Simon Mattsson wins 2022 World Series of Poker Online Main Event for $2.8 million
The Swedish Poker Pro known to many as ‘C. Darwin2’ defeated a field of 4,984 entries to secure his first WSOP Gold Bracelet
The international leg of the 2022 World Series of Poker Online (WSOP-O), held on GGPoker, is done and dusted. All 33 bracelets have been handed out, including the $5000 buy-in Main Event.
The most anticipated $5K Main Event carrying the biggest guarantee of the year had no trouble in surpassing its $20 million prize pool. Eight Day 1s were initially scheduled; however, a Last Chance flight was added, giving players nine opportunities to make it to Day 2. Each flight was structured as a freezeout.
After weeks of running Day 1s, the tournament drew 4984 entries to amass a prize pool of $23.6 million. It surpassed its guarantee by 18.37% and drew nearly 900 entrants more than last year.
The top 500 finishers made the money in this event, with plenty of big names running deep including Linus Loeliger (287th), two-time bracelet winner Joao Simao (230th), 2013 WSOP main event champion Ryan Riess (147th), two-time bracelet winner Chris Moorman (105th), 2020 WSOP main event champion Damian Salas (96th), three-time bracelet winner Justin Bonomo (64th), Niklas Astedt (29th), Paulina ‘poker bunny’ Loeliger (27th), bracelet winner Patrick Leonard (22nd), and bracelet winner Joseph Cheong (11th).
In the end, it was 29-year-old Swedish online tournament superstar Simon Mattsson who emerged victorious with his first bracelet and the top prize of $2,793,574. He now has more than $4.4 million in recorded tournament earnings in live and online events with full real-name results. He also has more than $27 million in total online cashes under the screen name ‘C. Darwin2’ according to PocketFives, the most of any player in the world.
Tim Rutherford went into the final table as the shortest stack with only 11 big blinds at his disposal, and he was the first casualty of the night. British grinder Oliver Sprason was the next finalist to bow out; his eighth-place finish came with $372,529 in prize money. The final seven became six with the untimely demise of Canada’s Jordan Spurlin, who crashed out on the very next hand after Sprason busted. Yanfei Chi lost all but four big blind when his fellow countryman Zhao cracked his pocket queens with pocket jacks. Austria’s Istvan Briski saw his tournament end in a fifth-place finish worth $883,404. Vousden was the first finalist to bag a seven-figure prize, doing so on the hand after Briski bowed out. Third place went to Zhao, who battled valiantly throughout the final table despite never having what one would consider a decent stack. Mattsson held a 183,784,622 to 115,021,766 chip lead over Thanarattrakul s the one-on-one battle commenced. Thanarattrakul fell at the final hurdle but cannot be too disappointed to walk away with $2,094,884. Mattsson will forever be known as the 2022 WSOP Online Main Event champion.
Simon Mattsson wins 2022 World Series of Poker Online Main Event for $2.8 million
Here is a look at the payouts awarded at the final table:
“GGPoker is very pleased with how WSOP Online 2022 went, with almost all feedback from our community positive, lots of great action seen at the tables, millions in prize money claimed and, of course, many new WSOP gold bracelet winners crowned,” said Paul Burke, spokesperson of GGPoker to PRO.
“We’re sad it’s over, but all good things must come to an end, and GGPoker will now start planning for future tournament series – so watch this space!” Burke added.
