Hellmuth, Jackson, and Martini Among 26 Contenders Remaining in Event #65: $3,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em
The 2022 World Series of Poker at Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas continued today with Day 2 of Event #65: $3,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em. The event attracted 1,359 players to create a prize pool of $3,628,530, and only 26 players now remain.
Phil Hellmuth (3,290,000) bagged a top-five stack thanks in part to an accumulation near the end of the day, and he will return with another opportunity for a record-breaking 17th bracelet.
Japan’s Keiji Ito bagged the chip lead by a sizable margin with a solid stack of 6,360,000, good for just under 80 big blinds when play resumes.
David Jackson (4,700,000), Julien Martini (1,825,000), Blake Bohn (1,600,000), Justin Saliba (1,430,000), Anton Wigg (1,230,000), Renan Bruschi (1,140,000), and Michael Trivett (1,080,000) are also among those who bagged for the third and final day.
The remaining players are guaranteed $20,149 when they return, but all eyes will be on the $598,173 first-place prize, which comes with the bracelet and the glory.
Event #65: $3,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em Top Ten Chip Counts
| RANK | PLAYER | COUNTRY | CHIPS | BIG BLINDS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Keiji Ito | Japan | 6,360,000 | 80 |
| 2 | Richard Scardina | United States | 4,835,000 | 60 |
| 3 | David Jackson | United States | 4,700,000 | 59 |
| 4 | Jeffrey Lo | Hong Kong | 4,585,000 | 57 |
| 5 | Phil Hellmuth | United States | 3,290,000 | 41 |
| 6 | Timothy Sullivan | United States | 2,615,000 | 33 |
| 7 | Neel Joshi | India | 2,215,000 | 28 |
| 8 | Samy Dubonnet | France | 2,045,000 | 26 |
| 9 | Chad Brewer | United States | 1,975,000 | 25 |
| 10 | Onur Unsal | Turkey | 1,875,000 | 23 |
Action of the Day
There were 226 players returning to the felt today, although only 204 could grab a piece of the prize pool.
Kyle Kitagawa was on the wrong side of a cooler as he ran kings into aces on the bubble before the remaining players secured a min-cash of $4,818.
From there, players fell at a brisk pace as the field was whittled down.
Ito found a triple-up to survive, then nearly tripled again a short time later, and then survived a cooler rollercoaster on his way to the chip lead.
David Jackson held the top stack for a bit before losing a couple of all-ins while holding pocket nines to disperse some chips, although he still bagged the third-biggest stack heading into the finale
Phil Hellmuth held a modest stack throughout much of the day but went on a heater near the end to propel himself to one of the top stacks. He chipped up with a straight just before the dinner break, turned a superior two pair to eliminate a player later in the day, and then eliminated another player as the night came to a close.
Some of the players who made it into the money but weren’t able to bag for the final day include Michael Gathy (40th - $14,090), Hristivoje Pavlovic (52nd - $12,034), Hossein Ensan (86th - $7,401), Martin Kabrhel (105th - $6,351), Cary Katz (120th - $6,022), Alejandro Lococo (142nd - $5,269), Mike Watson (170th - $4,818), and Jesse Lonis (203rd - $4,818).
The 26 players will return on Saturday, July 2 at 2 p.m., and they are expected to play until a winner is declared.
Stay tuned as PokerNews continues to provide coverage of Event #65: $3,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em until a champion is crowned.