Event #12: $50,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed

The 2022 World Series of Poker at Bally's and Paris Las Vegas continued today with more exciting high roller action in Day 2 of Event #12: $50,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed. The event attracted 101 entries to create a prize pool of $4,835,375.

Brek Schutten bagged the chip lead with 10,125,000 chips partially propelled by a hot run in the last couple hours of the day. Thailand's Punnat Punsri will be returning with the second-highest stack, and Jake Schindler will be coming into the finale third in chips with another shot at a maiden bracelet following his close runner-up finish in Event #8: $25,000 High Roller.

Shannon Shorr, David Peters, and Andrew Lichtenberger will start the final day on the bottom half of the leaderboard, although they will still have room to make a run at the title.

There were 39 players in their seats to start the day and the field was whittled down to only six players who will return on Day 3 looking for gold. The remaining contenders are each guaranteed at least $326,464, but all eyes are on the first-place prize of $1,328,068 and the coveted bracelet.

Final Table Seat Draw

Action of the Day

There were 23 players returning to the felt who bagged on Day 1, and 16 additional players entered before late registration closed at the beginning of Day 2.

Phil Ivey was one of the late entrants looking to make a run. He picked up aces and kings within the first few hands of the day to chip up early, but couldn't continue his early fortune and busted before the money. Chance Kornuth continued his recent hot streak by being the first to move over 4 million chips, but he later lost a big chunk of it to Schutten in a classic cooler.

The top 16 players grabbed a piece of the prize pool. Hand-for-hand play began with two eliminations away from the money, and it took nearly two hours before the bubble finally burst. Vitaliy Rizhkov was first eliminated on the soft bubble, and then several double-ups occurred.

Eventually, it was Marius Gierse to burst the bubble when he got his short stack in and couldn't improve. From there, a trio of eliminations occurred rather quickly, as Mikita Badziakouski, Shaun Deeb, and Kornuth all made their way to the payout desk to collect $80,000 each.

It would take another hour for the next elimination to transpire when Finland's Eelis Parssinen lost the rest of his stack. Dan Shak was next to go, and 2021 WSOP Main Event champion Koray Aldemir followed soon after. Dan Smith has been riding a heater lately, but in this tournament, his run came to an end after running into Punsri's kings. The nine remaining players then converged on the final table.

Chips were exchanged around the final table before Sean Winter became the first elimination there in ninth place when he couldn't hold on a nines versus ace-jack flip. Italian pro Dario Sammartino was the next to make his exit when he ran his short stack into a better ace.

The seven remaining players would play for almost two hours, where Schutten would pull ahead to become the clear chip leader. Schutten faced a speed bump when Punsri picked up aces at the perfect time to double through him, but he still held the lead.

Michael Rocco was the final player to be eliminated just before the end of the night. He was left with under one big blind after running ace-jack into Schindler's ace-king and started to make a comeback, but was knocked out by Punsri. The plan was to play down to five players, but a full day of play meant a hard stop after ten levels, and the six remaining players bagged and tagged.

Michael Rocco was down to less than one big blind but managed to double up twice, running it back to 950,000. He pushed his chips all in for the third hand in a row on the button and Punnat Punsri called in the big blind.

Michael Rocco:   
Punnat Punsri:   

The flop came     and Rocco was still in the lead with his pair of deuces. However, the   on the turn gave Punsri a straight and Rocco was left drawing dead to the   on the river.

Punnat Punsri	7,100,000	550,000
Michael Rocco	0	-125,000

Brek Schutten moved all in from the cutoff as the big stack and Punnat Punsri called on the button.

Punnat Punsri:   
Brek Schutten:   

Punsri found a fortunate time to pick up aces, and although the     flop provided a sweat, the   and   completed the board to secure Punsri's double.

Brek Schutten	9,900,000	-1,150,000
Punnat Punsri	6,550,000	2,750,000

Brek Schutten opened to 300,000 from under the gun and Punnat Punsri three-bet to 850,000 on his left. The action folded back to Schutten who laid his hand down.

On the next hand, Punsri raised to 300,000 from under the gun and Schutted defended in the big blind. On the flop of    , Schutten check-folded to a bet of 225,000 from Punsri.

Punnat Punsri	6,125,000	1,225,000
Brek Schutten	5,700,000	-450,000

The action folded around to Shannon Shorr in the small blind who moved all in for 1,375,000. Andrew Lichtenberger looked down at his cards in the big blind and instantly called with a laugh.

Shannon Shorr:   
Andrew Lichtenberger:   

The flop came     to give Shorr a straight draw but Lichtenberger held a couple of his outs. That didn't matter as the   rolled off on the turn which left Lichtenberger drawing dead to the   on the river.

Shannon Shorr	2,900,000	1,500,000
Andrew Lichtenberger	2,475,000	-1,625,000

Sean Winter raised it up to 675,000 from middle position. Brek Schutten was in the big blind and announced all in, which was met by a snap-called from Winter for his stack of around 1,000,000.

Sean Winter:   
Brek Schutten:   

The two players were off to the races and the flop of     favored Schutten. The   on the turn and the   on the river was not the bink Winter was looking for, as he headed to the payout desk.

Brek Schutten	4,900,000	-200,000
Sean Winter	0	-640,000

The nine remaining players are now on a 15-minute break.

Sean Winter raised to 265,000 in middle position and was called by Michael Rocco on the button. The two players saw a flop of     and they both checked to the   on the turn.

Winter checked again and Rocco checked it back. The   landed on the river and Winter finally tossed in a bet of 415,000. Rocco quickly called and Winter showed    for two pair. Rocco tabled    for a flush and scooped the pot.

Michael Rocco	3,900,000	1,000,000
Sean Winter	1,575,000	-675,000