2022 WSOP Day 43: Main Event Field Reduced to Only 35

The 2022 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas progressed to its 43rd day on July 12, meaning the end of this incredible series is in sight. No less than seven tournaments filled the vast ballrooms of the iconic Las Vegas casinos, while a high-stakes online bracelet-awarding event rounded off the day’s action.

Jinho Hong became a WSOP champion early into the day thanks to taking down Event #76: $1,969 Poker Hall of Fame Bounty. Seven players returned to their seats for an unscheduled Day 3 and it was Hong who shone the brightest. The former professional StarCraft player defeated Punnat Punsri heads-up to capture his first WSOP bracelet in addition to $276,067 in prize money.

The second bracelet awarded on Day 43 went to Julien "StepUpPoker" Perouse in the Online $3,200 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller 8-Max event. Some 340 players bought in and created a $1,343,680 prize pool. Perouse got their hands on $324,767 and bracelet number one, denying Calvin "projector52" Anderson his third piece of poker gold.

Jeffrey Farnes Leads the Final 35 Players into Day 7 of the 2022 WSOP Main Event

Day 6 of the 2022 World Series of Poker Main Event has come to an end and Jeffrey Farnes leads 35 players into Wednesday’s Day 7. The 2022 Main Event drew 8,663 runners and generated a prize pool of $80,782,475, from which the winner will take home $10,000,000. Day 6 welcomed 123 players, and 35 will return on Wednesday at 2 p.m. local time to play down to a final table.

Farnes is trailed at the top of the chip counts by Brian Kim, who ran hot all day and came up just short of the chip lead in the last moments of the evening. Philippe Souki, Karim Rebei, and Espen Jorstad round out the top five chip counts.

2022 World Series of Poker Main Event Day 6 Top Ten Chip Counts

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Day 6 Chip Leader

Farnes is the chip leader thanks to a day full of heroics and big hands.

“I guess it’s every poker player’s dream. It’s surreal. I think I’ll pinch myself when this whole thing’s over,” Farnes said about being the Day 6 chip leader.

The highlight of Farnes day came in the late stages of the evening when he made his charge up the leaderboard, first with the elimination of 2021 final table qualifier Alejandro Lococo. Lococo got it in with ace-queen, but Farnes called with pocket tens.

“I just kind of felt like it was time to get one of the toughest players in the field out, so I tried it,” Farnes said about his flip with Lococo.

“It was only, I think, 20 percent of my stack to do it so I went ahead and made the gamble. And it was right. So that was cool.”

A short time later, Farnes vaulted into the chip lead when he picked up quads to take a chunk of Tzur Levy’s chip stack and chip up to nearly 40 million.

“To get quad nines at the Main Event on Day 6. I don’t know if it gets any better than that.”

New Stars Emerge on Day 6

The most memorable hand of the day came when Haim Or Krief cracked the aces of Gilbert Cruz in a three-way pot that also included Stanley Lee and his pocket jacks. The aces were in command, but runner-runner hearts brought a flush for Or Krief to send Cruz and Lee to the rail in early Day 6 action.

Among the others in the top ten is Matija Dobric, who made Day 7 last year and finished in 32nd place.

"There is no mindset, I just play hand by hand and whatever happens happens, that's poker like every other poker tournament,” Dobric said after bagging up his chips at the end of Day 6. “I mean, it's not like every other event but I play my best every hand and there is nothing special about it.

"Last year it was really hard. I couldn't sleep because I was full of adrenaline and when I woke up after four or five hours of sleep, I was trying to stay awake at the table. This year is different, I am calm, I can sleep, I can get good rest, everything goes smooth."

Dobric will return for Day 7 with more experience and the rare opportunity to get another shot at making the Main Event final table.

Among the other breakout stars on Day 6 was Rebei, who got involved in hands early and often throughout the tournament.

"I hope [my playing style] is disturbing for the other players," Rebei said, offering some insight into his playing style - a style that involves playing a lot of hands. "What a lot of players have forgotten, there are 52 cards in the deck. If we want to play short deck, we play for short deck. I play 52 cards."

Also returning is Brooklyn-native Efthymia Litsou, who has locked up her first career WSOP cash in this year’s Main Event.

"I'm feeling very good. My aim was to make it through Day 1 so Day 7 sounds great," Litsou said at the end of Day 6.

Litsou returns as the only woman remaining in this year’s Main Event after Shelby Wells bowed out just after the tournament reached its final 100 players.

"I wish there were more women playing the game, so maybe next year," Litsou said.

Her preparation plans for Day 7?

"Get some alcohol in me first, and then some good night's sleep."

Other runners that made it to Day 6 but couldn’t find their way to Day 7 include Dan Smith, Zilong Zhang, Day 2 chip leader Muhammad Abdel Rahim, Day 1A chip leader Cedrric Trevino and Day 5 chip leader James Hobbs.

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Remaining Payouts

Players will return at 2 p.m. on Wednesday at the Bally’s Event Center in Level 32 with blinds at 150,000/300,000 with a 300,000 ante. Action will continue on Wednesday’s Day 7 until the Main Event reaches its final table, and PokerNews will be there to carry all of the action.

One More For One Drop Ends With Three Players

Only three players remain in Event #71: $1,111 One More for One Drop where $535,610 awaits the eventual winner. Day 4 started with 41 players returning to their seats, but a steady flow of eliminations during the day's ten levels lefts only a trio of stars in the hunt for the event's bracelet.

Mike Allis goes into the final day holding a commanding lead courtesy of bagging up 142,700,000 chips. Allis is joined by 2013 WSOP Main Event champion Ryan Riess (46,700,000) who is looking for his second bracelet. Basel Chaura (38,600,000) sits down with a similar stack to Riess.

Day 5 kicks off at 12:00 p.m. local time on July 13.

Event #71: $1,111 One More for One Drop Chip Counts

Lucky 7's Day 1c is in the Bag; Metalidi Bags Big

Ukraine's Artem Metalidi found himself in the top five of the Day 1c chip counts in Event #75: $777 Lucky 7's No-Limit Hold'em. The Ukrainian bagged and tagged 2,680,000 betting tokens at the close of play, with only Alon Messica (3,050,000), Joseph Elpayaa (2,875,000), and Xinli Ye (2,800,000) finishing Day 1c with more chips.

Also safely through to Day 2 include such stars as Cherish Andrews (2,000,000), James Mackey (1,700,000), Lithuanian grinder Gediminas Uselis (1,440,000), and Barry Greenstein (545,000).

A total of 285 players return to their seats on Day 2 of this event. Play commences at 12:00 p.m. local time on July 13.

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Event #75: $777 Lucky 7's Day 1c Top 10 Chip Counts

Day 2 of the $1,500 NLHE/PLO Mixed Ends With 11 Players

Aden Salazar has one hand on the bracelet and the $277,949 top prize in Event #76: $1,500 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em/Pot-Limit Omaha. Salazar eliminated Daniel Negreanu on his way to bagging up a tournament-leading 9,140,000 chips, which are more than twice as many as Noah Bronstein (4,200,000) in second place.

Start of the day chip leader Vincent Lam (3,810,000) returns to the action third in chips, while British PLO specialist Richard Kellett (1,580,000) is still in the mix, as is bracelet-winner Sandeep Pulusani (1,210,000).

The final 11 players return to their seats at 1:00 p.m. local time on July 13 and play down to a champion.

Event #76: $1,500 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em/Pot-Limit Omaha Chip Counts

Miscikowski Is The Man To Catch in the $2,500 NLHE

David Miscikowski finished Day 2 of Event #78: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em in the envious position of chip lead after bagging up 6,085,000 chips. The bracelet winner may have the upper hand going into Day 3 but Miscikowski will not have matters all his own way because there are some extremely talented players among the final 22 players who reached Day 2.

Matt Berkey (5,430,000) is one such player; he returns to the action second in chips. Then there are the likes of Thomas McDonald (3,935,000), Australia's Luke Martinelli (2,955,000), Ran Koller (2,270,000), Kenny Hallaert (1,425,000), and James Gilbert (1,330,000) all in contention for the title, the bracelet, and a cool $499,636 top prize.

Those through to Day 3 resume their battle at 2:00 p.m. local time on July 13.

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Event #78: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts

Kakon Is Your $10K Razz Championship Chip Leader

Day 1 of Event #79: $10,000 Razz Championship drew in 125 players but only 59 of those starters have chips in their stacks right now. Nobody has more chips than Morocco's William Kakon, who finished with 308,500 chips. Kakon won a bracelet in a $1,500 Limit Hold'em event in 2015 and now has a realistic chance of securing his second piece of WSOP hardware.

Victory is far from assured because there is a long way to go in this event, and the field is littered elite players such as Brian Hastings (263,000), Daniel Negreanu (240,00), Adam Friedman (214,000), David Bach (210,500), Chris Moneymaker (169,000), Brandon Shack-Harris (165,500), and Julien Martini (164,500).

Day 2 kicks off 2:00 p.m. on July 13, join the PokerNews team from then. Late registration remains open until Day 2 commences.

Event #79: $10,000 Razz Championship Top 10 Chip Counts