Andrew Yeh triomphe sur le H.O.R.S.E. Championship (487,129$), Craig Chait runner-up
It was no sprint to the finish line for the latest gold bracelet winner of the 2022 WSOP in its new home at Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas, as Andrew Yeh had to wait until the early morning hours in the Bally's Event Center before he lifted live poker's most elusive prize into the PokerGO live stream cameras.
Out of a field of 209 entries in the Event #44: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship, mixed cash game player Yeh defeated Craig Chait in heads-up as the duo divided the biggest portion of the $1,948,925 prize pool. Yeh became part of live poker's elite company and took home the top prize of $487,129 while Chait had to settle for a consolation prize of $301,068.
The fact that Yeh and Chait ended up in the heads-up encounter seemed unlikely at times with Yeh being down to two big bets on the last five tables. Chait had a single chip more than the starting stack of 60,000 on the three table redraw and he joked during the unofficial final table in the previous night that his victory as an "amateur" would spark a new boom for mixed games on the live poker circuit.
Throughout the day, all contenders were jockeying for their positions but Yeh remained near the top of the leaderboard and even pulled into a commanding lead with three players remaining. However, it wasn't a smooth ride thereafter as the lead changed numerous times.
It was also redemption for Yeh as he came agonisingly close to the maiden gold bracelet during the 2021 WSOP at the Rio All-Site Hotel & Casino as he finished third place for $143,988 in the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Championship. Yeh's close call back then came up short when “Ari [Engel] kicked my ass”, which the winner admitted with a smile on the face. The four-card split pot variant is definitely the preferred one in the rotation and he quite fittingly finished it despite getting it in with aces and kings.
Three of the final five players already had one WSOP gold bracelet to their name but John Racener, Bryce Yockey, and Philip Long all missed out on the opportunity to double their tally on what turned out to be a long night at the poker tables. Yockey even managed to finish in fourth place in this very event in back-to-back years.
Final Table Result Event #44: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andrew Yeh | United States | $487,129 |
| 2 | Craig Chait | United States | $301,068 |
| 3 | Philip Long | United Kingdom | $209,424 |
| 4 | Bryce Yockey | United States | $148,896 |
| 5 | John Racener | United States | $108,253 |
| 6 | Paul Sokoloff | United Kingdom | $80,523 |
| 7 | Mike Gorodinsky | United States | $61,314 |
| 8 | Eric Wasserson | United States | $47,819 |
The winner quotes and a recap of today's action are to follow.