Event #66: $1,000 Mini Main Event
Day 2 Completed
2022 World Series of Poker
Event #66: $1,000 Mini Main Event
Day: 2
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 2
2022 World Series of Poker
Buy-in
$1,000
Prize Pool
$5,191,370
Entries
5,833
Level
44
Blinds
2,500,000 / 5,000,000
Ante
5,000,000
Entries
478
Players Left
5
Level 42
: 1,500,000/3,000,000, 3,000,000 ante
Day 2 of Event #66: $1,000 Mini Main Event No-Limit Hold'em has come to an end. The event started at noon with 478 players out of a starting field of 5,382. Only five players remain, each locking up a guaranteed payout of at least $158,488 with a first-place prize of $593,985 paired with the coveted WSOP gold bracelet.
Romanian player Cosmin Joldis is commanding the final table with 180,000,000. Joldis jumped to the top of the leaderboard midway through the day and then won a huge pot against Young Sik Eum, where he flopped a set against Eum's top pair to take a massive lead. He was in full control through the rest of the night and will be a big favorite going into the final day.
Rounding out the final five are Sik Eum (33,500,000), WSOP bracelet winner Kartik Ved (58,500,000), Kei Nitta (49,200,000), and Phillip Lee (28,400,000).
Event #66: $1,000 Mini Main Event Final Table Seat Draw
| Seat | Player | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
| 1 | Kei Nitta | 49,200,000 | 16 |
| 2 | Phillip Lee | 28,400,000 | 10 |
| 3 | Cosmin Joldis | 180,000,000 | 60 |
| 4 | Young Sik Eum | 33,500,000 | 11 |
| 5 | Kartik Ved | 58,500,000 | 20 |
A few notables who busted earlier in the day were, five-time bracelet winner Allen Cunningham, two-time bracelet winner Steven Wolansky, and Women in Poker HoF Kathy Liebert. Five-time bracelet winner Shaun Deeb made a deep run but was knocked out in 18th place ($23,148) when Theodore Lee's pocket nines beat his ace-three offsuit.
The final five players will return on Sunday, July 3 at 2:00 p.m. local time to the feature room at Bally's to play down to a winner. The event will resume at Level 42 with blinds of 1,500,000/3,000,000 with a big blind ante of 3,000,000.
Stay tuned for more coverage of this event and the 2022 World Series of Poker from the PokerNews Live Reporting Team.
Level 42
: 1,500,000/3,000,000, 3,000,000 ante
Cosmin Joldis moved all in from the button and in the big blind, Theodore "Theo," Lee called for his remaining 17,000,000.
Theodore "Theo" Lee: 
Cosmin Joldis: 
The board ran out 
and Lee ended his run in 6th place.
The final five are now bagging their chips and will return for Day 3. A full recap of today's events is soon to follow.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
180,000,000
26,000,000
|
26,000,000 |
|
Busted |
Level 42
: 1,500,000/3,000,000, 3,000,000 ante
Cosmin Joldis moved all in from the button and Adam Velez called in the small blind, putting himself at risk.
Adam Velez: 
Cosmin Joldis: 
Velez was a favorite going into the hand but unfortunately for him, the board runout of 
gave Joldis the win and Velez was eliminated in 7th place for a nice payout of $93,787.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
154,000,000
46,000,000
|
46,000,000 |
|
Busted |
Level 42
: 1,500,000/3,000,000, 3,000,000 ante
No hands have seen flops. All hands have been taken down preflop.
Level: 42
Blinds: 1,500,000/3,000,000
Ante: 3,000,000
Level 41
: 1,200,000/2,500,000, 2,500,000 ante
Young Sik Eum moved all in for 14,000,000 and was called by Kei Nitta in the cutoff.
Young Sik Eum: 
Kei Nitta: 
The board ran out 
and the flopped pair of twos was good enough for Sik Eum to double up fully through Nitta.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
64,000,000
-13,000,000
|
-13,000,000 |
|
34,200,000
14,200,000
|
14,200,000 |
Level 41
: 1,200,000/2,500,000, 2,500,000 ante
Cosmin Joldis moved all in from the cutoff, and Keith Littlewood in the big blind called, putting himself at risk.
Keith Littlewood: 
Cosmin Joldis:
"Awhh he's actually got something this time," Littlewood realized.
The board came 
which meant Cosmin's king-high was good to win the pot and sent Littlewood to the rail in eighth place for a payout of $72,929.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
108,000,000
19,000,000
|
19,000,000 |
|
Busted |
Level: 41
Blinds: 1,200,000/2,500,000
Ante: 2,500,000
Level 40
: 1,000,000/2,000,000, 2,000,000 ante
Kei Nitta bet 4,000,000 from early position and Sergio Ochoa moved all-in for 8,000,000 from the big blind. Nitta made the call.
Sergio Ochoa: 
Kei Nitta: 
There was no paint to be seen on the board of 
so Nitta's deuces held on to send Ochoa to the rail for a ninth-place finish.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
77,000,000
18,000,000
|
18,000,000 |
|
Busted |