WSOP 2022: Latvia’s Romans Voitovs Wins Maiden Bracelet in Event #80: $600 Mixed NLHE/PLO; India’s Nipun Java Finishes 22nd

Romans Voitovs
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  • RUPAM THAKUR July 15, 2022
  • 2 Minutes Read

Latvia’s Romans Voitovs (cover image) entered the enviable WSOP bracelet winners club on Thursday after taking down Event #80: $600 Mixed NLHE/PLO at the 2022 World Series of Poker (WSOP)! Voitovs pocketed a career-best $158,609 for the win, more than quadrupling his live tournament earnings. He is now the second Latvian player after Aleksejs Ponakovs to win a bracelet, taking the overall bracelet count for the country to three. The win marked his sixth cash at the annual series, boosting his WSOP tally to $192,676.

Michael Dobbs collected $98,026 in second place.

In his post-win interview, Romans Voitovs said, “I’m very emotional, I almost have tears in my eyes honestly. I’m surrounded by my buddies and some good friends, it’s a great feeling”.

Voitovs later revealed that he is primarily an online player and only plays a few live tournaments. He entered the official final table with a massive 5:1 chip lead on others and eliminated seven of his last eight opponents to score a thumping victory. Speaking about the final table action, he said, “It seemed way too easy. It was almost like a dream. Usually, it never happens like that. I scored something like four knockouts in 10 hands, every decision was easy. It was really the dream of every poker player.”

He added, “I was down to 10 blinds at some point before the final table redraw, and within 10 minutes, I became the chip leader. I won all the all-ins, and it became super easy from there because people get scared to play against the biggest stack.”

The $600 buy-in bracelet event registered a 2,107-player field, collecting $1,074,570 in the prize pool. The top 317 places got paid, and a min-cash was worth $960.

Four Indians cashed the event. However, the biggest sweat for the team came from the two-time bracelet winner Nipun Java, who finished 22nd for $5,950 (~ ₹4.75 Lakhs). This was Java’s sixth score in the series (119th WSOP cash overall), pushing him past $1.45 Million in total winnings at the WSOP. His other scores in the 2022 WSOP came in Event #21: $1,500 MONSTER STACK No-Limit Hold’em (183rd for $6,574, ~₹5.26 Lakhs), Event #37: $1,500 MILLIONAIRE MAKER No-Limit Hold’em (528th for $4,172, ~₹3.34 Lakhs), Event #75: $777 Lucky 7’s NLHE 7-Handed (641st for $1,555, ~₹1.24 Lakhs), Event #5: $500 The Housewarming No-limit Hold’em (2099th for $876, ~₹70,095) & Online Event #5: $600 Online Deepstack Championship (228th for $845, ~₹67,615).

Nipun Java
Nipun Java

 

Java entered Day 2 with the seventh largest stack among the 76 returning players but had a rough day at the felts. He was eliminated in a three-way all-in showdown in Level 32. The hand in question saw Jonathan Dimmig open from the cutoff. Cheli Lin shoved from the small blind for less than 3,000,000, and Nipun Java with the shortest stack did the same. Dimmig, who had them both comfortably covered, made the call.

Nipun Java

Cheli Lin

Jonathan Dimmig

The board gave Dimmig a flush, eliminating Java (22nd place) and Lin (21st place) together.

The three other Indians crossing the money line were Shashank Jain (268th for $960, ~₹76,817), Abhishek Goindi (270th for $960, ~₹76,817), and Raghav Bansal (315th for $960 ~₹76,817).

Nipun Java, Shashank Jain, Abhishek Goindi & Raghav Bansal
Nipun Java, Shashank Jain, Abhishek Goindi & Raghav Bansal

 

Other notables who crossed the money line on the last day were James Little (24th place for $4,886), Asi Moshe (41st for $3,394), Daniel Fuhs (44th for $3,394), and Jorge Briones (46th place for $3,394)

Jason Lamar was eliminated in tenth place for $11,404.

Unofficial Final Table Chip Counts

  1. Romans Voitovs – 21,700,000
  2. Michael Dobbs – 13,700,000
  3. Jordan Russell – 7,300,000
  4. Richard Bai – 6,300,000
  5. Jacob Staley – 4,500,000
  6. Andrew Peplinski – 3,850,000
  7. Francisco Baruffi – 3,400,000
  8. Dror Ramaty – 1,900,000
  9. Justin Barnum – 1,300,000

 

Final Table Recap

The final table action began swiftly with Dror Ramaty (ninth place) and Andrew Peplinski (eighth place) falling out in a three-way all-in showdown. Romans Voitovs opened, and Dror Ramaty shoved his 2BB stack. Andrew Peplinski re-shoved for 6BBs and Voitovs called.

Dror Ramaty

Andrew Peplinski

Romans Voitovs

The board gave Voitovs a king high flush, resulting in the double knockout.

After that, Jacob Staley went out in seventh place. His failed to catch up against Romans Voitovs’s .

Eleven minutes later, Jordan Russell was eliminated in sixth place, with his failing to find help against Romans Voitovs’s .

Soon after, Richard Bai was sent to the rail in fifth place. Bai lost the crucial flip with his failing to connect on the board against Romans Voitovs’s .

Voitovs scored another knockout just two minutes later, eliminating Francisco Baruffi in fourth place. With the board open , Baruffi moved all-in with and Romans Voitovs with his dominating stack looked him up with . The on the river was no help to Baruffi.

Next in line was Justin Barnum in third place. His tournament life was on the line with against Michael Dobbs’s . The rundown gave Doobs trips, ending Barnum’s run two places shy of the title.

After his dominating run throughout the FT, Romans Voitovs held a commanding chip lead over Michael Dobbs at the start of the heads-up play and took down the title in minutes.

On the last hand, Dobbs shoved all-in with on the board. Voitovs called off with . While Dobbs was the favorite, Voitovs turned the tables on him as the on the turn completed his straight. The river didn’t change anything, making Voitovs the newest member of the WSOP bracelet winner`s club!

Romans Voitovs
Romans Voitovs

 

Final Table Results (USD)

  1. Romans Voitovs – $158,609
  2. Michael Dobbs – $98,026
  3. Justin Barnum – $72,544
  4. Francisco Baruffi – $54,172
  5. Richard Bai – $40,822
  6. Jordan Russell – $31,046
  7. Jacob Staley – $23,831
  8. Andrew Peplinski – $18,464

 

Content & Images Courtesy: WSOP & PokerNews

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