Tournament of Champions Day 1 | 2022 World Series of Poker

Tournament of Champions

Day 1 Completed

07-18-2022 23:05 UTC-8

Robert Cowen Bags Day 1 Lead in the WSOP Tournament of Champions

Connor Richards

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante

Day 1 of the Tournament of Champions at the 2022 World Series of Poker (WSOP) is in the books and saw Robert Cowen bagging the chip lead over the 149 remaining players. Cowen, who won his second bracelet this year in Event #28: $50,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha, ended the day with 428,000 chips to lead other big stacks including Ali Eslami (305,000), Christopher Bissinger (300,500) and Daniel Sepiol (285,000).

The million-dollar freeroll, offered exclusively to bracelet and Circuit ring winners during the 2022 WSOP season, drew 463 entrants on Day 1 and could see more of the 575 eligible players enter on Day 2 as late registration remains open to the start of the day.

Tournament of Champions Top 10 Chip Counts

Place	Player	Country	Chips	Big Blinds
1	Robert Cowen	United Kingdom	428,000	214
2	Ali Eslami	United States	305,000	153
3	Daniel Sepiol	United States	285,000	143
4	Aleksejs Ponakovs	Latvia	247,500	124
5	Zachary Seymour	United States	241,000	121
6	Daniel Strelitz	United States	235,000	118
7	Cheryl Svenson	United States	221,500	111
8	Carlos Loving	United States	203,000	102
9	Fred Li	United States	183,500	92
10	Erik Bauer	Slovakia	183,000	92

Many of the summer's top performers were present in the Day 1 field, including WSOP Player of the Year Dan Zack, who was awarded his commemorative trophy by WSOP Vice President Jack Effel early in the day, as well as players who won bracelets this year like Daniel Strelitz, Daniel Weinman, David Jackson, Alex Livingston and Eli Elezra.

Italy's Gianluca Speranza squeaked into the event after winning his maiden bracelet hours earlier in [Online] Event #12: $5,300 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller Freezeout Encore for $324,625 to make himself eligible. The same is true for Ryan Messick and Fred Li, who managed to qualify at the 11th hour.

The field also included a number of players who earned their WSOP hardware by grinding the Circuit, including Angelina Rich, Justin Matecki, Joseph Rice, Kathy Sawers, Alan Gibson and Robert Lamanna.

Day 2 will commence at 11 a.m. local time in the Bally's Event Center Gold section beginning with Level 11 and blinds of 1,000/2,000/2,000. The plan right now is to play ten 60-minute levels with a 60-minute dinner break after Level 16, which is expected to wrap up around 5:30 p.m. Day 3 will follow and will play down to a winner who will take home the last bracelet of the series.

Stay tuned as PokerNews will be back on-site tomorrow to follow the action in the 2022 WSOP Tournament of Champions.

Tags: Alan Gibson Alex Livingston Angelina Rich Dan Zack Daniel Strelitz Daniel Weinman David Jackson Eli Elezra Kathy Sawers Robert Cowen

07-18-2022 23:04 UTC-8

Day 2 Seat Draw

Matthew Pitt

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante

Casino	Table	Seat	Player	Country	Chips	Big Blinds
Bally's	661	1	Ari Engel	United States	19,500	10
Bally's	661	2	Konstantin Petrushev	United States	135,000	68
Bally's	661	3	Alex Foxen	United States	14,500	7
Bally's	661	5	Joseph Rice	United States	65,500	33
Bally's	661	6	Clement Cure	France	30,000	15
Bally's	661	7	Ramsey Stovall	United States	55,000	28
Bally's	661	8	Jessica Richards	United States	65,000	33
Bally's	661	9	Antoine Vranken	Netherlands	151,500	76

Bally's	662	2	Benjamin Felson	United States	40,500	20
Bally's	662	3	Daniel Sepiol	United States	285,000	143
Bally's	662	4	David Labchuk	Canada	136,500	68
Bally's	662	5	Calvin Kincade	United States	129,500	65
Bally's	662	6	Anthony Huntsman	United States	89,500	45
Bally's	662	7	Weimin Hou	Canada	114,500	57
Bally's	662	8	Nicholas Shock	United States	169,000	85

Bally's	663	1	Christopher Hando	United States	79,500	40
Bally's	663	2	Todd Estes	United States	38,000	19
Bally's	663	3	Aleksejs Ponakovs	Latvia	247,500	124
Bally's	663	4	Lok Chan	Hong Kong	65,000	33
Bally's	663	5	Stephanie Alderman	United States	143,000	72
Bally's	663	6	David Hu	Netherlands	56,500	28
Bally's	663	7	Shota Nakanishi	Japan	137,500	69
Bally's	663	8	Ian Crampton	United States	97,500	49

Bally's	664	1	James Traber	United States	114,500	57
Bally's	664	2	Christopher Chatman	United States	109,500	55
Bally's	664	3	Michael Iannace	United States	49,500	25
Bally's	664	4	Andrew Rodgers	United States	47,000	24
Bally's	664	5	Robert Lamanna	United States	129,000	65
Bally's	664	6	Thomas Richey	United States	91,500	46
Bally's	664	8	Benjamin Kaupp	United States	43,500	22
Bally's	664	9	Michael Mcnicholas	United States	94,000	47

Bally's	665	1	Max Thain	United States	74,500	37
Bally's	665	2	Michael Budde	United States	129,500	65
Bally's	665	3	David Goodman	United States	132,500	66
Bally's	665	4	Yuliyan Kolev	Bulgaria	117,500	59
Bally's	665	5	Corey Paggeot	United States	82,000	41
Bally's	665	6	Alexandr Orlov	Russia	71,500	36
Bally's	665	8	Robert Chow	United States	143,000	72
Bally's	665	9	Deanna Alaniz	United States	23,500	12

Bally's	666	1	Dan Gannon	United States	20,500	10
Bally's	666	2	Wayne Woods	United States	8,000	4
Bally's	666	3	Daniel Zack	United States	100,500	50
Bally's	666	4	Ryan Laplante	United States	80,000	40
Bally's	666	5	Brett Freiler	United States	158,500	79
Bally's	666	6	Krishna Kalidas	United States	85,000	43
Bally's	666	7	Cheryl Svenson	United States	221,500	111
Bally's	666	8	Shankar Pillai	United States	142,500	71
Bally's	666	9	Taylor Grassmick	United States	92,500	46

Bally's	670	1	Kristopher Bradshaw	United States	39,000	20
Bally's	670	2	Nicolas Oudbier	United States	71,500	36
Bally's	670	3	Johan Dijkhoffz	Netherlands	36,000	18
Bally's	670	5	Nicolas Garcialarios	United States	31,000	16
Bally's	670	7	Brent Bogdanovecz	United States	130,000	65
Bally's	670	8	John Fagg	United States	174,000	87
Bally's	670	9	Matthew Stone	United States	76,000	38

Bally's	671	1	Michael Marder	United States	84,000	42
Bally's	671	3	Alan Gibson	United States	104,000	52
Bally's	671	4	Preston McEwen	United States	60,500	30
Bally's	671	5	John Macleod	United States	44,000	22
Bally's	671	6	Elias Nassif	United States	86,000	43
Bally's	671	7	DID NOT REPORT 1	United States	34,500	17
Bally's	671	8	Erik Bauer	Netherlands	183,000	92
Bally's	671	9	Gianluca Speranza	Italy	61,500	31

Bally's	672	1	Nicholas Hobbs	United States	71,500	36
Bally's	672	3	Jason Lawhun	United States	72,000	36
Bally's	672	4	Gregory Wish	United States	128,500	64
Bally's	672	5	Jack Shea	United States	107,500	54
Bally's	672	7	William Davidson	United States	120,000	60
Bally's	672	8	Cade Lautenbacher	United States	38,000	19
Bally's	672	9	Ivan Deyra	France	92,500	46

Bally's	673	1	Brad Ruben	United States	52,500	26
Bally's	673	2	Braxton Moore	United States	131,000	66
Bally's	673	4	Charles Hepler	United States	84,500	42
Bally's	673	5	Kate Kopp	United States	31,000	16
Bally's	673	6	Robert Cowen	United Kingdom	428,000	214
Bally's	673	7	Steven Christopher	United States	15,500	8
Bally's	673	8	James Brundige	United States	47,500	24
Bally's	673	9	Stephen Jarrett	United States	50,500	25

Bally's	674	1	Mark Liedtke	United States	181,000	91
Bally's	674	2	George Janssen	United States	140,000	70
Bally's	674	3	Gabriel Attoun	United States	130,000	65
Bally's	674	5	Gaetan Balleur	France	157,500	79
Bally's	674	6	Ryan Messick	United States	149,000	75
Bally's	674	7	Brett William Blackwood	United States	63,500	32
Bally's	674	8	Eric Smidinger	United States	120,000	60
Bally's	674	9	Fausto Tantillo	Italy	113,500	57

Bally's	675	1	Derek Kwan	United States	27,000	14
Bally's	675	2	Michael Wolf	United States	24,000	12
Bally's	675	3	Jonathan Woof	Canada	104,500	52
Bally's	675	4	Richard Vielhak	United States	112,000	56
Bally's	675	5	Robert Rathbun	United States	60,000	30
Bally's	675	6	Frank Bonacci	United States	32,000	16
Bally's	675	7	Scott Roberts	United States	29,000	15
Bally's	675	9	Dae Woong Song	South Korea	54,500	27

Bally's	676	1	Domnick Sarle	United States	101,000	51
Bally's	676	2	Gary Belyalovsky	United States	61,500	31
Bally's	676	3	Michael Asti	United States	114,500	57
Bally's	676	4	Andrew Romeo	United States	99,000	50
Bally's	676	6	Jonathan Landis	United States	85,000	43
Bally's	676	7	Christopher Dow	United States	100,500	50
Bally's	676	8	Raul Garza	United States	80,000	40
Bally's	676	9	Kyle Lazzaro	United States	85,000	43

Bally's	677	2	Ryan Smith (SK)	Canada	78,000	39
Bally's	677	3	Evgenii Fidchuk	Russia	65,500	33
Bally's	677	4	Gary Bodley	United States	62,000	31
Bally's	677	5	Ryan Tamanini	United States	36,000	18
Bally's	677	6	Raymond Carter	Canada	127,500	64
Bally's	677	7	Terry Giles	United States	33,500	17
Bally's	677	9	Nacho Barbero	Argentina	28,500	14

Bally's	678	1	Jonathan Pastore	France	84,000	42
Bally's	678	2	Carlos Loving	United States	203,000	102
Bally's	678	4	Jorge Alba	United States	39,000	20
Bally's	678	5	David O'Callaghan	Ireland	34,000	17
Bally's	678	6	Daniel Weinman	United States	87,500	44
Bally's	678	7	Joe McKeehen	United States	125,000	63
Bally's	678	8	Matthew Sullivan	United States	64,000	32
Bally's	678	9	Brian Luo	United States	67,500	34

Bally's	679	1	Ryan Hohner	United States	121,500	61
Bally's	679	2	Brian James	United States	27,000	14
Bally's	679	3	Moises Jattin	United States	19,500	10
Bally's	679	4	Jonathan Cohen	United States	61,500	31
Bally's	679	5	Fred Li	United States	183,500	92
Bally's	679	6	Douglass Zeigler	United States	121,000	61
Bally's	679	8	Joe Cada	United States	95,500	48
Bally's	679	9	Sydney Vanderhorst	United States	40,500	20

Bally's	680	1	Daniel Strelitz	United States	235,000	118
Bally's	680	2	Spencer Smith	United States	73,000	37
Bally's	680	3	Stanton Tentnowski	United States	81,000	41
Bally's	680	4	Ali Eslami	United States	305,000	153
Bally's	680	5	Adam Balis	Canada	54,000	27
Bally's	680	7	Yevgeniy Minakrin	United States	80,500	40
Bally's	680	8	David Jackson	United States	103,000	52
Bally's	680	9	Maxx Coleman	United States	73,500	37

Bally's	681	2	DID NOT REPORT 2	United States	89,000	45
Bally's	681	3	Frank Visser	Netherlands	52,000	26
Bally's	681	4	Abbas Alikhani	United States	171,000	86
Bally's	681	5	Zachary Seymour	United States	241,000	121
Bally's	681	6	Manig Loeser	Germany	59,500	30
Bally's	681	7	James Cordray	United States	144,500	72
Bally's	681	8	Richard Parizer	United States	39,500	20
Bally's	681	9	Michael Setera	United States	28,000	14

07-18-2022 22:51 UTC-8

Official End-of-Day Chip Counts (full)

Christian Zetzsche

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Robert Cowen	428,000 -2,000	-2,000

Ali Eslami	305,000 5,000	5,000

Christopher Bissinger	300,500 85,500	85,500
Daniel Sepiol	285,000 285,000	285,000

Aleksejs Ponakovs	247,500 -2,500	-2,500

Zachary Seymour	241,000 241,000	241,000
Daniel Strelitz	235,000 5,000	5,000

Cheryl Svenson	221,500 63,500	63,500
Carlos Loving	203,000 203,000	203,000
Fred Li	183,500 43,500	43,500
Erik Bauer	183,000 36,000	36,000
Mark Liedtke	181,000 181,000	181,000
John Fagg	174,000 174,000	174,000
Abbas Alikhani	171,000 -4,000	-4,000
Nicholas Shock	169,000 -16,000	-16,000
Brett Freiler	158,500 158,500	158,500
Gaetan Balleur	157,500 -17,500	-17,500
Antoine Vranken	151,500 16,500	16,500

Ryan Messick	149,000 -39,000	-39,000
James Cordray	144,500 144,500	144,500
Stephanie Alderman	143,000 143,000	143,000
Robert Chow	143,000 143,000	143,000
Shankar Pillai	142,500 142,500	142,500

George Janssen	140,000 140,000	140,000
Shota Nakanishi	137,500 72,500	72,500

Read full

07-18-2022 22:45 UTC-8

Day 1 Completed

Christian Zetzsche

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante

Around 149 players out of 463 entries have bagged up their chips and will return at 11 a.m. local time to try and take home a portion of the $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool.

Assorted counts and a recap of today's action are to follow.

07-18-2022 22:43 UTC-8

Late Surge Propels Cowen Further Ahead

Christian Zetzsche

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante

Spencer Smith lost a bigger chunk of his stack to Robert Cowen, who mentioned to have been paid off when he held pocket aces. That propelled the Brit to the far biggest stack in the room while Aleksejs Ponakovs and Ali Eslami also chipped up significantly during the final stages of the night.

Player	Chips	Progress
Robert Cowen	430,000 117,000	117,000

Ali Eslami	300,000 180,000	180,000

Aleksejs Ponakovs	250,000 50,000	50,000

Spencer Smith	70,000 -80,000	-80,000

Tags: Aleksejs Ponakovs Ali Eslami Robert Cowen Spencer Smith

07-18-2022 22:41 UTC-8

Bohmerwald Sinks Schindler

Connor Richards

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante

Jake Schindler was all in and at risk for about 29,000 against Michael Bohmerwald, who had him covered.

Michael Bohmerwald:
Jake Schindler:

The board ran out for the tens of Bohmerwald to stay ahead and Schindler left the table as those around him sat silent.

"I'm kind of mad I didn't get an applause," Bohmerwald said after eliminating the scandal-ridden player.

Player	Chips	Progress
Michael Bohmerwald	60,000 60,000	60,000
Jake Schindler	Busted

Tags: Jake Schindler Michael Bohmerwald

07-18-2022 22:34 UTC-8

Three More Hands

Connor Richards

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante

The floor has instructed dealers to deal three more hands before players bag for the evening.

07-18-2022 22:28 UTC-8

Cowen Settles for a Chop

Christian Zetzsche

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante

Robert Cowen raised it up to 3,500 and received one cold caller on the button in Spencer Smith. Out of small blind, Gabriel Attoun then three-bet to 15,500 only for Cowen to four-bet to more than 35,000. Once Smith folded, the Attoun pushed for an effective 130,000 and Cowen snap-folded.

"Do you have aces?" Attoun as the at risk player asked and then apologised in advance for a suckout when his were up against the of Cowen. The flop brought a potential upset via four-card flush but the turn and river ensured the split pot.

Player	Chips	Progress
Robert Cowen	313,000 -7,000	-7,000

Spencer Smith	150,000

Gabriel Attoun	130,000

Tags: Robert Cowen Gabriel Attoun Spencer Smith

07-18-2022 22:20 UTC-8

Schindler and Foxen Among the Late Night Entries

Christian Zetzsche

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante

The field has been bumped to 463 entries and the last two to enter the fray appear to have been Alex Foxen and Jake Schindler. Both remain just below the starting stack, however, and haven't had much of an impact on their tables yet.

Player	Chips	Progress
Jake Schindler	29,000 29,000	29,000

Alex Foxen	22,000 22,000	22,000

Tags: Alex Foxen Jake Schindler