WSOP Round-Up: Bracelets for Mark Radoja, Jeremy Ausmus and Jesse Lonis

The 2022 World Series of Poker Online Series has already been an exciting one, but this week saw many star names lay down a marker by claiming gold. With players such as Jesse Lonis, Jeremy Ausmus and Mark Radoja all winning WSOP bracelets, the stories of how they did so contain more reasons why the WSOP is the most compelling tournament series in the world.

Lonis Claims Maiden Victory in Event #8

Jesse Lonis has long been tipped for greatness and this week achieved a lifelong dream when he won his first WSOP gold bracelet – at the online felt. It was the $1,000-entry Six-Max event at which Lonis eventually proved himself the champion, where there were early cashes for players such as Ethan Yau (35^th for $3,283), Alex Rocha (24^th for $3,352), the 2013 WSOP Main Event winner Ryan Riess (20^th for $3,552), and PokerGO’s award-winning broadcaster Jeff Platt (9^th for $5,840) all went close to making the final table.

That honor only befell six players, of course, and after 232 entries had left the tournament, there was a massive $345,600 prizepool and a top prize of $73,370 on the line. Vikanty Shegal, who bubbled the opening event of the 2022 Poker Masters yesterday, ran out of luck here too, busting in sixth place, this time for some profit, however, as he collected a payday worth $14,757. He was followed from the felt by Carlos Welch in fifth place, as his hopes ended and he hit the rail with $20,217.

In fourth place, it was the turn of Jonathan Dokler to leave for a cash worth $27,993 as he missed out on the podium. Falling short of the heads-up by one place was Jason Gooch, who won $38,638 and that left only two, with Cole Ferraro – someone who enjoyed more than a modicum of luck in eliminating Sam Soverel from the opening event of that Poker Masters tournament, losing out for the runner-up prize of $52,876.

It was Lonis, who this summer finished second in Event #88 of the 2022 WSOP in Las Vegas, the $1,000-entry Super-Turbo Event, who raced to victory, claiming the top prize of $73,370, another big win which puts him near to $2 million in ranking event wins on The Hendon Mob.

Ausmus Wins Fourth Bracelet in Under a Year

It goes without saying that Jeremy Ausmus is one of the most successful players in recent poker history, but even the great man himself probably can’t credit his latest victory – his fourth WSOP bracelet in less than a year of poker competition.

Ausmus took down Event #7, the $365-entry No Limit Hold’em event with 571 entries and almost $300,000 in prize money. There were nine players who made the final table, but after the bust-outs of popular pros like Don Himpele in 9^th for $4,552 and Canadian poker hero Daniel Negreanu in 8^th for $6,079, Patrick Eskandar lost out in 7^th place for $8,145.

Kevin Calenzo’s journey came to an end in sixth for $10,990 after his pocket sixes couldn’t catch against Ausmus’ pocket jacks, while there were deep runs but no podium place for Ryan Dodd (5^th for $14,823) and Srinivas Tummala (4^th for $20,154). It was Christian Loucas who came third for $27,611 when Ausmus claimed a vital elimination. That saw the chips even between the eventual winner and Nick Schulman as they battled it out for the bracelet and top prize of $51,807.

Ausmus Makes it Five Alive

It was Schulman who eventually missed out on the gold, his open-ender unable to hit against Ausmus’ two pair, meaning it was the former who left with the runner-up prize of $37,792. For Ausmus, it was the latest in a long line of WSOP bracelet success over the past year. Back in October of 2021, he won Event #3, the $1,000-entry COVID-19 Relief Charity Event for $48,687.

This kick-started an incredible run when he added to this success in Event #84 of the same WSOP in the $50,000 PLO High Roller for $1.18 million, before this year’s summer WSOP saw the genial Ausmus outlast 212 opponents in Event #23, the $3,000 buy-in Six-Max event for his fourth bracelet and $142,147.

With this latest win meaning Ausmus has four bracelets in 11 months and five in total during his illustrious career, there’s still time for him to make it six during the rest of this year’s WSOP Online Series. Who’d bet against it?

Mark Radoja Wins Third WSOP Bracelet

Canadian professional Mark Radoja won his third WSOP bracelet when he won gold in the $1,500-entry FIFTY STACK Bounty NLHE Event #27 this week. Radoja’s win came an incredible nine years after he won the $10,000-entry Heads Up Championship in 2013 to claim his most recent gold bracelet.

There were an amazing 1,597 entries, which saw a top prize of $95,460 added to by the $119,049 Radoja won in bounties, meaning his total winnings were a little shy of $215,000. The prizepool was an incredible $2.27 million, and there were some well recognized players at the final table felt.

Out in seventh place was Israeli player Tal Noach, who cashed for a total prize of $47,220 including bounties. Stefan Reiser made it all the way to fourth place, cashing for $69,667 between prize money and bounties, while it was the Austria-based Justus Held who made it to the final duel, losing heads-up but claiming $139,594 in total prize money, with over $95,000 of that amount coming from the bounties he scooped along the way.