After a period of flux around the poker world, the 2022 World Series of Poker’s move to the Las Vegas strip saw poker return to its natural home. In 2021, Koray Aldemir won the biggest title in poker, as the delayed WSOP Main Event took place in the Autumn. Just six months later, Aldemir’s reign as world champion was over as a new batch of poker hopefuls looked to bag the first title won on the strip for the better part of three decades.
The WSOP was back on the Las Vegas strip and returned with a bang.
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A Mammoth Schedule Thrills Poker’s ‘Return’
Not since Chris Moneymaker’s win at Binion’s in 2003 had the Las Vegas strip celebrated poker as it did in 2022, and while ‘The Moneymaker Effect’ spawned a poker boom, it had not yet started when he won the title and $2.5m top prize. Moneymaker’s actions prompted a spike in poker interest around the world, but back in 2003, his win on the Las Vegas strip came as he outlasted 838 opponents. In 2022, the world champion would outlast 8,662 others on his way to becoming the first-ever Main Event winner from his country.
There were a massive 89 live events in Las Vegas in 2022, with WSOP Europe adding another 15 events in Rozvadov, located on the Czech-German border, where Sweden’s Omar Eljach won the 763-player Main Event for $1.38 million. The WSOP in Las Vegas was back on the Strip and took place at the connected cardrooms between Bally’s and Paris. An incredible seven players won two events each in 2022, with Lawrence Brandt winning the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi/Lo event and the $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. event. Jeremy Ausmus won his fourth and fifth bracelets, claiming gold in the $3,000-entry 6-Max Limit Hold’em event before winning the $365-entry Online NLHE Event. In taking gold twice, Ausmus followed Doyle Brunson, Gary Berland, and Layne Flack in becoming just the fourth player in WSOP history to win multiple bracelets in consecutive years.
Other players to win two bracelets included Germany’s Claas Segebrecht and American players Maxx Coleman and Tanner Bibat. Segebrecht and Bibat won both of their bracelets online, with Bibat winning both of his within five days.
One other American landed two bracelets as Daniel Zack won the second and third WSOP titles of his career in the $10,000-entry Omaha Hi-Lo event and the $10,000 buy-in Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Championship event. Winning both those big ticket events, along with two other final table appearances and an amazing 16 cashes during the series, saw Zack win not only $1.45 million but the well-deserved title of WSOP Player of the Year.
Other Big Name Bracelet Winners
Each of the first three open events of the 2022 WSOP was won by players who claimed their fourth bracelets, as David Peters, Scott Seiver, and Bradley Ruben all got the series off to a polished and professional start. While amateurs did claim gold in 2022, there were many big-name winners who were household names.
Hungarian Norbert Szecsi won his third career bracelet when he took down the $5,300-entry WSOP Online NLHE Freezeout event. Mixed game megastar Adam Friedman won his fifth in the $10,000 Seven-Card Stud Championship, while Brian Hastings made it six in the $10,000 2-7 Triple Draw event, as he went into joint-ninth on the all-time bracelet winners list.
Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates felt no angst about moving from the Rio to the Strip, as he went back-to-back in the $50,000 buy-in Poker Player Championship, taking home almost $1.45 million in the process, while Eli Elezra won his fifth WSOP title when he took down the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship event.
Julien Martini took home bracelet #4 in the $10,000 Razz Championship, Canadian professional Mark Radoja won his third in the online $1,500 NLHE Fifty Stack Bounty event, and there were second WSOP bracelets for players including the late, great Steve Albini, Latvian star Aleksejs Ponakovs, South American heavyweight Joao Simao, Michael Gagliano, and Justin Saliba.
From Hero to Zero
On the way to the WSOP Main Event, other records tumbled with Daniel Negreanu’s run to 16th in the $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event, making him the first person to cash in 200 WSOP bracelet events.
When the Main Event rolled around, a packed field of 8,663 combatants took to the felt with former champions such as Chris Moneymaker (1,198th), Ryan Riess (1,182nd), Greg Merson (610th), John Cynn (550th) and the 2021 winner Koray Aldemir (75th) all running deep. Amazingly, Aldemir’s run all the way to the last nine tables wasn’t the deepest run by a former champion, although it was one of the best title defenses. The Argentinian 2020 Hybrid Main Event winner Damian Salas made it all the way to 27th place for a return of $262,300 as he got oh so close to another main event final table.
Players like Kenny Tan (17th for $410,000) and bubble boy Asher Coniff (10th for $675,000) got close, but the final nine were headed up by Matthew Su with 80.8 million chips. The stacks were very evenly spread, and for Su, it was a nightmare, as the chip leader with nine remaining was the first person to leave. Su went from hero to zero, cashing for just $850,675 when there was $10 million up top.
After one of two British players at the final table felt, Philippe Souki, busted in eight for $1,075,000, Aaron Duczak (7th for $1.35m) and Jeffrey Farnes (6th for $1.75m) were both eliminated too.
The Tag Team Champions
With five players left, Matija Dobric had gone from chip leader with eight remaining to become short with four opponents across the felt. All-in with pocket sixes, he was flipping against the Norwegian player Espen Jørstad, holding ace-queen. A queen on the flop did it for Dobric, who busted in fifth for $2 million.
Soon, John Eames became another victim of Jørstad. All-in with ace-jack, Eames was up against Jørstad’s pocket kings. A flop of J-T-8 gave Eames a pair, but he needed more help. A three on the turn changed nothing. Eames had one card to come but missed it, a six landing to give Jørstad a big lead with three left as the last remaining British player left with $3 million as he just failed to become the first British world champion.
Jørstad was in charge with 286 million chips, more than Australian Adrian Attenborough and American Michael Duek combined. Duek was the shortest stack, and he departed after just 10 hands in third for $4 million. Duek was pot committed with a king-eight on a board of Q-T-5-K-3 when Attenborough re-shoved for more than Duek’s had back. After dejectedly calling, Attenborough showed ace-jack for the nuts, a Broadway straight.
Heading into the final battle with a marginal chip lead, Espen Jørstad was looking good for the win, but both men held the lead over a 20-hand tense battle. Jørstad frequently visited his rail, and he had good cause to do so as he chatted with his friend Patrick Leonard. The British online poker legend was more than just a friend; however, he had won a WSOP bracelet – their first – in the $1,000 Tag Team event just a week earlier for $296,134 between them. That experience seemed to help Jørstad immensely, and when his queen-deuce flopped huge against Attenborough’s jack-four on a flop that came 4-2-2, the scales seemed to tip in the Norwegian’s favor. Big bets from the Aussie on the flop preceded a turn of an eight, and a river queen that made Jørstad a full house. His shove on the river was designed to look like a bluff.
A Brave Move At The Wrong Time
“I’ve got a weird feeling this is the one time you bluffed me. I really want to call badly…but I have such a bad hand.”
Going into the tank for a full 20 minutes, the Australian finally swore and pushed his chips into the middle as he took the bait.
“He calls… he loses!” said Lon McEachern behind the mic, and in the Thunderdome at Bally’s, the two men hugged it out. Attenborough was distraught, admitting that he considered himself to have made a terrible call, but in reality, he made a brave move at the worst possible time. Jørstad won his second WSOP bracelet of the series – and his career – as he became his country’s first-ever world champion.
After so many years away from the Las Vegas strip, the World Series of Poker was back where it belonged.
“It’s the biggest tournament the world, it’s still sinking in,” Jørstad told Kara Scott after victory. She asked him what he did for that epic tank in the final hand from his opponent. “I did some meditation and chilled out!” he laughed. “My Mum is my biggest fan and she’s probably sitting at home crying. I need to give her a call.”
McEachern’s co-commentator Norman Chad was equally effusive about the new world champion.
“Espen Jørstad acted like a champion, looked like a champion and played like a champion. He deserves to be the world champion.”
Espen Jørstad won $10 million as he took down the first WSOP Main Event to be back on the Las Vegas Strip. The fun was just beginning, and having ridden out a fractious period of poker and human history, the World Championship was only going to get bigger and better.
| Player | Country | Prize | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Espen Jørstad | Norway | $10,000,000 |
| 2nd | Adrian Attenborough | Australia | $6,000,000 |
| 3rd | Michael Duek | United States | $4,000,000 |
| 4th | John Eames | United Kingdom | $3,000,000 |
| 5th | Matija Dobric | Croatia | $2,250,000 |
| 6th | Jeffrey Farnes | United States | $1,750,000 |
| 7th | Aaron Duczak | Canada | $1,350,000 |
| 8th | Philippe Souki | United Kingdom | $1,075,000 |
| 9th | Matthew Su | United States | $850,675 |
2021 WSOP Main Event 2023 WSOP Main Event
About the Author: Paul Seaton has written about poker for over 10 years, interviewing some of the best players ever to play the game such as Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth. Over the years, Paul has reported live from tournaments such as the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and the European Poker Tour. He has also written for other poker brands where he was Head of Media, as well as BLUFF magazine, where he was Editor.