2022 WSOP Day 1: Hellmuth Noticeable Absentee as WSOP Kicks Off
Table Of Contents
May 31 saw the 2022 World Series of Poker (WSOP) get underway at its new home at Bally's and Paris Las Vegas on the Las Vegas Strip. Reality TV star and entrepreneur Lisa Vanderpump uttered those famous words, "Shuffle Up and Deal," and the 2022 WSOP was underway.
Day 1 of the 2022 WSOP saw two events at the opposite end of the buy-in spectrum kick off: the $500 Employees No-Limit Hold'em and the $100,000 High Roller Bounty tournament. The latter attracted some of the biggest names in poker, including the underfire Bryn Kenney, Ali Imsirovic, and Jake Schindler. However, it was the absence of 16-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth that had tongues wagging. Hellmuth was due to begin his quest for his 17th bracelet in the $100,000 bounty event but a recent trip to Mexico left Hellmuth with what he described as "travelers diarrhea," nice. Here's wishing Hellmuth a speedy recovery.
Kenney, Schindler & Imsirovic Arrive at 2022 WSOP Despite Recent Cheating Allegations
Shaun Colquhoun Leads Event #1: $500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold'em
The $500 Casino Employees event drew in a crowd of 832 players, almost double the 419 entrants from the 2021 edition last fall. Only 82 of those starters remain in contention for a slice of the $349,440 prize pool and nobody has more chips than Shaun Colquhoun, who bagged up a tournament-leading stack of 885,000 chips at the close of play.
Arturo Jimenez came close to snatching the chip lead but ultimately fell short, ending his Day 1 with a most respectable 848,000 stack.
Also nicely poised for a bracelet charge is popular Belgian Kenny Hallaert. Hallaert has more than $4.5 million in live poker tournament winnings, and is hoping to add th $65,168 top prize to that tally.
Day 1 was the end of the road to the PokerNews employees who attempted to follow in Chad Holloway's footsteps, who won this event in 2013. However, the likes of Yori Epskamp, Calum Grant, and Holloway himself fell by the wayside before the money places.
Day 2 resumes at 12:00 p.m. Las Vegas time and plays until a champion is crowned.
Event #1: $500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold'em Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shaun Colquhoun | United States | 885,000 |
| 2 | Arturo Jimenez | United States | 848,000 |
| 3 | Kenny Hallaert | Belgium | 695,000 |
| 4 | Jonaghan Liu | United States | 660,000 |
| 5 | Brandon West | United States | 656,000 |
| 6 | Kelli Phillips | United States | 613,000 |
| 7 | Kirby Brewer | United States | 588,000 |
| 8 | John Divecha | United States | 567,000 |
| 9 | Michael Murray | United States | 533,000 |
| 10 | Minkyun Kim | South Korea | 533,000 |
Follow all the action from the $500 Casino Employees Event
Justin Young Bags the $100,000 Bounty High Roller Chip Lead
Day 1 of Event #2 $100,000 High Roller Bounty at The 2022 WSOP at Bally's and Paris Las Vegas came to a close after 12 levels of play. As expected, the event drew some of poker’s biggest names with a total of 45 entries, which was whittled down to 15 by the day’s close.
Justin Young had a good stretch of play during the middle of the day, winning two key flips against Chris Hunichen and Laszlo Bujitas. He then enjoyed a late surge and will enter tomorrow as the chipleader with 3,500,000, thanks in large part to winning a huge pot against Alex Foxen during the last level of the night with his set of kings besting Foxen’s set of jacks.
Phil Ivey made a return to the WSOP after missing last year's edition and had a successful day, bagging 1,975,000. A good portion of that came from a hand against Sergi Reixach in which Reixach's two pair fell to Ivey's flush.
Other notables who bagged and tagged include Daniel Negreanu (1,235,000), David Peters (3,085,000) and the 2021 WSOP Main Event Champion Koray Aldemir (2,930,000).
Play will continue on Wednesday at 12:00 p.m. Vegas time with the remaining 15 players returning in Level 13 with blinds at 20,000/40,000 with a 40,000 ante. The field is expected to grow before cards go in the air with late registration open until the start of play. The plan is to play down to the final five players and return for the Day 3 finale on Thursday.
Event #2: $100,000 High Roller Bounty Top Ten Chip Counts
| RANK | PLAYER | COUNTRY | CHIP COUNT | BIG BLINDS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Justin Young | United States | 3,565,000 | 89 |
| 2 | David Peters | United States | 3,085,000 | 77 |
| 3 | Koray Aldemir | Germany | 2,930,000 | 73 |
| 4 | Ali Imsirovic | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 2,545,000 | 64 |
| 5 | Bill Klein | United States | 2,240,000 | 56 |
| 6 | Dario Sammartino | Italy | 2,180,000 | 55 |
| 7 | Phil Ivey | United States | 1,975,000 | 49 |
| 8 | Erik Seidel | United States | 1,645,000 | 41 |
| 9 | Cary Katz | United States | 1,570,000 | 39 |
| 10 | Chance Kornuth | United States | 1,335,000 | 33 |
Don't miss any of the $100K Bounty High Roller action
In this Series
- 1 2022 WSOP Day 1: Hellmuth Noticeable Absentee as WSOP Kicks Off
- 2 2022 WSOP Day 2: First Bracelet Awarded; Ivey Records a Cash
- 3 2022 WSOP Day 3: Peters Wins Gold; Seiver Hunting For Bracelet #4
- 4 2022 WSOP Day 4: Scott Seiver & Brad Ruben Win Bracelet #4
- 5 2022 WSOP Day 5: Smith Bags 25k Heads-Up Title; Housewarming Surpasses Guarantee
- 6 2022 WSOP Day 6: Szecsi Reels in His Third Bracelet; O8 Event Needs Extra Time
- 7 2022 WSOP Day 7: Dan Smith Flying High in the $50K High Roller
- 8 2022 WSOP Day 8: Schutten Leads $50K High Roller Final Six
- 9 2022 WSOP Day 9: Diebold, Schindler, and Moncek Strike Gold
- 10 2022 WSOP Day 10: Bronshtein and Foxen On Course For Bracelets
- 11 2022 WSOP Day 11: Three New Bracelet Winners Crowned, "ElkY" and Ivey Lead $10K Stud
- 12 2022 WSOP Day 12: Two More Bracelets Won; Friedman on Fire in the $10K Stud
- 13 2022 WSOP Day 13: Friedman Makes It Five; Two Other Champs Crowned
- 14 2022 WSOP Day 14: Three New Champions; Big Names Turn Out In Force
- 15 2022 WSOP Day 15: Karakitkov On Course for $50K PLO High Roller Title
- 16 2022 WSOP Day 16: The Busiest Day Yet For Bracelets as Four Awarded
- 17 2022 WSOP Day 17: Hastings Secures His Sixth WSOP Bracelet
- 18 2022 WSOP Day 18: MILLIONAIRE MAKER Draws Thousands of Runners
- 19 2022 WSOP Day 19: Hellmuth Flying High in $10K Deuce-to-Seven
- 20 2022 WSOP Day 20: Bromfman, Stovall, and 'PmpknHead' Secure Bracelets
- 21 2022 WSOP Day 21: Ivey Denied His 11th WSOP Bracelet
- 22 2022 WSOP Day 22: $10K Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Championship Finally Concludes!
- 23 2022 WSOP Day 23: Six Events in Play, One Champion Crowned
- 24 2022 WSOP Day 24: Ivey Bags a Big Stack in the $250K Super High Roller
- 25 2022 WSOP Day 25: Foxen Leads $250k Super High Roller, First Bracelet for Cyprus
- 26 2022 WSOP Day 26: HOF Nominee Liebert's Still Got It, How Foxen Won First Bracelet
- 27 2022 WSOP Day 27: Four Bracelets Awarded as $50K PPC Kicks Off
- 28 2022 WSOP Day 28: Kenney Leads the $50,000 PPC Event
- 29 2022 WSOP Day 29: Dzivielevski Leads the $50K PPC; Three Bracelets Awarded
- 30 2022 WSOP Day 30: The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men
- 31 2022 WSOP Day 31: Cates Crowned PPC Champ on a Crazy Day of Action
- 32 2022 WSOP Day 32: Eli Elezra Wins Again, Hellmuth Chasing a Bracelet
- 33 2022 WSOP Day 33: Phil Hellmuth Denied 17th Bracelet; Jackson, Barbero & Teusl Victorious
- 34 2022 WSOP Day 34: The Main Event Shuffles Up and Deals!
- 35 2022 WSOP Day 35: Another Huge Day of Main Event Action
- 36 2022 WSOP Day 36: Clarke Leads Main Event; Glantz Banks a Milly
- 37 2022 WSOP Day 37: Vaughn Kicks Off Huge Main Event Flight
- 38 2022 WSOP Day 38: Gavin Munroe Leads After Day 2abc of the Main Event
- 39 2022 WSOP Day 39: Bryn Kenney Among Top Stacks After Day 2d of Main Event
- 40 2022 WSOP Day 40: Main Event Enters the Money, Six Former Champs Still In
- 41 2022 WSOP Day 41: Taylor von Kriegenbergh Leads the Main Event Into Day 5
- 42 2022 WSOP Day 42: Audacious Bluff Puts Lococo Over 10M in the Main Event
- 43 2022 WSOP Day 43: Main Event Field Reduced to Only 35
- 44 2022 WSOP Day 44: Main Event Reaches Its Final Table
- 45 2022 WSOP Day 45: Colpoys Claims Chip Lead in the $50K High Roller
- 46 2022 WSOP Day 46: Jorstad Leads the Main Event Final Three; Vieira Claims Second Bracelet
- 47 2022 WSOP Day 47: Jorstad Crowned Main Event Champion as 2022 WSOP Nears End
- 48 2022 WSOP Day 48: Series Begins Wrapping Up; Five Champions Crowned
- 49 2022 WSOP Day 49: Cowen Leads the Tournament of Champions
- 50 2022 WSOP Day 50: Woof Leads Final 16 in the Tournament of Champions
