Chance Kornuth raised to 225,000 and Aaron Mermelstein as the far shortest stack defended out of the big blind.
"It's still $10k," Kornuth remarked and Mermelstein replied "yeah but I gotta at least see the flop". Mermelstein then pushed for the rest of it on the flop and Kornuth called in an instant.
Aaron Mermelstein:
Chance Kornuth:
With one eight gone and the ace dead as that would give Kornuth broadway, the chances of Mermelstein were very slim. It was all over on the turn and the river ended his run in 14th place for $67,313.
Scott Ball raised the pot and Chance Kornuth then three-bet the pot from one seat over. Ball moved all-in and the dealer already announced all-in and call. "I haven't called yet but I gonna do so now," Kornuth said and the cards were flipped over.
Chance Kornuth:
Scott Ball:
The flop was already huge for Ball and he locked it up on the turn, making the river a formality. Both stacks were counted as they were very close in chips. Ball had 1,735,000 at his disposal and Kornuth was covered by just 10,000 to exit in 13th place for $80,105.
Tong Li limped in from middle position, Jonathan Depa limped in from the hijack, Stephen Hubbard limped the small blind, and Fabian Brandes checked his option.
The four players checked the flop to the turn. Action checked to Depa who bet 300,000. Hubbard then potted, Brandes and Li got out of the way, Depa moved in chips to cover Hubbard, and Hubbard got his chips in.
Stephen Hubbard:
Jonathan Depa:
The completed the board to secure the pot for Depa with his boat, and Hubbard made his exit in 12th place for $80,105.
Jonas Kronwitter had most of his short stack in before the flop and was called by Sam Stein. The German and Austria resident jokingly said "good luck" before they headed to the flop. Kronwitter jammed for around 250,000 and Stein snap-called.
Jonas Kronwitter:
Sam Stein:
Kronwitter had plenty of outs to make a straight and potentially chop. Some of them vanished on the turn as Stein had diamonds covered, and the river only gave Kronwitter an inferior pair of sevens. As a result, the German was eliminated in 11th place and the final 10 are now on two five-handed tables. Once the next contender bows out, they will combine to the nine-handed unofficial final table.
Over on the main feature table, Josh Arieh raised to 300,000 in the cutoff and Jared Bleznick reraised the pot to 1,050,000 on the button.
"How much do you have behind?" Arieh inquired when it was his turn to act once more. Bleznick carefully counted the 1,400,000 he had behind and Arieh then called. On the flop, Arieh checked his option and Bleznick then pushed all-in.
Arieh immediately grabbed his remaining four time bank extensions and shuffled them while talking through potential hands and options for his holdings, which he didn't disclose yet. Ultimately, Arieh double-checked his current stack and then settled on a call.
"I don't have aces," Bleznick announced and tabled the . "Oh good," an instantly relieved Arieh said and turned over his for the overpair.
The on the turn provided an additional flush draw for Arieh to take away some outs for Bleznick and the river ended his tournament run in 10th place.
There will now be a short break to move the players to the unofficial final table and colour up some chips. All seat assignments and updated counts are to follow.
The action started with a raise to 300,000 by David Williams and Fabian Brandes min-clicked it back from one seat over. Once it folded all the way back to Williams, he raised the pot and Brandes pushed all-in for Williams to snap-call.
David Williams:
Fabian Brandes:
"Good luck," Brandes immediately told his table neighbor after the cards had been flipped over. He gained more equity on the flop but many outs then vanished when the appeared on the turn. Brandes needed a spade and the board not to pair, which is exactly what happened when the rolled off on the river.
Without any further ado, Williams shook hands with Brandes and then vaulted out of his chair to head to the payout desk. He receives $120,457 for the efforts while Brandes further pulled ahead atop the leaderboard.
Gregory Shuda raised to 300,000 and Josh Arieh three-bet to 1,075,000 from one seat over. Tong Li in the big blind tanked for a long time and folded while Shuda pushed and Arieh instantly called.
Gregory Shuda:
Josh Arieh:
Shuda was somewhat excited to get it in ahead and didn't show any emotions on the flop on which Arieh picked up a flush draw. After the turn, Shuda said "don't do it to me ..." followed by a very crystal clear "fuck" when Arieh got there on the river. His second ever tournament has ended in 8th place for $152,091.
Josh Arieh opened to 350,000 under the gun, Fabian Brandes called in the hijack, and Emmanuel Sebag moved all in from the big blind for around 1,500,000. Arieh folded and Brandes called.
Emmanuel Sebag:
Fabian Brandes:
Sebag was asking for a king, but the board ran out to keep Brandes ahead, and Sebag was eliminated in 7th place for $195,713.
Josh Arieh opened to 400,000 in the cutoff, Fabian Brandes called in the small blind, and Jonathan Depa called all-in in the big blind for his 350,000 chips.
The board was checked down.
Arieh revealed to defeat Brandes' and Depa's , sending Depa to the rail in 6th place for $256,582.
The 2022 World Series of Poker at Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas continued today with more exciting four-card high roller action. Event #19: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller attracted 264 total entries to create a prize pool of $6,237,000, and after just over ten hours on the penultimate day, the field has been whittled down from 28 to only five remaining contenders.
Fabian Brandes bagged the chip lead with 13,175,000, while reigning WSOP Player of the Year Josh Arieh (8,900,000) will be taking the second-biggest stack into the final day and will be looking to win a fifth bracelet.
The remaining three on the leaderboard are all fairly close in chips with Tong Li (6,350,000), Sam Stein (5,875,000), and reigning WSOP No-Limits VELO Player of the Year Scott Ball (5,300,000) going for gold as well.
Although the remaining five players have locked up at least $342,590, all eyes will be on the $1,467,739 first-place prize and coveted WSOP bracelet.
Seat Assignments For the Final Day
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Fabian Brandes
Austria
13,175,000
66
2
Scott Ball
United States
5,300,000
27
3
Tong Li
China
6,350,000
32
4
Josh Arieh
United States
8,900,000
45
5
Sam Stein
United States
5,875,000
29
Final Table Results and Remaining Payouts
Place
Winner
Country
Prize (in USD)
1
$1,467,739
2
$907,132
3
$644,365
4
$465,717
5
$342,590
6
Jonathan Depa
United States
$256,582
7
Emmanuel Sebag
United States
$195,713
8
Gregory Shuda
United States
$152,091
Action of the Day
The day started swiftly with a few eliminations, and Keith Lehr (25th - $50,575) busted just before the three-table redraw as the remaining players shuffled seats. Brazilian Yuri Dzivielevski (24th - $50,575) made his exit next, and he was soon followed by Frank Crivello (23rd - $50,575) and Noah Schwartz (22nd - $50,575).
Several eliminations later led to only two remaining tables, and Daniel Negreanu (16th - $57,738) was the next to hit the payout desk after he couldn’t find improvement despite many outs. Ben Lamb (15th - $67,313) ran kings into aces and didn’t improve, Aaron Mermelstein (14th - $67,313) lost the rest of his short stack to bust, and Chance Kornuth (13th - $80,105) came up short of the final table despite his recent hot streak.
Stephen Hubbard (12th - $80,105) and Jonas Kronwitter (11th - $97,266) were sent to the rail next, before Jared Bleznick (10th - $97,266) was eliminated on the unofficial final table bubble.
The nine remaining players converged on a single table led by Fabian Brandes, who would hold onto the lead through the end of the night. Like many German top pros, the high-stakes PLO cash player resides in Vienna, and although he doesn’t have an extensive tournament résumé, he will be in pole position to snag a maiden WSOP bracelet.
Once the unofficial final table began, a short-stacked David Williams (9th - $120,457) was the next player to find himself without any chips. Gregory Shuda (8th - $152,091), a player without a long list of results like his opponents, made a deep run and the bracelet seemed like a real possibility, but he was eliminated on the river by Arieh.
Emmanuel Sebag (7th - $195,713) was next to go when his kings found themselves against Brandes' aces. Jonathan Depa (6th - $256,582) came into the day with the second-biggest stack, but near the end, he was whittled down to under a few big blinds, and he ultimately became the last elimination of the day before the remaining players bagged and tagged to return for the finale.
The final table will have cards in the air at 4 p.m. local time on Sunday, June 12, and the live stream with cards-up coverage will be hosted via PokerGO on a delay of 45 minutes to one hour. There are 53:42 minutes left in level 29 at blinds of 100,000-200,000 with a big blind ante of 200,000.
Stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team returns to bring you updates until a champion is crowned.