WSOP Day 27 Recap: Spasov Defeats Mike Watson Heads Up for Bracelet, Joao Simao Takes Mixed Crown

An incredible day of action in the 2022 World Series of Poker saw four bracelets won, and an amazing five other events take place at Bally’s and Paris as there was drama and excitement at every table. With a first-time Bulgarian and a brilliant second bracelet for a Brazilian, the action kicked off in events where a winner would be found on the day.

Spasov Takes Down Watson for Maiden Crown

Simeon Spasov became a first-time WSOP bracelet winner as he defeated Canadian Mike Watson in a battle of the potential first-timers in Event #49. The $2,000-entry NLHE event had worked its way to a final table where Watson led and the popular pro was looking to finally end his WSOP hoodoo and win a bracelet for the first time. It failed to transpire, however, as Watson couldn’t see off the stubborn Bulgarian heads-up.

The final table began with the elimination of Evan Sandberg, who lost his short stack early before German player Christopher Frank lost his stack in sixth place when Spasov’s ace-queen hit against pocket nines. Watson had lost a little but doubled back through Daniel Custodio before Walter Ripper (5^th for $133,129) and Ioannis Angelous Konstas (4^th for $177,761) both busted.

Three-handed play was a tense affair, with Custodio eventually the player to miss out. Eventually he busted with ace-deuce, Watson making a straight with king-queen. Heads-up, Watson had some to make up, but was unable to do so and when Spasov, who had previously cracked pocket aces with ace-queen on Day 3, it turned out to be an omen, with ace-queen eventually the winning hand against Watson’s ace-nine, sealing a memorable bracelet win and the top prize of $527,944.

Joao Simao Wins Mixed Game Crown for Second Bracelet

Brazilian poker professional Joao Simao won his second WSOP bracelet of a glittering career when he beat Marius Gierse heads-up for $686,242. With eight players at the final table, it was Cody Rich who busted first, slipping out of contention and followed by Fred Goldberg and Australian player Joshua McSwiney.

With Aden Salazar (5^th for $161,239) and Dante Goya (4^th for $219,472) both leaving the action, the final three players were absolute giants of the game and three of the biggest to enter the event which saw 788 entrants overall.  Ryan Riess busted in third place when his hand in Pot Limit Omaha failed to catch his opponent Gierse’s.

The German player may have won that pot, but he was still almost a 4:1 dog and Simao kept the pressure on throughout heads-up, never losing the lead. He eventually won in PLO after growing his lead and won with aces and five to raucous celebrations on the Brazilian rail. No-one holds a bracelet party like Brazilian and the Thunderdome at Bally’s was rocking to the samba beat as Simao claimed gold again.

KT Park Claims First Bracelet in Second WSOP Event

A frantic final day of action in Event #52, the $2,500-entry Nine Game Mix, saw big names such as Phil Hellmuth (24^th), Scott Seiver (22^nd), Daniel Negreanu (13^th), Mike Gorodinsky (11^th) and Scott Bohlman (8^th) all bust before the six-handed final table where the first-time winner Park celebrated the biggest result of his career.

With six remaining, Michael Chow busted, just ahead of Taylor Paur (5^th) and David Bach (4^th). Phil Long, who has made two very deep runs in mixed game events this series, finished third before Brazilian Andre Akkari was outlasted heads-up by the less-experienced Park.

Park’s win and first bracelet also came with a top prize of $219,799 as yet another busy field for a mixed game paid out a six-figure score to the winner.

Schwartz Leads Poker Players Championship After Dramatic Day 1

British player Luke Schwartz is aiming to win his second WSOP bracelet and after playing little live poker in recent years, is in a great position to make another statement win in this year’s prestigious Poker Players Championship. Bagging the biggest stack of 893,000, Schwartz sits some way ahead of his nearest rivals, but what rivals they are. Bryn Kenney (802,000), Shaun Deeb (718,500) and Bryce Yockey (715,000) are all on Schwartz’ tail, with last year’s event winner Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates’ (617,000) and the reigning world champion Koray Aldemir (546,000) also in a star-studded top 10.

Further back, players such as former event winner and 2022 bracelet holder Phil Hui (501,000) and six-time winner and fellow alumni from this year Brian Hastings (468,000) goes for bracelet number seven. Other poker legends such as Daniel Negreanu (429,000), Phil Ivey (362,000) and Brian Rast (160,500) all made the cut, but other big names fell, with Josh Arieh, Ben Diebold, Felipe Ramos, Eli Elezra and current WSOP Player of the Year leader Dan Zack all crashing out.

Sarnoff Grabs Final Day Lead in Seniors Event

The penultimate day of action in the $1,000-entry Seniors Championship saw Ben Sarnoff take the chip lead as five players remain in the hunt for the $694,909 top prize. Overnight, it was WSOP bracelet winner Kathy Liebert who had the chip lead, but while she made the final day, it was not a day of dominance for the 2004 bracelet winner and if she is to triumph again 18 years on she will need to do it from the middle of the pack.

Sarnoff will start the action on the final day with 55 million chips, a big lead from both Eric Smidinger (32.8m) and the aforementioned Liebert (29.1m). Both the other players have less than half Sarnoff’s stack, with Biagio Morciano (19m) some way ahead of Charles Mitchell (7.9m).

On a busy day of action, 16 players were whittled down to just five, with Domenico Scalamogna (10^th for $53,324) missing out on the final table action. The only former bracelet winner at the final table, Andres Korn, busted in seventh place for $110,662, and when Jan Pettersson went in $143,189, the final five were set.

Jordan Pelon Cruises Through Colossus Crowd on Day 2

A vast sea of players was reduced to a small but bubbling stream as 1,695 players started Day 2 of the colossus and only 68 still had chips by its end. With a mammoth 15 levels of action taking place, the chip leader after Day 2 was a dominant Jordan Pelon, who hails from France.

Pelon bagged up an outstanding 30,350,000 chips to almost double the total of his nearest challenger, fellow French player Francklin Flory (17,375,000), with Ari Oxman (17,200,000) and Raymond Downing (17,025,000) also in the top four chipstcks.

With Frank Jamrow (15,975,000) and Gabriel Andrade (15,525,000), both not far behind, there will be plenty of drama on Day 3 when play resumes to race towards the final table and a champion, with the only former bracelet winner still in the field, David Jackson, one of the shorter stacks on 4,600,000.

Oliveira Leads Salute to Warriors

A busy day of battling at Bally’s took place for a great cause in the $500-entry Salute to Warriors Event #54, where Brazilian player Aryan Oliveira took the chip lead on the day with 1,328,000 chips. A total field of 3,209 played down to 498 survivors, but we will still need to lose 16 more players before the bubble bursts on Day 2.

Of the top stacks, Jackson Traub (1,077,000), Patrick Pilko (1,057,000), and Gerry Harris (1,024,000) all finished with over a million chips, with the highest-finishing former bracelet winner being Steve Zolotow (117^th with 462,000 chips). Other former gold holders such as Long Ma (433,000), Perry Friedman (364,000) and Barry Greenstein (299,000) made the cut but others fell away with Paulina Loeliger, Anson Tsang, Player of the Year frontrunner Daniel Zack and Daniel Weinman all being cut from the field on the opening day.

Tag Team Event Sees 913 Entries

Another bumper event was the $1,000-entry Tag Team event, which saw a busy Day 1 conclude with 913 teams cut down to 183 duos by the close of play. Taking place across both Paris and Bally’s cardrooms, some of the big stacks include chip leaders Peter Phan and Jeffrey Trina of Team Phan, who bagged up 435,500.

A long way behind them are Nick Yunis and Reynel Hernandez of Team Yunis (268,000), with Dennis Toms and Jose Giordani of Team Toms (246,500) not far behind them. Elsewhere, Brandon Nguyen and Ben Spragg of Team Nguyen (152,000), David ‘ODB’ Baker and Cord Garcia of Team Baker (143,000), Linda McCabe and Christian Soto of Team McCabe with (66,500) and Dara O’Kearney and Jason Tompkins of Team O’Kearney (51,000) all made the cut, with Marle Spragg and Gary Cordeiro of Team Cordeiro (48,000) also bagging a Day 2 stack.

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