Scott Seiver Takes Fourth WSOP Gold in $2,500 Freezeout Event #3

Scott Seiver won his first WSOP bracelet in 14 years in Las Vegas as he claimed his fourth win under the light at Bally’s in Las Vegas. Heading into the final table with a huge lead, the vastly experienced Seiver overcome the final table after an epic seven-hour marathon victory, including a three-handed showdown that lasted hours, and saw all three players grab the lead at different times.

Big Huni Heads Home

The event saw 752 players take to the felt in the $2,500-entry event, and 113 of them made the money places, including players such as Shaun Deeb (108^th for $4,027), Joe Cada (105^th for $4,027), Anthony Zinno (57^th for $5,884), Adrian Mateos (44^th for $7,448), Dylan Linde (13^th for $14,976), and Shawn Hood, who bubbled the final table in 10^th place for a score of $18,645.

When the final table was reached, Adityar Agarwal cashed for $23,634 in ninth place when his ace-queen couldn’t overcome David Goodman’s ace-king, with a jack-high board sending the Indian player to the rail. It was shortly afterward that Chris ‘Big Huni’ Hunichen joined him, cashing for $30,478 in seventh place when his ace-jack couldn’t catch cards against Goodman’s second consecutive winning hand with pocket queens.

British player Lewis Spence won $39,970 when he busted out with king-three after shoving for just seven big blinds. Seiver was his caller, and ace-deuce was good enough for another scalp when Spencer’s hand couldn’t catch up. Seiver still led the field with six players left, but his five opponents were all about to prove that winning in no-limit isn’t easy.

Schulman Falls Short

With half a dozen players remaining hopeful of victory, Nick Schulman was the next to hit the rail, and in an extremely unfortunate fashion. Schulman was ahead of Sergio Aido when he was all-in with ace-king against Aido’s ace-queen, but a queen appeared on the turn after all the chip went in pre-flop to see Schulman cash for $53,296.

Aido would be the next man to hit the rail, losing out to Steve Zolotow when the Spanish player’s pocket sevens couldn’t hold against the American’s ace-queen, an ace on the flop doing the damage. Aido cashed for $72,233 but missed out on the final four.

Zolotow himself would whiff the podium, after running short on chips and moving all-in for just nine big blinds with king-five. Goodman was priced in to make the call with four-three and was drawing dead by the turn when Goodman made a full house by the fourth street. Zolotow made $139,193 by finishing in fourth place.

Seiver Seals the Deal

All three players who were left held the lead at various points over the next two hours of play, but Goodman was eventually the man who missed out on the final two. Goodman was all-in with ace-ten but Seiver called with pocket queens to send his compatriot home for $139,193.

Heads up saw Alexander Farahi miss out on the top prize as he finished in second place for $197,806. Farahi, down to a chip deficit heads-up of 1:3 to Seiver, moved all-in with ace-eight, but Seiver again held pocket queen and survived a nine-high board with ease to reign supreme and win his fourth WSOP bracelet and his first in no-limit hold’em since 2008.

“I feel great. I just was really fired up to play a bunch of tournaments,” said Seiver after the match completed. “There is something just so special about the World Series of Poker. The past few years, I’ve only played a few events here and there, and I kind of wanted to just, you know, push it a little bit and see how I felt.”

Seiver confirmed too that he’ll be pushing for more bracelet glory throughout the rest of the 2022 World Series.

“So far, so good,” he agreed. “Getting a win definitely provides more motivation. If I was going to lose a little motivation or be dissuaded by other games, this definitely pushed me to play more, I’m sure.”

Photo courtesy of PokerGO, home of the 2022 World Series of Poker, with final tables live streams throughout June and July.