Justin Pechie Wins Event #34: $1,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em for $364,899 and Second Bracelet
An action-packed Day 3 of the 2022 World Series of Poker Event #34: $1,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em has come to an end with Justin Pechie taking home his second WSOP bracelet.
A total of 1,774 players started the tournament creating a total prize pool of $2,368,290, and there were just ten remaining at the start of Day 3 to battle it out for the lion's share of the prize money and the coveted gold bracelet.
Pechie was the chosen one that the stars and cards aligned for to take home the top prize of $364,899. He also added a second gold bracelet to his collection, with his first one being from 2011 in Event #41: $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout.
Event # 34: $1,500 Freezeout No Limit Hold’em Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (USD) |
| 1 | Justin Pechie | United States | $365,899 |
| 2 | Samuel Bifarella | France | $225,506 |
| 3 | Maxime Parys | France | $164,469 |
| 4 | Kenny Robbins | United States | $121,224 |
| 5 | Steve Zolotow | United States | $90,306 |
| 6 | David Dibernardi | United States | $68,002 |
| 7 | Michel Leibgorin | France | $51,766 |
| 8 | Jeremy Wien | United States | $39,843 |
| 9 | Dwayne Sullivan | United States | $31,009 |
Winner's Reaction
When talking to PokerNews about how his win felt, Pechie said, “I haven’t really processed it. I never really looked at the amounts or payouts; I just came in and played how I felt I should play, and now it’s kind of sinking in.”
Pechie started the third day in chips but steadily climbed to the top. He was hovering around second in chips for most of the day before taking the lead shortly after Level 34 with five players remaining. He was then back and forth with France’s Maxime Parys throughout the next two levels before he caught a double up off Parys and had nearly three-quarters of the chips in play for a dominating lead that carried him to victory.
Final Day Recap
Ten players started the final day with Orson Young getting eliminated shortly after play began in Level 28, but there was not another one until two hours later when a double elimination occurred, and Pechie took out Dwayne Sullivan and former bracelet winner, Jeremy Wien.
The next elimination was France’s Michel Leibgorin who was taken out by David Dibernardi. The French brigade was out in full force at the rail, cheering on the three players from France who were sitting at the final table and with one down, they only had two left.
Dibernardi chipped up from taking out Leibgorin was it was short lived and he was the next one out. Soon after, fan favourite and poker legend Steve Zolotow fell victim to Pechie and received applause as he left the table.
Kenny Robbins was the next to go, and then there were three. Pechie versus the two Frenchman, and he did not back down, getting a huge dent out of the stack of Maxime Parys and acquiring 70% of the chips in play.
Parys was knocked out by fellow Frenchman, Samuel Bifarella, which took it down to the final two.
Pechie and Bifarella then battled back and forth, with Pechie never really relinquishing his enormous chip lead. It all ended when Bifarella, with king-deuce, was all in on the flop and Pechie snap-called with five-six for two pair. Bifarella had 19 outs to hit on the river but missed them all, ending the long 3-day battle to be crowned champion.
This concludes PokerNews' coverage of the event, but there is still plenty more to come from the 2022 WSOP, so be sure to keep it locked in.