2022 WSOP Recap: Highlights So Far

As we cross the halfway mark of the series, with Phil Hui taking the bracelet for Event #45: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha, we thought now's a great time to run through a few of the highlights so far, as well as a full winner's list you can check out at the end.

Kate Kopp Grabs First Gold Bracelet

The first WSOP event of 2022 saw Kate Kopp take home her first ever gold bracelet in the $500 Casino Employees Event No-Limit Hold’em tournament.

Kopp is no stranger to the felt - as a long-time dealer and poker player from Cleveland, Ohio, she managed to navigate a field of 832 players and claim the top prize of $65,168. Kopp has now played in eight WSOP events throughout the years, but this is the first time her name joins the list of gold bracelet winners.

After finishing third in the same event back in 2018, this victory means a lot to Kopp and her family. In a post-win interview she said:

My whole family plays poker. My grandpa taught us. My brother and sister both have rings and even my nine and 10-year-olds know how to play.

Kolev Turns $1,500 Into $1.1 Million

Over the years there have been plenty of interesting outfits spotted at the tables, but on Day 23 of the series we saw perhaps the most interesting piece of poker attire ever witnessed... a KFC bucket worn as a hat.

This was an extremely bold move by the Bulgaria pro, Yuliyan Kolev, but it only earned respect as he cashed in $1,125,189 after outwitting the other 7,960 entrants. Support from the rail couldn't have been stronger, as his entire team joined him with the fast food headwear.

The Millionaire Maker victory makes Kolev a two-time WSOP champion and delivers the greatest score of his career, bringing his total earnings to $2,804,010. The final hand, saw Kolev defeat Oren Rosen heads-up with pocket aces prevailing against queen-jack, which secured an infamous WSOP victory and perhaps a sponsorship for deep fried chicken...

Fourth Bracelets: David Peters and Scott Seiver

David Peters and Scott Seiver have both grabbed their fourth WSOP titles this year. Seiver landed a cool $320,059 in Event #3: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout, while Peters added just a little to his bank balance, with a $1,166,810 score in Event #2: $100,000 High Roller Bounty.

Peters competed in the brand new event with only 45 other entrants, where every knockout was worth $25,000. Though the field was small, the names were huge... Peters duked it out with the likes of Phil Ivey, Ali Imsirovic, Dario Sammartino and ultimately faced Chance Kornuth heads up to battle it out for the win.

With such legends joining him at the table, it's no surprise Peters was ecstatic after defeating Kornuth:

“It’s always nice to beat someone that’s hot, and someone that is a great player,” Peters told PokerGO. “It was nice to beat a player like that for sure.”

It comes as no surprise this victory means so much, as it moves Peters to fifth place on poker's all-time money list, with lifetime earnings totalling $40,165,579.

Seiver, also one of the most infamous high-stakes players in the world, bagged his fourth piece of WSOP jewellery too.

In Event #3, Seiver topped a field of 752 entries to snag the win. Alexander Farahi joined him heads-up but was ultimately outplayed by the Ohio native, who now sits 23rd on the all-time money list.

Henry Acain and Event #5

Event #5: $500 Housewarming became the fourth largest live WSOP tournament of all time with a staggering 20,080 entrants. The mammoth field built a top prize of $701,215 and Henry Acain fought his way through the competition to bag his first ever WSOP gold bracelet.

On the final day, he battled against start-of-the-day chip leader Christian Taylor to secure pole position for the final table. It was smooth sailing for Acain, who used the big stack to bully his way round the table. By the final hand he held a major chip lead and was able to crack Jared Kingery’s pocket aces to take the victory.

Dan Smith Wins First-Ever WSOP Bracelet

Dan Smith, long regarded as one of the best poker players without a WSOP bracelet, has finally broken the curse. He sits 7th on the all-time money list but had somehow never taken a World Series title before this year's Event #6: $25,000 Heads-Up Championship.

WIth 48 WSOP events to his name, it's no surprise that this victory was so important to Smith:

“I’m not typically a very sentimental person,” said Smith. “I remember before the One Drop final table, everyone was like, ‘how important is it for you to be playing for this bracelet?’ and I was, ‘I’m focused on the $10 million today.’ Today it really is, and was about the bracelet.”

Smith took home $509,717 after beating a field with the likes of Jake Daniels, Laszlo Bujtas, Alex Foxen, Jonathan Jaffe, and Dario Sammartino. PokerGo streamed the heads-up showdown between Smith and Christoph Vogelsang, live from the Las Vegas Strip, where after a lengthy battle, Smith came out on top to take his first WSOP title.

Chad Eveslage and Jake Schindler Score High Roller Gold

High roller tournaments are always a hit at the World Series and this year saw the largest entry field in history for a high roller event. Event #8: $25,000 NL Hold’em High Roller hosted 251 players, all with hopes to bag the top prize of $1,415,610. But Chad Eveslage came out on top and was joined by Jake Schindler as runner up, who bagged a cool $874,915.

Schindler also made his way onto the felt for Event #12: $50,000 NL Hold’em High Roller where he landed his first ever gold bracelet and the $1,328,068 prize.

The two results put Schindler atop the WSOP Player of the Year leaderboard and the 2022 PGT leaderboard, as well as placing him 11th on the all time money list. Not bad for a week's work...

2022 World Series of Poker - Results So Far

#	Event	Entrants	Winner	Prize	Runner-up
1	$500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold'em	832	Kate Kopp	$65,168	Wyatt Frost
2	$100,000 High Roller Bounty No-Limit Hold'em	46	David Peters	$1,166,810	Chance Kornuth
3	$2,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em	752	Scott Seiver	$320,059	Alexander Farahi
4	$1,500 Dealers Choice 6-Handed	430	Brad Ruben	$126,288	Jaswinder Lally
5	$500 The Housewarming No-Limit Hold'em	20,080	Henrieto Acain	$701,215	Jared Kingery
6	$25,000 Heads Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship	64	Dan Smith	$509,717	Christoph Vogelsang
7	$1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better	1,086	Amnon Filippi	$252,718	Matt Vengrin
8	$25,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em	251	Chad Eveslage	$1,415,610	Jake Schindler
9	$1,500 Seven Card Stud	329	Alex Livingston	$103,282	Daniel Weinman
10	$10,000 Dealers Choice 6-Handed Championship	123	Ben Diebold	$299,488	Mike Gorodinsky
o1	$5,300 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller Freezeout	218	Norbert Szecsi	$288,850	Tony Dunst
o2	$500 No-Limit Hold'em Big $500	1,213	Manig Löser	$127,153	Brian Battistone
11	$600 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack	5,715	Raj Vohra	$335,286	Qing Liu
12	$50,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em	101	Jake Schindler	$1,328,068	Brek Schutten
13	$1,500 Limit Hold'em	522	Michael Moncek	$145,856	Ben Ross
14	$1,500 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed	2,392	Leo Soma	$456,889	Thomas Schultz
15	$10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship	196	Daniel Zack	$440,757	Dustin Dirksen
16	$3,000 No-Limit Hold'em	1,240	Stefan Lehner	$558,616	Toby Boas
17	$2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball	309	Dominick Sarle	$164,243	Jerry Wong
18	$1,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em	2,663	Bryan Schultz	$330,057	Young Sik Eum
19	$25,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha	264	Tong Li	$1,467,739	Fabian Brandes
20	$1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw	350	Denis Nesterenko	$108,250	Von Altizer
21	$1,500 Monster Stack No-Limit Hold'em	6,501	Mike Jukich	$966,577	Mateusz Moolhuizen
22	$10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship	95	Adam Friedman	$248,254	Jean Gaspard
23	$3,000 Limit Hold'em 6-Handed	213	Jeremy Ausmus	$142,147	Michael Rocco
24	$1,000 FLIP & GO No-Limit Hold'em	1,329	Christopher Chatman	$187,770	Rafi Elharar
25	$800 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack	4,062	Rajaee Wazwaz	$358,346	Robert Crow
26	$10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship	92	Jonathan Cohen	$245,678	Kyle Dilschneider
o3	$400 No-Limit Hold'em Ultra Deepstack	1,641	Brian Altman	$110,662	Eric Salazar
27	$1,500 Shootout No-Limit Hold'em	1,000	Michael Simhai	$240,480	David Dowdy
28	$50,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha	106	Robert Cowen	$1,393,816	Dash Dudley
29	$1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw	437	Maxx Coleman	$127,809	Thomas Newton
30	$1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed	1,891	Daniel Weinman	$255,359	Jamey Hendrikson
31	$10,000 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Championship	118	Brian Hastings	$292,146	Eric Wasserson
32	$1,500 H.O.R.S.E.	773	Steve Albini	$196,089	James Morgan
33	$3,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed	1,348	Nino Ullmann	$594,079	Timothy Flank
34	$1,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em	1,774	Justin Pechie	$364,899	Samuel Bifarella
35	$2,500 Mixed Big Bet Event	281	Lok Chan	$144,338	Drew Scott
36	$1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better	471	Ali Eslami	$135,260	Chris Papastratis
37	$1,500 Millionaire Maker No-Limit Hold'em	7,961	Yuliyan Kolev	$1,125,189	Oren Rosen
38	$10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship	121	Pedro Bromfman	$294,616	Scott Seiver
39	$3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed	719	Fabian Brandes	$371,358	Leonid Yanovski
40	$10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship	137	Daniel Zack	$324,174	David Funkhouser
41	$1,000 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold'em	2,227	Ramsey Stovall	$191,223	Timothy Heng
42	$100,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em	62	Aleksejs Ponakovs	$1,897,363	Phil Ivey
o4	$1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Max	470	Matt Szymaszek	$141,705	Greg Koutelidakis
43	$500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em	4,786	David Perry	$241,729	Chris Moorman
45	$1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha	1,437	Phil Hui	$311,782	Daniel Tordjman