WSOP 2022 Day 25: Panagiotou Wins for Cyprus
Cyprus is a rather small Island nation in the Mediterranean. With approximately 2M people, it is the third-most populous island in the area. It is also a poker hot spot. There are casinos and card rooms around the island, some of which play host to global poker tour stops and events throughout the year.
Because of its poker options, many poker players call Cyprus home.
Now, those players can hail one poker player who made it through a very tough field at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas to win Cyprus’ first WSOP gold bracelet.
Event 46: $5K NLHE 6-Handed
The five final tablists began their last day in this tournament. Stephen Song started as the chipleader, but Jonathan Pastore caught up to him fairly quickly and eliminated Paraskevas Tsokaridis in fifth place. Elio Fox had doubled early but then busted to Song. Pastore eliminated Tamer Alkamli in third place to take more than 26M chips into heads-up against Song’s 20M+.
Pastore took a massive pot to climb further ahead. Song finally made a move with 5-2 on a board of Q-K-T-6-4. But Pastore called with Q-J. Pastore won his first bracelet surrounded by friends, both from France and his current home in Malta.
He complimented his opponent as well. “Playing against Stephen Song heads-up was really a great feeling. He is a player I admire, and I wish we had more players like him in the poker community,” he told PokerNews.
| Event 46: Day 4 of 4 | $5K buy-in | NLHE 6-Handed (1 RE) |
| Total entries: | 928 | (815 in 2019, 604 in 2021) |
| Total prize pool: | $4,243,500 | |
| Players paid: | 138 | |
| Minimum payout: | $8,053 | |
| Final table results: | 1st place: | Jonathan Pastore (France) $771,765 |
| 2nd place: | Stephen Song (USA) $476,990 | |
| 3rd place: | Tamer Alkamli (Canada) $331,503 | |
| 4th place: | Elio Fox (USA) $234,036 | |
| 5th place: | Paraskevas Tsokaridis (Greece) $167,882 | |
| 6th place: | Patrick Sekinger (UK) $122,395 |
Frenchman Jonathan Pastore reached the winner's circle in Event #46: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Six Max, scoring his first gold bracelet and $771,765 first-place prize.
📸 @k8te_look https://t.co/7qp0szzm8a pic.twitter.com/ytBSlIoCro
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 25, 2022
Event 47: $1K Seniors NLHE Championship
The final tally of entries in this year’s Seniors event was 7,188. That number is far beyond the 5,404 of last year or even the 5,916 of 2019. Day 1B played down on Thursday, and the number of survivors for both days totaled 1,439. They will all gather today.
| Event 47: Day 2 of 5 | $1K buy-in | Seniors NLHE Championship (1 RE/Flight) |
| Total entries: | 7,188 | (5916 in 2019, 5404 in 2021) |
| Players remaining: | 198 | |
| Total prize pool: | $6,397,320 | |
| Players paid: | 1,079 | |
| Minimum payout: | $1,600 | |
| Winner payout: | $694,909 | |
| Top chip counts: | #1 | Ben Sarnoff (USA) 3,155,000 |
| #2 | Valerie Lubenets (Ukraine) 2,810,000 | |
| #3 | Jan Pettersson (Australia) 2,600,000 | |
| #4 | Mike Landers (USA) 1,995,000 | |
| #5 | Patricia Devine (USA) 1,935,000 |
Event 48: $1,500 Eight-Game Mix 6-Handed
There were still 16 players in this mixed game tournament on its final day, and they played down at a reasonable clip. Adam Friedman was one of the earlier casualties, exiting in tenth place. Robert Campbell followed, and then Dustin Dirksen’s exit set the unofficial final table. Menikos Panagiotou was in the chip lead.
Nick Yunis eliminated Adam Demersseman to set the official final table of six. Play went on for a long time before Jake Liebeskind exited in sixth place, and Eric Buchman ousted the day’s original chipleader, Jason Stockfish. Nick Yunis returned from dinner with the chip lead, followed by Buchman, Joon Park, and Panagiotou. Play continued for quite awhile before Panagiotou began to recover from a short stack, and he busted Buchman on his way back to the lead. He then took out Park in third place.
Panagiotou had a bit of a lead going into heads-up, but Yunis grabbed the lead in 2-7 Triple Draw. He began to surge ahead until Panagiotou regained his footing in Razz and then Limit Hold’em. He retook the lead in Stud-8. After a little back and forth and another positive Razz round for Panagiotou, he busted Yunis in PLO.
Panagiotou became the first bracelet winner in WSOP from Cyprus. The retired poker player said he hadn’t played mixed games in several years but said it was like riding a bicycle. He also noted that the win means a great deal for him and Cyprus.
| Event 48: Day 3 of 3 | $1,500 buy-in | Eight-Game Mix 6-Handed (1 RE) |
| Total entries: | 695 | (612 in 2019, 484 in 2021) |
| Total prize pool: | $927,825 | |
| Players paid: | 105 | |
| Minimum payout: | $2,403 | |
| Final table results: | 1st place: | Menikos Panagiotou (Cyprus) $180,783 |
| 2nd place: | Nick Yunis (Chile) $111,724 | |
| 3rd place: | Joon Park (USA) $75,938 | |
| 4th place: | Eric Buchman (USA) $52,621 | |
| 5th place: | Jason Stockfish (USA) $37,188 | |
| 6th place: | Jake Liebeskind (USA) $26,814 |
Menikos Panagiotou takes down the $1,500 Eight Game Mix event to earn $180,783 and his first WSOP bracelet.https://t.co/5h3cL1wR5V
📸: @spensersembrat pic.twitter.com/0plpMVONgU
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 25, 2022
Event 49: $2K NLHE
More than 300 players opened bags of chips at the start of Day 2 of this event, but only 39 bagged chips again when play stopped. Players like Faraz Jaka, Tyler Cornell, Michael Watson, and Heidi May remain in contention for the bracelet.
| Event 49: Day 2 of 3 | $2K buy-in | NLHE (1 RE) |
| Total entries: | 1,977 | (new) |
| Players remaining: | 39 | |
| Total prize pool: | $3,519,060 | |
| Players paid: | 297 | |
| Minimum payout: | $3,205 | |
| Winner payout: | $527,944 | |
| Top chip counts: | #1 | Lucas Tabarin (Brazil) 4,240,000 |
| #2 | Jack Corrigan (USA) 3,910,000 | |
| #3 | Ioannis Angelou Konstas (Greece) 3,751,000 | |
| #4 | Valdemar Kwaysser (Hungary) 2,945,000 | |
| #5 | Adam Geyer (USA) 2,745,000 |
Event 50: $250K NLHE Super High Roller
It was a rough day for high-stakes players hoping to make the final table of the Super High Roller tournament. As the field thinned throughout the day and evening, Jason Koon busted before the money bubble. And then, Alex Foxen eliminated Nick Petrangelo on the actual $414,815 bubble. Finally, it was Martin Kabrhel who busted Henrik Hecklen in ninth place. Play stopped with eight remaining.
| Event 50: Day 2 of 3 | $250K buy-in | NLHE Super High Roller (1 RE) |
| Total entries: | 56 | (33 in 2021) |
| Players remaining: | 8 | |
| Total prize pool: | $13,944,000 | |
| Players paid: | 9 | |
| Minimum payout: | $414,815 | |
| Winner payout: | $4,563,700 | |
| Final table counts: | #1 | Alex Foxen (USA) 24,150,000 |
| #2 | Martin Kabrhel (Czechia) 17,800,000 | |
| #3 | Chris Hunichen (USA) 12,375,000 | |
| #4 | Brandon Steven (USA) 7,850,000 | |
| #5 | Phil Ivey (USA) 7,300,000 | |
| #6 | Adrian Mateos (Spain) 6,950,000 | |
| #7 | Dan Zack (USA) 4,375,000 | |
| #8 | Sam Soverel (USA) 3,200,000 | |
| 9th place: | Henrik Hecklen (Denmark) $414,815 |
Event 51: $400 NLHE Colossus
Everyone knew it would be big, but the long lines for entry – not to mention reentry – made it very evident. The WSOP staff pushed back other event restarts and did their best to seat everyone. It may not have happened right away, but they did eventually handle the 5,869 entries. The second opening flight will add more to the overall totals.
| Event 51: Day 1A of 4 | $400 buy-in | NLHE Colossus (1 RE/flight) |
| Total entries: | 5869 (1A only) | (13,109 in 2019, 9399 in 2021) |
| Players remaining: | 684 | |
| Total prize pool: | TBD | |
| Players paid: | TBD | |
| Minimum payout: | TBD | |
| Winner payout: | TBD | |
| Top chip counts: | #1 | Kao Saechao (USA) 1,514,000 |
| #2 | Mary Dvorkin (UK) 1,388,000 | |
| #3 | Samuel Laskowitz (USA) 1,297,000 | |
| #4 | Charles Peppers (USA) 1,190,000 | |
| #5 | Eric Revak (USA) 1,183,000 |
Event 52: $2,500 Nine-Game Mix 6-Handed
With the eight-game mix just completed, it was time for the nine-game mix. The extra game in this one is No Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw. More than 450 entries showed up on the board, but more than 200 remain to play another day.
| Event 52: Day 1 of 3 | $2,500 buy-in | Nine-Game Mix 6-Handed (1 RE) |
| Total entries: | 456 | (319 in 2021) |
| Players remaining: | 210 | |
| Total prize pool: | $1,014,600 | |
| Players paid: | 69 | |
| Minimum payout: | $4,018 | |
| Winner payout: | $219,799 | |
| Top chip counts: | #1 | Shuyler Thornton (USA) 220,400 |
| #2 | Nick Guagenti (USA) 209,200 | |
| #3 | Scott Bohlman (USA) 208,200 | |
| #4 | David Williams (USA) 206,500 | |
| #5 | Dane Coltman (Australia) 200,400 |
Today’s Poker Menu
Event 47 puts the seniors back to work for another day.
Event 49 plans to play to and through its NLHE final table.
Event 50 brings eight players back to battle for millions in the Super High Roller.
Event 51 offers a second flight of the $400 Colossus.
Event 52 thins the Nine-Game Mix field.
Event 53 starts the NLHE-PLO Mix at 3pm with a $5K price tag.
Winning bracelets is great, but pic.twitter.com/0krGutJA01
— Brian Hastings (@brianchastings) June 23, 2022
