2021 WSOP Day 22: Arieh Positions Himself For Bracelet #3

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Oct 22, 2021 5 min read

Day 22 of the 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP) took place on October 21, and saw Michael Addamo secure the third bracelet of his illustrious career. Addamo won the $50,000 High Roller event and did so in style.

The $50,000 High Roller was the only event to crown its champion on Day 22, but another came close. Event #39: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha played down to five players, and Josh Arieh is in pole position to join Addamo in the three bracelet club.

The $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship whittled its field down to 16 while the $2,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em was left with only 135 grinders in the hunt for the bracelet.

Finally, the $1,500 Razz Day 1 saw the 311 starters reduced to 98 over the course of 15 levels.

Arieh Leads $1,500 PLO As He Hunts For Third Bracelet

Josh Arieh has every chance of becoming a three-time WSOP champion because he leads the way with five remaining in Event #39: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha. It has been 16 years since Arieh last secures some poker gold, winning the $2,000 Pot-Limit Omaha at the 2005 WSOP. Now he is only four eliminations away from achieving glory in another PLO tournament.

Arieh (6,330,000) sits down with the chip lead but will be pushed all the way when play resumes. Tommy Le (5,300,000) is looking to add to his bracelet collection, while Frenchman Ivan Deyra (5,110,000) returns to the battlefield armed with a healthy stack.

Robert Blair (2,450,000) has a little more work to do but has reached this stage on merit, while Gabriel Andrade (1,400,000) is the shortest stack but is a talented player, plus PLO is a very swingy game, meaning anything can happen.

Play resumes at 4:00 p.m. on October 22 and PokerGO is streaming the action an hour later. Of course, PokerNews’ live reporting team will be on the ground through the final day’s proceedings.

Event #39: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Final Five Chip Counts

Kevin Gerhart Leads the $10K H.O.R.S.E. After Day2

Just 16 players remain after day 2 of Event #40: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E., with Kevin Gerhart (1,075,000) taking the chip lead into Friday’s play.

Gerhart is one of only two players to finish the night over one million chips. He’s closely followed by runner-up of Event #2: $25,000 H.O.R.S.E., Benny Glaser (1,045,000).

Rounding out the top five biggest stacks to end day 2 are Christopher Vitch (945,000), David Benyamine (710,000), and Marco Johnson (665,000).

A pair of players that found their tournament lives deeply in danger at various points of the day, even near the money bubble, survived the day and actually bagged healthy stacks for Friday.

Eddie Blumenthal was left with just 3.5 big bets midway through the day after his pair of nines fell to Christopher Vitch’s flopped top pair of tens. He came back strong through the evening to take 620,000 chips into Day 3.

Jerry Wong was so short-stacked near the bubble that he actually late-registered Event #42: $1,500 Razz just in case. He then unregistered after making the money here, then running his stack up to a healthy 495,000.

Once that money bubble was burst by Chris Bell, seven players collected a min-cash of $16,218 or slightly better, including Scott Seiver in 22nd place, Nate Silver in 21st place, recent bracelet winner Dylan Linde in 19th place, and Day 1 chip leader Qinghai Pan in 18th place.

Among those from Day 2 that missed a trip to the payout window were the defending champion of this event, Greg Mueller, and a pair of former WSOP Player of the Years in Robert Campbell (2019) and Shaun Deeb (2018).

The final 16 return to the Amazon room Friday at 2:00 pm local time, when they’re scheduled to play down to five players.

Event #40: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship Top 10 Chip Counts

Dominykas Mikolaitis Bags $2,500 Freezeout NLHE Day 1 Chip Lead

A field of 896 players bought into Event 41: $2,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em on October 21 but only 135 of these starters had chips in front of them after 14.5 hours of intense poker action.

Nobody bagged up more chips than Lithuania’s Dominykas Mikolaitis (1,000,000) thanks in part to a huge pot toward the end of the night when his pocket jacks held against an ill-timed move from an opponent holding only queen-eight.

Frenchman Artur Conan (787,000) is second in chips when Day 2 resumes at 12:00 p.m. on October 22. Others to look out for include Alan Sternberg (500,000), Sergei Reixach (489,000), Ran Koller (459,000), Andre Akkari (381,500), Ali Imsirovic (337,000), and serial casher Roland Israelashvili (235,000).

Each of the returning players is guaranteed $4.009 for their efforts, but there is $364,589 and a gold bracelet awaiting the champion, so nobody will want to receive the small of those sums.

Event #41: $2,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em Top 10 Chip Counts

Ariel Shefer Finished Day 1 of the $1,500 Razz As the Chip Leader

Only 98 of the 311 starters remain in Event #42: $1,500 Razz, and Ariel Shefer has more chips than any of them. Shefer finished Day 1 of this star-studded event with 234,000 chips, placing him at the top of the overnight chip counts.

Shefer may be the man to catch right now but there are some incredible players in the chasing pack.

David "ODB" Baker (205,000) finished second in this event in 2017 and is going all out to make amends for that bridesmaid finish. Then you have Anthony Zinno (103,000) who has already snagged two bracelets this series. Zinno busted 16-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth towards the end of play, sending Hellmuth into one of his trademark rants.

Further down the chip counts, you find such luminaries as Yuri Dzivielevski (88,500), reigning Player of the Year Robert Campbell (83,500), former Main Event champion Ryan Riess (83,000), Poker Hall of Fame nominee Ted Forrest (66,000), and Yuval Bronshtein (60,000).

Play continues at 2:00 p.m. on October 22 and will see the money bubble burst – the top 47 finishers receive prize money – before efforts are made to reach the final table. As always, PokerNews will be on hand to bring you the best of the action.

Event #42: $1,500 Razz Top 10 Chip Counts

Matthew Pitt hails from Leeds, West Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom, and has worked in the poker industry since 2008, and worked for PokerNews since 2010. In September 2010, he became the editor of PokerNews. Matthew stepped away from live reporting duties in 2015, and now concentrates on his role of Senior Editor for the PokerNews.

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