Eric Smidinger has taken down the $1,000 Seniors No Limit Hold’em Championship on Monday evening after five days of play which saw 7,188 entries join the event.

With the win, Smidinger takes home his first WSOP bracelet and takes home a first-place prize of $694,909. Prior to his big win, Smidinger’s biggest score came during a 4th place finish at the $365 No Limit Hold’em 2015 WSOP Circuit event in Baltimore, where he won $28,831.

Smidinger was elated in his post-match comments:

This is a dream. I love it. This morning, coming in, I knew I had just as good of a chance as anybody. I’m excited, it’s going to be cool to go back to Blackhawk, I live in Colorado (Evergreen) and play there regularly, including tournaments. It’ll be nice to sport the bracelet.

The final table of the event included Women Poker Hall of Famer Kathy Liebert, who has not won a bracelet since the 2004 $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout. She finished in 5th place, which yielded a prize of $186,541.

$1,000 Seniors Championship Final Table results

  • 1st – Eric Smidinger – $694,909
  • 2nd – Ben Sarnoff – $429,420
  • 3rd – Charles Mithell – $323,057
  • 4th – Biagio Morvaino – $244,664
  • 5th – Kathy Liebert – $186,541

Ongoing action

Event #51 – $4,000 Colossus No Limit Hold’em – Sam Laskowitz holds a big lead in the Colossus with just 7 players remaining, down from the original 13,565 entries. Each player left is guaranteed to receive $66,670 with the first place set to receive $414,490.

Event #54 – $500 Salute to Warriors – James Todd is the chip leader in the Salute to Warriors event with just 21 players remaining at the end of Day 2. When action picks up at 7:30 PM PT, he will be joined by popular poker vlogger Matt Vaughn.

Event #55 – $1,000 Tag Team No Limit Hold’em – After two days of play, the tag team of Mackenzie Kraemer and Jon Schiller leads a field of 20. When action picks up for Day 3 at 3 PM PT, they will be playing towards a $74,042 first place prize and bracelet.

Event #56 – $50,000 Poker Players Championship 6-Handed – 41 players remain in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship with Bryn Kenney holding the chip lead when Day 3 begins at 2 PM PT. Other top chip counts include Michael Moncek, Koray Aldemir, Yuri Dzivielevski and Scott Bohlman.

Event #57 – $600 Deepstack Championship – A field of 4,913 is down to 560 to start Day 2 of the $600 Deepstack Championship on Tuesday. Bradley Miller finds himself as the chip leader with big names such as Jeremy Ausmus, Chris Moorman, Tuan Lee ad Mark Seif still fighting.

Event #58 – $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better – Justin Liberto leads the way in the $1.5 PLO Hi/Lo 8 or Better after the completion of Day 1 with 203 players remaining.

New events

There are three new events on the schedule for Tuesday. To start things off, the $1,000 Super Seniors No Limit Hold’em event will get underway at 10 AM. This will be followed up by the $10,000 Short Deck No Limit Hold’em event starting at 3 PM PT.

The WSOP will go online a half-hour later with the start of Online Event #6, the $500 No Limit Hold’em Deepstack.

Watch the 2022 WSOP

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Sights and sounds from the WSOP