The 2022 World Series of Poker Main Event reached the bubble Sunday morning on Day 3 at 1 a.m. right after Robert Lipkin from Chicago, Illinois busted in 1,301st place following a three-way race-off.
Last year's bubble, Kevin Campbell, however, escaped the same disaster he faced at the 2021 WSOP Main Event when he busted with pocket aces. This time around, he'd built up a bigger stack heading into the bubble and has secured his first career cash in poker's most prestigious annual event.
"It feels good," Campbell told PokerNews about being on the right side of the bubble this year.
Campbell is excitedly moving onto Day 4, which begins at noon PT on Sunday, with a healthy stack of over 500,000.
Wild Finish to Day 3
Bally's was buzzing with excitement for over an hour as the bubble approached. During hand-for-hand play and down to 1,302 players, five tables had an all in and call situation, three of which resulted in an elimination.
That created a wild scenario in which the WSOP called for a race-off between the three players eliminated, one of whom would be dubbed the official Main Event bubble and receive free entry into the tournament next year. All three players split the $15,000 payout for 1,300th place ($5,000 each).
Each player was dealt a hand and the dealer then turned over the board, which was 7♥4♠A♣10♠5♦ and then Lipkin flipped over 8♥6♥ for the stone-cold nuts, which obviously couldn't be beat.
"I've played in the Main Event like 14 times so far, and I think this is my sixth cash," Lipkin told PokerNews.
Lipkin survived one elimination when forced all in from the big blind. On the next hand, he was again all in without an option to fold from the small blind and lost to pocket nines. He received a bit of a consolation upon winning a race-off against two other players.
The bubble now has 34 career cashes in bracelet events and over $430,000 in all live tournament cashes, according to Hendon Mob.
With the tournament down to 1,299 players, everyone left is guaranteed at least $15,000. For those sitting on small stacks, they'll need to they'll need another 218 players to bust before moving up the pay ladder to $17,000. When the Main Event concludes on July 17, one player will walk away with a $10 million payday.
When the bubble burst, six former winners were still in it, including the past two champions: Chris Moneymaker (2003), Greg Merson (2012), Ryan Riess (2013), John Cynn (2018), Damian Salas (2020), and Koray Aldemir (2021).
