Romans Voitovs Wins 2022 WSOP Event #80: $600 Mixed NLH/PLO ($158,609)

Romans Voitovs won his first gold bracelet in the 2022 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Event #80: $600 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em/Pot-Limit Omaha after besting a field of 2,107 entries, unhooking by the same occasion a third historic bracelet for Latvia.

With a massive chip lead at the beginning of heads-up play, Voitovs beat experienced player Michael Dobbs to secure the $158,609 top prize in a short battle that lasted less than 10 hands.

When asked about his victory 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”.

“I play a lot online, just a few live events," said Voitovs about his poker journey, who more than quadruple up his live cashes with his victory. Voitovs entered the final table with a huge chip lead of 5:1 on every other player at the table.

"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," added Voitovs with a smile.

On the very last hand, Voitovs called a raise from Dobbs with queen-ten to find an open-ended straight draw on the flop. All the rest of the chips went in the middle and Voitovs hit his straight on the turn while Dobbs was left drawing dead with pocket aces.

"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," added Voitovs.

Event #80 Final Table Results

Final Day Recap

With 76 players returning for Day 2 at 1 p.m, over half the field was eliminated in the very first four levels of the day. Start-of-the-day chip leader Jorge Briones ended up in 46th place for $3,394 and was joined on the rail not long after by bracelet winners Daniel Fuhs (44th - $3,394) and Asi Moshe (41st - $3,394).

With the tournament down to just three tables, James Little was the first casualty, busting in 24th place for $4,886 and cashing his 31st WSOP event. Nipun Java, owner of two WSOP online bracelets, was also a notable elimination in 22nd place, taking home $5,950.

The action was fast-paced with an all in almost every hand at each table. So fast was the action that the field went from 24 to the final nine in less than two hours, with the last bracelet winners exiting in Daniel Zack, who started the day among the top stacks, busting in 12th place for $9,092, and Jonathan Dimmig falling in 11th for $11,404.

Voitovs led the pack with ten players left and scored a double knock out when he eliminated Dror Ramaty and Andrew Peplinski in ninth and eighth place for $14,442 and $18,464 respectively.

At the return of the dinner break, Voitovs continued his aggression and was unstoppable from then on busting four players in less than 20 minutes. His next victims were Jacob Staley (7th place - $23,831), Jordan Russell (6th place - $31,046), Richard Bai (5th place- $40,822) and Francisco Baruffi (4th place - $54,172).

Justin Barnum joined them at the payout desk a few minutes later. Barnum reached the final table as the short stack and managed his way to the podium but fell in third place for $72,544 when he shoved in the big blind with nine-eight suited and got called by Dobbs with ten-six and hit trips on the board.

With a massive chip lead, the heads-up battle was just a matter of minutes and Voitovs finished the job as easily as he started it, while Dobbs took second place for $98,026.