WSOP 2022 Day 21: Ponakovs Defeats Ivey for WSOP Gold
Things don’t always work out as planned. Masses of poker players tuned in to PokerGO on Monday night to see Phil Ivey play for a historic 11th WSOP gold bracelet. They were playing the oh-so-relatable $100K buy-in No Limit Hold’em High Roller tournament at the 2022 World Series of Poker, and Ivey was clearly the best-known player in the mix.
The thing was…poker is unpredictable. No matter how many people wanted Ivey to win, they couldn’t force it to happen. There were other players at the table with the talent and poker skills to compete, and one outplayed Ivey.
Aleksejs Ponakovs might not be a household name, but he beat Phil Ivey for a bracelet. Not only that, he was the first player to ever win a WSOP gold bracelet for the country of Latvia…and he did it just this past November. He won his second bracelet in less than a year.
Let’s hope that feat doesn’t get overlooked in the Ivey disappointment.
Event 37: $1,500 NLHE Millionaire Maker
Another day of the Millionaire Maker drilled the field down from 232 players to just 24. Two more days remain to determine the one person who will walk away a millionaire.
| Event 37: Day 3 of 4 | $1,500 buy-in | NLHE Millionaire Maker (1 RE/Flight) |
| Total entries: | 7,961 | (8809 in 2019, 5326 in 2021) |
| Players remaining: | 24 | |
| Total prize pool: | $10,627,935 | |
| Players paid: | 1,193 | |
| Minimum payout: | $2,400 | |
| Winner payout: | $1,125,141 | ($1M GTD) |
| Top chip counts: | #1 | Alen Tenorio (Brazil) 16,600,000 |
| #2 | John Sova (USA) 15,300,000 | |
| #3 | Jacek Pastula (Poland) 14,775,000 | |
| #4 | Justin Fawcett (USA) 12,350,000 | |
| #5 | Linus Richter (USA) 11,200,000 |
Event 39: $3K PLO 6-Handed
Sixteen players started the day, vying for just six seats at the final table. Jason DeWitt and Jan-Peter Jachtmann were among the early exits. As the final table neared, Grzegorz Derkowski busted Jamey Hendrickson in eighth place, and Leonid Yanovski did the same to Amirhossein Shayesteh in seventh place.
Yanovski started Day 3 as the chipleader and will go into Day 4 the same way, as he and five others play for their bracelet.
| Event 39: Day 3 of 4 | $3K buy-in | PLO 6-Handed (2 RE) |
| Total entries: | 719 | (835 in 2019, 496 in 2021) |
| Players remaining: | 6 | |
| Total prize pool: | $1,919,730 | |
| Players paid: | 108 | |
| Minimum payout: | $4,834 | |
| Winner payout: | $371,358 | |
| Top chip counts: | #1 | Leonid Yanovski (Israel) 8,700,000 |
| #2 | Fabian Brandes (Austria) 6,560,000 | |
| #3 | Sean Winter (USA) 4,275,000 | |
| #4 | Grzegorz Derkowski (Poland) 3,685,000 | |
| #5 | Ferenc Deak (Hungary) 3,110,000 | |
| #6 | Thomas Morrison (USA) 2,435,000 |
Event 40: $10K Stud-8 Championship
This championship-level tournament started with 15 players, but they knew it could be a long day. Felipe Ramos was the first to hit the payout window, followed by John Monnette, Eric Wasserson, Daniel Negreanu, Todd Brunson, and PJ Cha. Long Tra busted in ninth place, and the final table was set.
David Funkhouser eliminated Steven Loube in eighth place and Brian Hastings in seventh. Eric Kurtzman took care of Chad Eveslage in sixth and Shaun Deeb in fifth. After a very long time, Funkhouser took out Kurtzman, and play ended with three still vying for the title.
| Event 40: Day 3 of 4 | $10K buy-in | Seven-Card Stud-8 Championship |
| Total entries: | 137 | (151 in 2019, 144 in 2021) |
| Players remaining: | 3 | |
| Total prize pool: | $1,277,525 | |
| Players paid: | 21 | |
| Minimum payout: | $16,358 | |
| Winner payout: | $324,174 | |
| Results so far: | #1 | David Funkhouser (USA) 3,455,000 |
| #2 | Ziya Rahim (USA) 2,545,000 | |
| #3 | Daniel Zack (USA) 2,230,000 | |
| 4th place: | Eric Kurtzman (USA) $110,379 | |
| 5th place: | Shaun Deeb (USA) $83,465 | |
| 6th place: | Chad Eveslage (USA) $63,914 | |
| 7th place: | Brian Hastings (USA) $49,571 | |
| 8th place: | Steven Loube (USA) $38,947 |
Event 42: $100K NLHE High Roller
What was supposed to be a three-day tournament ended in two. With fewer players than expected and play moving faster, Day 2 started with just 23 players, and it just kept going. Ultimately, reigning WSOP Main Event champion Koray Aldemir was the bubble player, and Eric Worre was the first player to cash.
The final nine players took to one table, just as Ben Heath eliminated Nick Petrangelo and Masashi Oya in a single hand. Heath then busted Mikita Badziakouski in seventh, as Aleksejs Ponakovs stepped in to send Talal Shakerchi home in sixth.
After the dinner break, Heath was at it again, this time busting Michael Moncek in fifth place and Gregory Jensen in fourth. However, Ivey doubled through Heath and busted him soon after. Ivey took nearly 16M chips into heads-up play, but Ponakovs had more than 21M. Ivey started strong and took over, but Ponakovs took that lead back without much delay. Ivey then moved all-in with 8-6 on a J-7-3-9 board, but Ponakovs had A-9 for the pair. The 8 on the river gave the win to Ponakovs.
| Event 42: Day 2 of 2 | $100K buy-in | NLHE High Roller (1 RE) |
| Total entries: | 62 | (99 in 2019, 64 in 2021) |
| Total prize pool: | $5,998,500 | |
| Players paid: | 10 | |
| Minimum payout: | $162,623 | |
| Final table results: | 1st place: | Aleksejs Ponakovs (Latvia) $1,897,363 |
| 2nd place: | Phil Ivey (USA) $1,172,659 | |
| 3rd place: | Ben Heath (UK) $805,024 | |
| 4th place: | Gregory Jensen (USA) $571,896 | |
| 5th place: | Michael Moncek (USA) $420,944 | |
| 6th place: | Talal Shakerchi (UK) $321,437 | |
| 7th place: | Mikita Badziakouski (Belarus) $255,001 | |
| 8th place: | Masashi Oya (Japan) $210,485 | |
| 9th place: | Nick Petrangelo (USA) $181,068 |
Aleksejs Ponakovs defeats Phil Ivey to win second bracelet and $1,897,363 in $100,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em!https://t.co/dvFAHriXwQ
📸: Danny Maxwell pic.twitter.com/gBDBgVCVx6
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 21, 2022
Event 43: $500 NLHE Freezeout
Another fast tournament started with more than 4700 players and a prize pool that exceeded $2M. But by the time the first day finished, only 202 players remained, all of whom were in the money.
| Event 43: Day 1 of 2 | $500 buy-in | NLHE Freezeout |
| Total entries: | 4,786 | (2930 in 2021) |
| Players remaining: | 202 | |
| Total prize pool: | $2,010,120 | |
| Players paid: | 718 | |
| Minimum payout: | $1,552 | |
| Winner payout: | $241,729 | |
| Top chip counts: | #1 | Lorenzo Negri (Italy) 1,860,000 |
| #2 | Robert Pettit (USA) 1,590,000 | |
| #3 | Peter Schneider (USA) 1,570,000 | |
| #4 | Alan Gendelman (USA) 1,550,000 | |
| #5 | Carol Filipski (USA) 1,505,000 |
Event 44: $10K HORSE Championship
It was a big field for this HORSE Championship, as 192 entries already wildly surpassed last year’s total and even that from 2019. And registration remained open until the start of Day 2, so the number would inevitably grow.
| Event 44: Day 1 of 4 | $10K buy-in | HORSE Championship |
| Total entries: | 192 (not final) | (172 in 2019, 149 in 2021) |
| Players remaining: | 97 | |
| Total prize pool: | TBD | |
| Players paid: | TBD | |
| Minimum payout: | TBD | |
| Winner payout: | TBD | |
| Top chip counts: | #1 | Philip Long (UK) 320,000 |
| #2 | Brad Ruben (USA) 307,500 | |
| #3 | Hansu Chu (USA) 289,500 | |
| #4 | Yuri Dzivielevski (Brazil) 270,500 | |
| #5 | Gary Benson (Australia) 267,000 |
Today’s Poker Menu
Event 37 will find its final table.
Event 39 will play its six-handed final table.
Event 40 will seat three players to continue the final table action..
Event 43 will try to find and play through its final table.
Event 44 will play the second day of the HORSE Championship.
Event 45 will start the $1,500 PLO event.
Event 46 will offer a $5K six-handed NLHE tournament.
Everyday, every single day, Dealers arrive and leave the table saying: Hello/good morning/afternoon/have a good day/good luck.
What do we do as poker players? We fail. Just a few of us have the decency of interacting and wishing the same, engaging in some respectful/human way.
— Felipe Mojave Ramos (@FelipeMojave) June 19, 2022
