Welcome to Day 1 of the 2022 WSOP Event #27: $1,500 Shootout No-Limit Hold'em
The 2022 World Series of Poker in its new home at Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas will begin its one and only shootout event, Event #27: $1,500 Shootout No-Limit Hold'em this morning at 11 a.m. local time.
Last year's tournament saw 800 players enter the field, generating a prize pool of $1,068,000, with the top 80, or those who advanced past the first round, receiving a minimum cash of $5,459.
Of those 800 entrants, the last man standing was Gershon Distenfeld after he defeated Johan Schumacher in heads-up play at the final table. Distenfeld took home the first-place prize of $204,063, all of which he donated to various charities. Distenfeld is slated to return to defend his title this year and has once again pledged that any winnings will be donated to charitable causes.
The shootout format is such that players must win their table in each round to advance. Players will begin the day with 25,000 chips. Blinds will begin at 100-200 with a 200 big blind ante. Levels are scheduled for 40 minutes, with 20-minute breaks after every 3rd level. A 60-minute dinner break will be held after level 9, expected to be around 5:40 p.m. local time.
Late registration will close after 3 levels (around 1:20 p.m. local time) or once the cap of 1,000 players is hit. All stacks will be in play from the start of the day, meaning late-registering players will enter the tournament with less than a full starting stack.
Stay tuned for all of the action from Las Vegas as the PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to cover all the action from start to finish.
, last year's winner of this event, Gershon Distenfeld, on the button was involved in a three-way pot with an under-the-gun player and John Walker from early position. 
. Walker was in fact ahead with 
and would need to fade clubs and kings heading to the river. He did just that as the 
fell to score the early double-up and in the process eliminate the defending champion. 
turn kept the pocket sevens ahead but Berkowtiz nailed the 
river, giving him an almost full triple-up and knocking out Riess.
.
and Gurney checked to Watson, who continued for 1,000. Gurney made the call to send the players to the turn. 
turn, Gurney checked again but this time, when Watson fired off a second bet of 3,200, Gurney responded with a raise to 7,000. Watson gave his decision some thought before moving all in. Gurney snapped it off to put Watson at risk. 
gave no help to Watson, sending him to the rail, and giving Gurney a large boost to his stack.
Stepuchin in the big blind led out for 16,000 into a pot of roughly 24,000. The player on the button raised to 31,000 and was called by Stepuchin. 
turn and his opponent called just as quickly to put Stepuchin at risk. 
river, however, and Stepuchin took down a massive pot to put him well in the lead. 
river to secure the knockout and setup heads-up play against Masato Yokosawa holding a 4:1 chip lead.
