Framingham native Darren Elias tries to extend wins record at World Series of Poker
The 2022 World Series of Poker (WSOP) kicked off in Las Vegas, Nevada, last week. The most anticipated poker tournament series of the year was welcomed into its new home this summer at Bally’s and Paris Casinos.
After a 17-year residency at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, the WSOP’s new home will be in the heart of the Las Vegas strip.
The 2022 WSOP will return to its customary summer schedule for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic started. However, just prior to the start of the WSOP, the World Poker Tour (WPT) completed two main event final tables at the Luxor’s HyperX Esports Arena.
The first final table was the continuation of the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown. With 2,010 entries, first prize was set at just over $1 million. After four grueling days in April in Hollywood, Florida, the final six players were determined. This sextet would take about a six-week hiatus and resumed playing recently in Las Vegas.
The chip leader of this final table was no stranger to the spotlight. Darren Elias holds the current record for most WPT main event wins with four victories. The Framingham native continued his success at WPT main events by entering this final table as the chip leader, attempting to extend his record to five wins.
“I didn’t have a very good start on Day 1, but on my third bullet, I bagged a pretty good stack,” recalled Elias. “I then had a pretty good Day 2 ending with around 500,000 chips. Then, I had a really good start on Day 3 where I 10X my stack during the first level up to about 5 million. From there, it was smooth sailing to the final six players.”
When the final six players reunited at the Luxor’s HyperX Esports Arena on May 25, Elias had a massive chip lead with 38.8 million chips. The second chip position player, Mark Davis, had 26.5 million, whereas the remaining four players’ chip stacks did not even add up to Elias monster stack.
As the final table play got underway, the action was relatively quick as the first two eliminations occurred on Hands #6 and #34. Then on Hand #40, they eliminated another player with the following hand. This hand helped boost Elias’s chip stack to over 54 million with three players remaining.
With the blinds at 200,000 and 400,000 with a 400,000 big blind ante, Elias raised 800,000 from the button. After the small blind folded, Texas native Viet Vo called from the big blind.
The dealer flopped out Ah-Jh-7d.
After Vo checked, Elias made a continuation bet of 1.3 million.
After taking some time to deliberate, Vo moved all-in for 7.5 million.
Elias snap-called, turning over Ad-4d, but quickly realized that he was behind Vo’s Ac-8d.
When the dealer turned the 3d, Elias picked up 8 more outs as he could now also hit the diamond flush.
With the entire arena on the edge of their seats, the dealer revealed the 2d on the river, completing the diamond flush for Elias. This river card crushed the hopes of Vo, earning him $370,000 for his 4th place finish.
The BetMGM brand ambassador now had more than half the chips in play and eventually went heads-up with Davis.
After almost 100 hands and 4.5 hours of play heads-up, Elias fell to Davis, who took home his first WPT main event title. However, Elias was able to take home $660,000 to help ease some of the pain.
For all six players, this final table surely gave them momentum, and some extra money, heading into the 2022 WSOP.
Good luck to everyone who is playing in the 2022 WSOP and I hope to see you at a final table.
Bernard Lee is considered “The Voice of New England Poker” and is a staple of the poker media as a columnist for ESPN.com, PokerNews, CardplayerLifestyle.com and his radio show, “The Bernard Lee Poker Show.” Listen every Tuesdays from 6-7 p.m. on terrestrial radio in Boston on the Money Matter Radio Network (102.9 FM, 1120 AM) or via podcast on iTunes or CardplayerLifestyle.com. E-mail him at BernardLeePoker@hotmail.com and follow him on Twitter, Instagram (@BernardLeePoker), YouTube (BernardLeePoker) and Facebook (Bernard Lee). Since finishing 13th in the 2005 WSOP Main Event, Lee has cashed in over 100 tournaments, earning about $2.5 million on tour and capturing 10 titles including two WSOP Circuit titles. Visit www.BernardLeePoker.com for the latest news and information.
This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Darren Elias of Framingham tries to extend record at World Series of Poker
