WSOP 2022: Robert Cohen Bags Day 1 Chip Lead in Tournament of Champions; Minh Nguyen & Gregory Jensen Win Bracelets; Daniel Zack Claims POY Title

Day 49 of the 53rd annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) saw a dwindling of activities as the world’s grandest poker festival nears its end. The series’ last two open bracelet events wrapped up proceedings relatively early on Monday, with only the Tournament of Champions left to declare a champion.

The first of the two bracelets awarded on Monday went to the winner of Event #85: $1,500 The Closer. New Jersey’s Minh Nguyen topped the 2,039-entry field to claim his career-first bracelet on an unscheduled Day 3 and won $536,280. Ahmed Karrim finished runner-up for $331,470.

Less than three hours later, Connecticut’s Gregory Jensen captured his maiden gold bracelet in Event #86: $10,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em Championship for a career-best $824,649. Jensen defeated start-of-day chip leader Pavel Plesuv, who took home $509,674 for his runner-up finish.

The last bracelet event of the series, Tournament of Champions, got underway on Monday. Day 1 registered 463 players and 149 advanced to Day 2. Robert Cowen (428,000) bagged the end-of-day chip lead.

From India, PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish Ahuja and Nipun Java participated in the event but failed to make Day 2.

On Day 1 of the Tournament of Champions, Daniel Zack was awarded the WSOP Player of the Year (POY) trophy for his consistent performance throughout the year. He picked up two bracelets at this year’s series and cashed 14 other bracelet events, including two final table finishes. Daniel Weinman and Koray Aldemir came second and third in the POY standings, respectively.

Tournament of Champions – Day 1

The last bracelet event of the 2022 WSOP got underway on Monday. The event is open to winners of WSOP Circuit ring events from the 2021/2022 WSOP Circuit season and bracelet winners from the 2022 WSOP.

The Tournament of Champions saw 463 eligible players participating in the million-dollar freeroll freezeout tournament. Ten one-hour levels of play later, the starting field was trimmed to 144 players, with registration still open until the start of Day 2.

UK’s Robert Cohen (428,000), who picked up his second WSOP bracelet in this year`s Event #28: $50,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller, leads the 149 remaining players to Day 2. Event #36: $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better winner Ali Eslami (305,000) and WSOP Circuit Super Series Event #12 – $75,000 GTD NLH champion Daniel Sepiol (285,000) round out the top three stacks heading into Day 2.

As per the regulations of the event, PokerGuru Ambassador Ashish Ahuja, who won Event #11 – $100,000 GTD NLH Double Stack at the 2022 WSOP.com Circuit Series on Saturday, and two-time bracelet winner Nipun Java, who won Event #12 – $250,000 GTD NLH Main Event 3x Re-entry 8-Max at the 2022 WSOP.com Circuit – January Online Circuit (NV/NJ) on January 31, were the only Indians eligible to enter the event. Both players took their shots but fell out before the day’s play ended.

With a field packed with WSOP bracelet and ring winners, several notables were seen in action.

Two-time bracelet winner Daniel Strelitz (235,000), 2015 WSOP Main Event champion Joe McKeehen (125,000), two-time bracelet winner Yuliyan Kolev (117,500), 2022 WSOP POY Leaderboard topper Daniel Zack (100,500) and the 2009 WSOP Main Event champion Joe Cada (95,500) also bagged and tagged for Day 2.

Indo-Americans Shankar Pillai (142,500) and Krishna Kalidas (85,000) also carried a stack to Day 2.

Jake Schindler, who was recently embroiled in cheating allegations, snuck in late to try and spin up a stack. Schindler had won Event #12: $50,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold ’em to qualify for this exclusive event. His WSOP run ended after he lost a late-night flip to Michael Bohmerwald.

Other players who won’t be returning to claim the final bracelet of the series include Eric Baldwin, Adam Friedman, David Peters, Ethan Yau, and Eli Elezra.

Day 2 will kick off at 11 AM (PDT) on July 19.

Top 10 Chip Counts at the End of Day 1

1. Robert Cowen – 428,000
2. Ali Eslami – 305,000
3. Daniel Sepiol – 285,000
4. Aleksejs Ponakovs – 247,500
5. Zachary Seymour – 241,000
6. Daniel Strelitz – 235,000
7. Cheryl Svenson – 221,500
8. Carlos Loving – 203,000
9. Fred Li – 183,500
10. Erik Bauer – 183,000

Daniel Zack Named 2022 WSOP Player of the Year

The writing was on the walls since the end of June, but now we have confirmation that Daniel Zack is the winner of the 2022 WSOP Player of the Year (POY) leaderboard race. The New Jersey native scored 4,530 points, 608 more than Daniel Weinman, who finished second with 3,922 points. The 2021 Main Event champion Koray Aldemir came third with 3,111 points.

Shaun Deeb (2,960 points) and David Peters (2,785 points) round out the top five names on the 2022 WSOP POY standings.

Zack bagged the bulk of the points through the two bracelet victories in Event #15: Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship and Event #40: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Championship. However, he locked in the POY title after tallying up an impressive 14 other cashes this summer, including FT finishes in Event #50: $250,000 Super High Roller No-Limit Hold’em and Event #31: $10,000 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Championship.

Zack was one of three players who won two bracelets at the 2022 WSOP, the other two being the Main Event champion Espen Jorstad and Lawrence Brandt.

The New Jersey native has been trying to win the WSOP POY race consistently since 2017. After finally emerging victorious, Zack said, “It means a lot, I set a goal three years ago that I really wanted to try to win it before I left poker, and this is the third series I’ve tried.”

When asked what he meant by “before I left poker,” he explained that he doesn’t expect to have many more years in him of grinding the WSOP. The three-time bracelet winner said he’s getting married next year and wants to have kids in the near future, which means he won’t be able to play poker full-time anymore.

“My fiance has a real job,” Zack said.

Zack told PokerNews that chasing POY does decrease some expected value, but the honor of winning it is so worth it.

“One-hundred percent, you lose some EV chasing it,” Zack explained. “You’re tossing away a few hundred dollars here and there just to give yourself the best chance to compete because you know that guys like (Deeb) are doing the same thing, and it’s the only way to keep pace with them.”

2022 WSOP Player of the Year Leaderboard Standings

Content & Images Courtesy: PokerGO, PokerNews & WSOP

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