WSOP Day 37 Recap: Main Event Day 1d Sees 4,350 Entries, Quincy Borland Wins Million Dollar Bounty Event for $750k

An incredible day of action in the World Series of Poker Main Event saw 4,350 people put down a stack of high society and take down the biggest poker tournament in the world. At Bally’s and Paris in Las Vegas, Hollywood star Vince Vaughn introduced the action – and the 2022 WSOP world champion bracelet – as the action got underway.

With 3,500 players surviving Day 1d, plenty of world champions made the cut. In the day’s other event, the Million Dollar Bounty event was won for over $750,000.

Main Event Sees Incredible Field

With a total of 4,350 entries on a bumper Day 1d, around 3,500 players survived the final Day 1 flight of the 2022 WSOP Main Event. That total, added to the players who already took part in Days 1a, 1b and 1c means that the 2022 Main Event field sits at 7,930 players, a few hundred shy of the 2006 record of 8,569. That is, until you add onto that number whoever will sit down and take part on Day 2abc or 2d, with registration still open for two more levels. It seems like the record may yet be broken, maybe even by some distance.  

The day began with an entrance that even the great Phil Hellmuth might struggle to top when he enters the field tomorrow. Hollywood star Vince Vaughn, also known as the WSOP Master of Ceremonies this year, entered the room being carried by ‘Roman’ centurion guards, before presenting the fabled Main Event bracelet and encouraging dealers to “Shuffle up and deal!” in one of the grandest fashions ever seen in Sin City.

At the close of play, Hao Chen’s stack of 580,100 was reported, but with investigations ongoing into the veracity of that stack, others such as Randall Heeb (339,000), Mathieu His (316,000) and Joe Bold (299,600) all claimed podium spots that were verified behind him. Big names made it through with plenty of chips as German crusher Christoph Vogelsang (273,500), former 1987 and 1988 Main Event winner Johnny Chan (218,800), 2021 Main Event runner-up George Holmes (181,100), 2020 Hybrid Main Event champion Damian Salas (125,000), the 2003 Main Event winner Chris Moneymaker (108,800), and defending champion Koray Aldemir (71,800) all built on their 60,000 starting stack.

Sadly for poker fans, Phil Ivey was unable to survive the flight, with the 10-time bracelet winner skittle late in the day after a fairly brutal run of the cards all day. He was joined on the rail by Allen ‘Chainsaw’ Kessler, online phenom Landon Tice, GPA Breakout star Kyna England, Barstool Sports’ Owen Roeder, WSOP bracelet winners Adam Friedman and Brandon Adams and YouTuber Brad Owen, who lost with pocket aces to ace-king to end his day in misery.  

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Borland Wins Bounty Bracelet for $750,000

Quincy Borland won his first-ever WSOP gold bracelet when he took down the final table of Event #68, the $1,000-entry Million Dollar Mystery Bounty event. With 33 players coming back to action, most of the bounties that attracted the attention had been won, with yesterday’s biggest winner being Matt Glantz, who walked away with the famed ‘Million-Dollar’ bounty.

Today’s event winner Quincy Borland may not have won that, but he did bank $750,120 after his efforts saw him capture the gold. With the Romanian player Florian Duta’s elimination in 26^th place, another pro who made a deep run, Natalie Hof Ramos looked like one to watch on the race to the final table, but she busted in 13^th place for a score worth $48,180. When Christopher Doan lost out in 10^th place ($60,440), the nine-handed final table was set.

After the elimination of Ramon Kropmanns in ninth place for $76,316, Daniel De Almeida was one of two brothers to go deep in the tournament, outlasting his sibling to finish eighth for $96,940. Both the first eliminations at the final table were Brazilian, but South Americans players crashing out were followed by their North American cousins.

Arash Asadabadi lost out in seventh place for $123,910, while fellow American Nellie Park went one place closer to the title. In fifth, Canadian player Michael Smith left for $206,250. Smith’s exit was an unfortunate one, with his pocket aces out-flopped by Kevin Hong’s pocket kings, with a king on the flop doing the damage.

Austrian player Wojciech Barzantny won $268,550 in fourth place, before three-handed play began. David Timmons lost out in third place for $351,800, and that left Hong with a 2:1 chip lead, but although play was pretty short-stacked, with only 75 big blinds in play at the table, Borland made his move at the perfect time, taking the lead then seeing it out when Hong’s ace-jack was dominated by the winner’s ace-queen.

Hong won $463,610, but it was Borland who claimed his first gold WSOP bracelet and the $750,120 top prize.

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