearly 50 big blinds, and it was always going to be a tall task for Kingery to overcome. The match came to a predictable end about 40 minutes later, as Acain claimed his career-first bracelet.
On the final hand, Acain open-jammed from the big blind. Kingery woke with pocket Aces and immediately snap-called.
Jared Kingery
Henry Acain
The was a dream flop for Kingery, but the turn opened up the possibility of a flush for Acain. In a tragic turn of events for Kingery, the river saw Acain hit a one-card flush, ending Kingery’s dream run in second place.
Final Table Results (USD)
Content & Images Courtesy: WSOP, PokerNews & PokerGO
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