Romain Lewis opened to 2,500 from early position and was called by the hijack. Andy Frankenberger moved all in for 18,000 from the button and only Lewis called.
Andy Frankenberger: A♠K♥
Romain Lewis: A♣J♣
Frankenberger began to gather his belongings and stood up after Lewis had a flush draw following the 10♣4♣6♥ flop. The K♠ turn still kept Frankenberger ahead and then he returned to his seat after the 10♥ completed the board.
"You haven't seen the last three hands," said Frankenberger as he gathered in his double up.
On a board of K♦8♠7♣, Joe McKeehen bet 2,000 into Julio Delgado Reyes, who raised it 7,400 - McKeehen quickly called. The turn was the K♠ and both players checked.
On the river, McKeehen was faced with a bet of 7,500. McKeehencalled again and was shown K♦10♥. He snapped his hand into the muck and tossed the call to Reyes.
The very next hand, McKeehen faced an all-in of 8,200 and isolated it with a shove of his own.
Alton Mendleson: A♥9♥
Joe McKeehen: A♠K♥
McKeehen was forced to toss another chunk of his chips over, but this time, to Mendleson when the board ran out 3♦2♠6♣9♦9♣.
Adam Miller opened to 2,200 from the hijack before the cutoff made it 6,500. Corel Theuma called from the button which then prompted Kitty Kuo to move all in for 27,600. Miller and the cutoff got out of the way but Theuma called.
Kitty Kuo: 10♠10♥
Corel Theuma: A♠2♠
Kuo had the best hand and it remained that way following the 8♠6♦3♦J♥9♣ runout.
"Loose call," commented Theuma as the hand played out.
Long time crushers, Alex Foxen and Kristen Foxen were lucky (or unlucky) enough to be sat together on one of the outer tables. They were carrying on their own conversations with their tablemates, but it's surely quite the tough spot to be sandwiched between two Foxen's in this $5,000 Freezeout.
There was 11,000 in the pot on the 10♣10♥2♠8♥5♥ completed board, and Daniel Negreanu checked from the big blind. Norbert Szecsi, from under the gun, fired out 8,500, which sent Negreanu into the tank.
"Ace-jack of hearts, king-jack of hearts....quads?" said Negreanu as he thought about the combos that beat him.
"Would you raise jack-nine of hearts?" Negreanu asked.
Negreanu put in calling chips, and while he didn't see one of the hands that he listed, Szecsi tabled his A♥6♥ for the nut-flush. Negreanu had the Q♥2♥ for an inferior flush and the pot went to his opponent.
Action was caught on the turn with around 27,500 in the middle on the 8♦4♣6♦9♠ turn. Sriharsha Doddapaneni checked from the hijack before Calvin Anderson bet 8,700. Doddapaneni called.
The 5♦ completed the board and Doddapaneni checked. Anderson sized up to 27,000 and was snap-called.
Anderson tabled his 10♠7♥ for a straight but Doddapaneni had the winner with his Q♦9♦, which was good for a flush.
On the first hand of the day, Julien Sitbon limped in first to act before Eshaan Bhalla made it 600 on his direct left. The big blind called as did Sitbon.
The big blind checked the A♣10♠9♥ flop which prompted Sitbon to lead out for 200. Balla made it 1,000 which pushed out the big blind. Sitbon responded with a three-bet to 3,200 and Bhalla called.
On the 4♦ turn, Sitbon continued for another 8,000. Sparks began to ignite as Balla raised again, this time making it 20,000 to go.
Will Jaffe and Nikhil "Nik Airball" Arcot were watching from the side of the table, giving their own commentary while supporting Bhalla.
Sitbon called the raise, which inflated the pot to just shy of 50,000. The 5♥ river checked through to showdown. The Frenchman tabled his A♦9♦ for two pair and Bhalla mucked.
Airball and Jaffe then playfully needled Bhalla about how he lost half his stack immediately.
"Just one hand," replied Bhalla to his rail and the big blind from the hand cried out "But it's a freezeout!" which received a laugh from everybody within earshot.
Welcome to Day 1 of Event #12: $5,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em, which kicks off inside Horsehoe and Paris Las Vegas at 2 p.m. local time.
This year's edition of the tournament has seen it move to the early stages of the 2023 World Series of Poker whereas it was one of the final tournaments to conclude last year.
The 2022 winner of the $5,000 Freezeout was Mo Arani, who bested the field 746 to capture the $665,459 first-place prize and his first bracelet. Last year's event saw a prize pool of $3,487,050 with the likes of Nacho Barbero (17th - $22,421), Steve Zolotow (43rd - $14,259) and Benny Glaser (69th - $10,648) all finishing in the money.
2022 WSOP $5,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Results
Place
Player
Country
Prize Money
1
Mo Arani
United States
$665,459
2
Johannes Straver
Netherlands
$411,279
3
Peter Turmezey
Hungary
$292,665
4
Adam Hendrix
United States
$211,295
5
Toby Lewis
United Kindom
$154,806
6
Francois Pirault
France
$115,122
7
Cliff Josephy
United States
$86,917
8
Michael Katz
United States
$66,638
Field of Crushers Expected
As with any $5,000 buy-in event, the field is expected to be filled with some of poker's best players and biggest names. Players such as Fedor Holz, Phil Laak, and Hustler Casino Live regular Wesley Fei all took a shot last year but failed to get to a return on their investment.
Wesley Fei
It will be interesting to see if Fei hops into the WSOP this year, as he had the whole poker world talking last week after playing the largest pot in televised poker history against Tom Dwan.
Plan for Day 1
As mentioned, play begins at 2 p.m. and those who register will receive a 50,000 chip stack.
This is a three-day event and those who wish to make it to tomorrow's Day 2 must navigate 15 40-minute levels. Players will have a 15-minute break after every three levels.
Late registration is open until the end of Level 12, which is expected to be around 11 p.m. However, as this is a freezeout, entrants will have only one bite of the apple as reentries are not permitted.
Those who bag and tag a stack will return to the felt for Day 2 on Monday, June 4, at 1 p.m. They will then play another ten levels, where the blind duration increases to 60 minutes. The final day will play down to a winner the day after.
Be sure to stick with PokerNews to keep up with all the action from this exciting event.
