Joni Jouhkimainen Tops 36 Survivors on Day 1; Scott Seiver and Josh Arieh Bag Big Stacks
The joint most-expensive non-Hold'em tournament of the 2022 World Series of Poker in its new home at Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas has made yet another case for the strong start of the annual live poker festival of the year. In Event #28: $50,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller, a field of 106 entries easily breezed past the attendance of the previous year and created a prize pool of $5,074,750.
Upon completion of 15 levels of 40 minutes each, the strong turnout was whittled down to 36 survivors and several specialists of the four-card variant can be found in the overnight top ten. Finnish poker pro Joni Jouhkimainen sits atop the leaderboard with a stack of 2,935,000 after storming to a big stack mid-way through the day. He is followed by six Americans with Aaron Mermelstein holding the second-biggest stack of 2,375,000. The WSOP bracelet winners Scott Seiver (1,835,000), Josh Arieh (1,825,000) and Aaron Katz (1,250,000) are among them.
Arieh has already cashed in three tournaments during the series so far including two third-place finishes in Event #8: $25,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed and Event #19: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller for more than $1.2 million in cashes. With the fourth biggest stack after Day 1, he sits in prime shape for yet another deep run.
Top 10 Chip Counts After Day 1
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joni Jouhkimainen | Finland | 2,935,000 | 196 |
| 2 | Aaron Mermelstein | United States | 2,375,000 | 158 |
| 3 | Scott Seiver | United States | 1,835,000 | 122 |
| 4 | Josh Arieh | United States | 1,825,000 | 122 |
| 5 | Michael Heritsch | United States | 1,795,000 | 120 |
| 6 | Ap Garza | United States | 1,390,000 | 93 |
| 7 | Aaron Katz | United States | 1,250,000 | 83 |
| 8 | Manuel Stojanovic | Austria | 1,180,000 | 79 |
| 9 | Krasimir Yankov | Bulgaria | 1,120,000 | 75 |
| 10 | Veselin Karakitukov | Bulgaria | 1,110,000 | 74 |
Jason Mercier made a rare appearance at the 2022 WSOP at Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas and he advanced with a stack of 1,070,000 after scoring a late double through George Wolff when he cracked a set of aces. Other notables that advanced with stack sizes just outside of the top 10 were the WSOP bracelet winners Robert Cowen, Chance Kornuth, and Ben Lamb, as well as Jared Bleznick, and Andjelko Andrejevic.
Defending champion Jeremy Ausmus jumped into the action shortly after securing his fourth WSOP bracelet in Event #23: $3,000 Limit Hold'em 6-Handed but came up short of advancing to Day 2. Other casualties during the frantic final stages were Anthony Zinno, Sam Soverel, Sam Stein, Laszlo Bujtas and Matthew Wantman.
The GGPoker ambassador Daniel Negreanu was also among the participants as well and fired the maximum allowed three entries, each to no avail. He first made a move with a dominated flush draw against John Riordan and then ran with kings and a flush draw into the aces of Parviz Razavian. Last but not least, the final attempt ended with two pair and a gutshot against the straight of Ap Garza.
While Negreanu was running cold, the exact opposite was the case for eventual chip leader Jouhkimainen. He became the first player with a seven-figure stack and then scored several knockouts in quick succession. Among others, Erik Seidel became one of his victims during a spell in which the Finn seemed unstoppable.
Other big names that came and left without anything to show for but an expensive day at the office were Alex Foxen, Bryce Yockey, Stephen Chidwick, Noah Schwartz, Daniel Zack, Phil Galfond, Phil Ivey, and football striker Max Kruse to name all but a few.
The remaining 36 players will return to their seats in the Paris Ballroom at 1pm local time on Tuesday, June 14, 2022. Only the top 16 spots will get paid and the action resumes with blinds of 10,000-15,000 and a big blind ante of 15,000. During the penultimate tournament day, the money bubble will burst and Day 2 is set to play down to the final five contenders.
Follow along right here on PokerNews on who will make the next step in the pursuit of earning the coveted WSOP gold bracelet.