Punnat Punsri Wins First High Roller Poker Tournament of 2022

The very first high roller poker tournament of 2022 is officially in the books.

The $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em event was held at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas on Jan. 5. A total of 34 entries were made, building a prize pool of $340,000. After more than 14 hours of high-stakes action, Punnat Punsri came away with the title and the first-place prize of $118,037.

This was the largest ever score recorded by the Thai player, who made his high roller debut with a trio of final-table finishes during the Five Diamond World Poker Classic in December of 2021. Punsri now has $428,685 in career live earnings to his name along with three recorded titles. His largest previous payday as a champion came when he took down a 2019 APT Korea Seoul event for $51,179.

In addition to the title and the money, Punsri was also awarded 240 Card Player Player of the Year points for this latest victory. With results from events in the new year just beginning to roll in, Punsri has put himself in the mix as one of the early leaders in the 2022 POY race.

He also earned 118 PokerGO Tour points for the win. This was the kickoff event of the 2022 PGT, which means that he is currently sitting in first place in the standings.

The top five finishers made the money in this event. John Flynt was eliminated on the money bubble to guarantee the remaining players at least $23,800. That amount is exactly what 2018 Card Player POY award winner Jake Schindler earned as the fifth-place finisher. He got all-in for around 7 big blinds with K-8 suited, which lost out to the J-10 offsuit of nine-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Erik Seidel, who made aces and tens to narrow the field to four.

Alex Foxen’srun in this event came to an end when his A8 was unable to beat the K6 of Punsri in an all-in confrontation. Punsri spiked a king on the turn and faded Foxen’s flush draw to take down the pot and send Foxen home with $37,400.

Barry Hutter was the next to fall at the hands of Punsri. He got all-in on a K92 flip with KQ and was behind Punsri’s K2 for two pair. The 4 turn and 6 river gave Hutter no help and he was eliminated in third place ($54,400).

Punsri took a healthy lead into heads-up play with Seidel after that. The two ultimately struck a deal that saw Seidel earn $106,363 as the runner-up, while Punsri took $118,037 and the title.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded in this event:

Photo credit: PokerGO.

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