WSOP Day 22 recap: Ivey, Nguyen and Lindgren in the hunt for a bracelet

With the final tables in Event #32 and #33 approaching players Phil Ivey and Erik Lindgren are looking to make their first big splash of the 2010 World Series of Poker. Also in the bracelet mix are players like Men Nguyen and Joshua Tieman who are looking to become the first multiple bracelet winner in 2010.

What else was happening on Day 22 of the WSOP? Two bracelets were awarded; The Seniors tournament kicked off with a monstrous turnout; and the Heads-Up Championship got underway.

Event #30: $1,500 No Limit Holdem

The British invasion continues at the 2010 WSOP -not to mention the phenomenal performances by Canadian poker players. Britain picked up its 4^th WSOP bracelet of 2010 when Mike Ellis defeated Christopher Gonzales in a marathon heads-up session. Ellis’s win was worth $581k.

Event #31: $3,000 HORSE

Russian Konstantin Puchkov made his 1^st cash at the WSOP a very good, by finishing 1^st in the $3k HORSE event.  Puchkov outlasted poker pro Al Barbieri in a long heads-up duel before claiming the gold bracelet and the $256k in prize-money.

Event #32: $5,000 6-Max No Limit Holdem

Going into the final day of play today Erik Lindgren is sitting in 2^nd place just slightly behind the chip leader Mark Radoja (from… you guessed it: Canada!) Bringing up the rear of the 12 remaining players is Men “The Master” Nguyen who is looking for his 2^nd bracelet of 2010 which would tie him with Eric Seidel for 4^th place all-time with 8.

Event #33: $2,500 Pot Limit Holdem/Omaha

With E-Dawg and Men Nguyen representing the pros in Event #32, Event #33 has a slew of big names amongst the remaining 15 player; none bigger than Phil Ivey who is currently in 9^th place overall. Also still in the running are David Chiu (2^nd place), Rob Hollink (3^rd place), Joshua Tieman (5^th place), Victor Ramdin (6^th place), Kevin MacPhee (8^th place), and Burt Boutin (11^th place), making this event one of the toughest lineups a poker fan might ever see.

Event #34: $1,000 No Limit Holdem Seniors Championship

All I can say about the turnout for the Seniors Championship is WOW! An astonishing 3,142 players turned out to take part in the tournament, proving that poker is not yet a young man’s game. The record-setting turnout was so massive the WSOP had to move other tournaments to other locations around the Rio to accommodate the massive number of players that turned out.

One player who many poker fans will be following the progress of is ESPN’s WSOP announcer Lon McEachern who is currently nursing a 13,000 chip stack.

Event #35: $10,000 Heads-Up No Limit Holdem Championship

With everyone starting with an equal number of chips the only real question from Event #35 is, ‘Who made it through’. Among the 64 returning players poker fans will see the big name pros they’re familiar with along with a number of Internet sensations -where Heads-Up No Limit has become increasingly popular: Terrence Chan, Eric Cloutier, Ryan Fee, Emil Patel, Vanessa Rousso, Chris Moorman, Kevin Saul, Josh Arieh, Gabe Kaplan, Brock Parker, Bertrand Grosspieller, Phil Gordon, Steve Gross, Antonio Esfandiari, David Williams, Alexander Kravchenko, Vladimir Schmelev, Phil Ivey, Andrew Feldman, Faraz Jaka, Gavin Smith, Sorel Mizzi, Brian Rast and Jonathan Little.

 Results courtesy of WSOP.com