WSOP 2022: Menikos Panagiotou Makes a Terrific Comeback to Poker, Wins Event #48: $1,500 Eight Game Mix 6-Handed ($180,783)

Menikos Panagiotou wins WSOP 2022 Event 48
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  • Namita Ghosh June 25, 2022
  • 2 Minutes Read

Only 16 players from a starting field of 695 returned for the third and the final day of the 2022 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Event #48: $1,500 Eight Game Mix 6-Handed. Cyprus native Menikos Panagiotou (cover image) began the day middle of the pack but was the top stack at seven remaining. Panagiotou charted a remarkable climb up through a swingy final table and eventually heads-up Nick Yunis heads-up to become the first player from his country to win a WSOP gold bracelet. Panagiotu’s victory saw him pocket the top prize of $180,783.

Interestingly, Panagiotou had retired from professional poker a few years back to open a Mexican restaurant back home. He had not played mixed games for the past four years and began playing again only six months ago. Panagiotou entered Event #48 just days after winning a $250 HORSE Daily Deepstacks event. As the field narrowed down in the tournament, Panagiotou found his poker instincts back on the fore and played the game as he always did.

As he shared post-victory – “I was playing every hour by hour, every orbit, it would start coming back to me…It was like when you have 20 years on a bicycle. In the beginning, you’re not sure enough to remember that I can drive without my hands on the wheel.”

Winning the first bracelet for his island home country means a lot to Panagiotou, as he later shared, “Although we are a small country with a small population, we have a lot of poker players. So it means a lot. I can’t wait to go back to see all my friends because they’ve already started sending me messages, congrats, and everything. It’s amazing.”

Panagiotou added that he plans to invest the money won into his restaurant.

A total of 200 players returned on Day 2, and it took three levels of play for the money bubble to burst, with Joshua Ray becoming the last player to fall out empty-handed. The remaining 105 survivors were all assured at least $2,403.

Some of the notable names who cashed the event include former bracelet winners Brian Yoon (101st for $2,403), David “OBD” Baker (96th for $2,403), Ian Johns (82nd for $2,629), Max Pescatori (79th for $2,629), Josh Arieh (65th for $3,004), Shaun Deeb (49th for $3,397), Mel Judah (36th for $4,257), Poker Hall of Famer Scotty Nguyen (43rd for $3,755), Allen Kessler (21st for $7,170), Adam Friedman (10th for $11,387) and Robert Campbell (9th for $14,831).

Day 3 began at 2 PM (PDT) on Friday, with 16 players returning to action.

The unofficial seven-handed final table began following the elimination of Dustin Dirksen (8th for $14,831).

Unofficial Final Table Chip Counts

  1. Menikos Panagiotou – 4,025,000
  2. Nick Yunis – 3,200,000
  3. Jake Liebeskind – 2,815,000
  4. Joon Park – 2,595,000
  5. Eric Buchman – 2,360,000
  6. Jason Stockfish – 2,350,000
  7. Adam Demersseman – 240,000

 

The six-handed final table was set into motion an hour into play after Adam Demersseman (7th for $19,735) lost all his chips to Nick Yunis.

 

Final Table Recap

Eighty minutes into the final table play, Nick Yunis eliminated Jake Liebeskind in sixth place in a Razz hand.

Around 40 minutes later, Jason Stockfish made his way out in fifth place. He lost his chips to Eric Buchman in 2-7 Triple Draw.

At this point, Nick Yunis held the chip lead with 40 big blinds, and Panagiotou was the shortest stack with about 11 big blinds. He lost more chips to Joon Park before scooping a massive pot in a PLO hand against Yunis.

Yunis and Panagiotou exchanged the chip lead over the next two hours before Park busted the former November Niner Eric Buchman out in fourth place, hitting a pair of kings to dominate Buchman’s pair of tens.

It was down to heads-up play in less than 20 minutes as Panagiotou eliminated Joon Park in third place in Stud 8 or Better.

Heads-up, Panagiotou was ahead with 9,330,000 to Nick Yunis’ 8,070,000. The duo played for nearly two hours before Panagiotou chipped away Yunis’ stack. The latter lost a significant portion of his stack playing Razz in the last 30 minutes of the event.

The last hand of the tournament was played in the PLO format. Yunis was all-in from the big blind for 160,000 with only 20,000 left behind. Panagiotou raised the button, and Yunis called it off.

Nick Yunis

Menikos Panagiotou

Yunis held a double-suited ace with straight-outs and had a chance of recovery but the flop improved Panagiotou to a wheel, making the turn and the river a mere formality. Yunis was eliminated as the runner-up, and Panagiotou picked up his first WSOP bracelet!

Menikos Panagiotou
Menikos Panagiotou

 

Final Table Results (USD)

  1. Menikos Panagiotou – $180,783
  2. Nick Yunis – $111,724
  3. Joon Park – $75,938
  4. Eric Buchman – $52,621
  5. Jason Stockfish – $37,188
  6. Jake Liebeskind – $26,814

 

Content & Images Courtesy: PokerGO, PokerNews & WSOP

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