Karakitukov Leads Star-Studded Final Five in Event #28: $50,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller
The joint most expensive non-Hold'em tournament of the 2022 World Series of Poker at Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas is one step closer to crowning a winner. Out of a field of 106 entries in Event #28: $50,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller, only five players remain and three of them already have at least one of the coveted WSOP gold bracelets to their name.
Bulgaria's Veselin Karakitukov leads the pursuit for the lion's share of the $5,074,750 prize pool after he climbed to the top of the leaderboard on the unofficial final table. The 32-year-old PLO specialist has the vast majority of his live poker cashes in the four-card variant and claimed a stack of 9,755,000 at the end of Day 2.
He is followed by 2011 WSOP Player of the Year and one-time WSOP bracelet Ben Lamb, who has reached his sixth WSOP final table in an Omaha variant and will enter second in chips with 8,215,000. Close behind that is the UK's Robert Cowen, who has 7,935,000 at his disposal and aims to double his tally after winning the maiden WSOP bracelet in Event #80: $3,000 6-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha just half a year ago.
Dash Dudley has two WSOP bracelets on his poker resume and both came in PLO tournaments at the 2019 WSOP in Las Vegas and the WSOPE at the King's Resort in Rozvadov. He will start the bid for a third bracelet with 4,185,000 in chips, which is good enough for 28 big blinds.
Last but not least, Jared Bleznick advanced with 1,690,000 in chips and enters as the bottom stack with 11 big blinds. The last player to bust on Day 2 was Jason Mercier on his first appearance during the 2022 WSOP in its new home at Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas.
Seat Assignments for the Final Day
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robert Cowen | United Kingdom | 7,935,000 | 53 |
| 2 | Veselin Karakitukov | Bulgaria | 9,755,000 | 65 |
| 3 | Dash Dudley | United States | 4,185,000 | 28 |
| 4 | Jared Bleznick | United States | 1,690,000 | 11 |
| 5 | Ben Lamb | United States | 8,215,000 | 55 |
The penultimate tournament day recommenced with 36 players remaining and more than half of them had to leave the Ballroom at the Paris Hotel without anything to show for. Among others, the WSOP bracelet winners Eelis Pärssinen, Ben Diebold, Erik Seidel, and John Beauprez were all gone much earlier than they had hoped for.
Reigning WSOP player of the year Josh Arieh started as one of the bigger stacks but never gained much traction. After a clash with Aaron Katz, Arieh was left with fumes and he was then eliminated by Aaron Mermelstein shortly thereafter.
The field raced towards the money bubble also thanks to the efforts of Cowen, who knocked out several opponents in quick succession including Krasimir Yankov and Christopher Trang. The final three tables were set only a few minutes later and further high-profile eliminations followed. Ben Yu suffered a cruel exit against Mercier and Dudley then sent Brian Rast to the rail.
On the money bubble itself, Andjelko Andrejevic was the last player to come up short of the payouts. He had previously pranked that the bubble had burst only to then suffer exactly this fate in a preflop contest with Dudley.
Chance Kornuth and start-of-the-day chip leader Joni Jouhkimainen were among those to cash but bow out prior to the unofficial final table, on which Aaron Mermelstein became the first casualty. Scott Seiver ran into the aces of Lamb and Katz took a rough beat against Karakitukov when his pocket aces were cracked by pocket kings despite an ace on the board.
Mercier became the final casualty of the night when his kings failed to hold up against the one-suited rundown of Lamb and that concluded the action for the night. The final five players will return to the feature table in the Bally's Event Center on Wednesday, June 15, at 4pm local time for the live-streamed conclusion of the event.
There will be 18:53 minutes left in Level 26 at blinds of 75,000-150,000 and a big blind ante of 150,000. The cards-up coverage will be available on the PokerGO platform and all PokerNews updates will be published according to the security delay.
Final Table Result and Remaining Payouts
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,393,816 | ||
| 2 | $861,442 | ||
| 3 | $622,861 | ||
| 4 | $458,016 | ||
| 5 | $342,626 | ||
| 6 | Jason Mercier | United States | $260,819 |
| 7 | Aaron Katz | United States | $202,103 |
| 8 | Scott Seiver | United States | $159,464 |