Dan Zack defeated a field of 196 entries in the 2022 World Series of Poker $10,000 Omaha eight-ot-better championship event, earning his second gold bracelet and $440,757 for the win.
Zack had to survive a marathon heads-up battle with Dustin Dirksen that lasted more than seven hours. Two hours into the knock-down, drag-out match, Zack scooped a pot to leave Dirksen with just two big blinds. Despite having a 40:1 chip lead at that point, Zack’s work was far from over. Dirksen managed to mount an incredible comeback over the next 45 or so minutes that saw him storm all the way from being all-in and at risk for a single big bet to regaining the chip lead.
The two played for more than five additional hours after that point, with Zack able to finally close out the victory after 3:00 AM local time.
“Exhausted, just basically dead,” said Zack when asked how he felt after securing the title. “You know, I have no energy left at all.”
This was Zack’s largest live tournament score ever, topping the $208,725 he earned as the seventh-place finisher in the 2017 World Poker Tour Five Diamond main event. His previous bracelet win came in 2019, when he secured $160,447 as the champion of the $2,500 mixed triple draw event. Zack now has more than $1.9 million in career earnings to his name.
In addition to the title and the money, Zack also earned plenty of rankings points for this win. The 840 Card Player Player of the Year points he secured saw him move within reach of the top 250 in the 2022 POY race standings, which are sponsored by Global Poker. He also scored 441 PokerGO Tour points, moving into 70th place on that leaderboard.
I won!
— Daniel Zack (@Dan__Zack) June 11, 2022
Plenty of big names made deep runs in this tournament, including two-time bracelet winner Phillip Hui (20th – $20,206), two-time bracelet winner Connor Drinan (19th – $20,206), Hall of Famer Todd Brunson (12th – $26,986), 2007 WSOP $50,00 H.O.R.S.E. winner Freddy Deeb (11th – $32,209), and recent bracelet winner Alexander Livingston (7th – $61,991).
The final day of this four-day event took more than 11 hours to complete, despite starting with just five players remaining. Jake Liebeskind came into the day with just two big bets. He was ultimately knocked out by Dirksen in the early going, earning $105,913 for his fifth-place showing.
Bracelet winner Ray Dehkarghani got the last of his stack in preflop with A
77
2
in a three-way clash. He flopped big with 963 giving him the nut flush draw and the nut low draw, but a K
turn and 9 river saw him miss both draws. Dirksen revealed the AAJ5, which was good for both the main pot and the side pot he had built with two-time bracelet winner Yuval Bronshtein. Dehkharghani earned $142,456 for his fourth-place finish, increasing his career live total to nearly $1.8 million.
Bronshtein lost a big pot going for the high side when his aces and tens with a queen kicker was outpipped by Zack’s aces and tens with a king kicker. Bronshtein was left with less than a full big bet after that, which went in moments later. Bronshtein flopped two pair to take the lead after getting all-in, but Zack rivered a set with pocket deuces to scoop the pot. Bronshtein took home $195,203 as the third-place finisher. He now has more than $2.3 million in live earnings to his name.
Heads-up play began with Dirksen holding 6,115,000 to Zack’s 5,655,000. The lead soon changed hands for the first of several times during this grueling showdown. While he never got as short as Dirksen had, Zack did at one point fall below a million in chips before mounting a comeback of his own. With the limits having grown quite high, Zack scooped a big pot with queens full of sevens beating the sevens full of aces of Dirksen to put him well out in front again.
Dirksen managed a few double-ups after that, but Zack was able to keep pulling away after each one. In the final hand Dirksen limped from the button with AK1010 and called a raise from Zack, who held KK52. The flop came down 982 and Zack bet. Dirksen raised all-in and Zack called with the higher overpair. The turn brought the 4, which left Dirksen needing a non-diamond ace or ten on the river. The Q on the end locked up the scoop and the title for Zack. Dirksen recorded his third WSOP runner-up finish, earning $272,408 for his impressive showing in this event. This score put his career tournament earnings above the $2 million mark.
Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points | PGT Points |
| 1 | Daniel Zack | $440,757 | 840 | 441 |
| 2 | Dustin Dirksen | $272,408 | 700 | 272 |
| 3 | Yuval Bronshtein | $195,203 | 560 | 195 |
| 4 | Ray Dehkharghani | $142,456 | 420 | 142 |
| 5 | Jake Liebeskind | $105,913 | 350 | 106 |
| 6 | Bart O’Connell | $80,250 | 280 | 80 |
| 7 | Alexander Livingston | $61,991 | 210 | 62 |
| 8 | Kane Kalas | $48,839 | 140 | 49 |
| 9 | Ray Henson | $39,258 | 70 | 39 |
Winner photo credit: WSOP / Seth Haussler.
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