Espen Jorstad of Norway wins 2022 WSOP main event: $10 million payday!
On Saturday, July 16, 2022, Norway's Espen Jorstad defeated his remaining opponents to win the Main Event of the World Series of Poker, picking up the top prize of $10 million for his efforts. The event, held for the first time at Bally's Casino in Las Vegas, saw 8,663 entrants generate a total prize pool of just over $80 million. Jorstad qualified by winning a satellite tournament at one of the leading international online poker sites.
Day 9 Overview
Going into the final day of play, Espen was the chip leader with 99bb in his stack. The eventual runner-up, Aussie Adrian Attenborough, had 50bb and Argentina's Michael Duek had just 24bb. The three finalists convened at 2 p.m. PT to conclude the tournament and see a champion crowned.
The action began fast and furious for the three finalists once the cards were in the air. Before 10 hands had elapsed, Duek found himself forced to a decision for his tournament life when he faced an all-in river bet from Attenborough whilst holding K♥ 8♦ for top pair on a board of Q♦ T♣ 5♥ K♠ 3♠. Michael made the crying call only to be shown his opponent's A♣ J♣ for the nut straight. Michael Duek collected $4 million for his third place finish.
Heads-up Action
Heads-up play then began with Espen Jorstad holding about a 55 – 45 chip advantage over Adrian Attenborough. Espen extended this lead when Attenborough folded the river in a big hand after tanking about 20 minutes. An ill-fated bluff from Espen a few hands later saw Adrian take the lead, but the Norwegian won several hands to pull ahead of his opponent by the time the final hand was dealt.
The 19th hand of heads-up play saw Adrian limp and Espen check. The flop of 4♥ 2♥ 2♣, seemingly blank, led to huge action when there was a check-raise from Attenborough and a three-bet from Jorstad, which was called.
The 8♠ turn was checked by Adrian who called Jorstad's bet. On the Q♣ river, Adrian Attenborough checked again and was confronted with an all-in bet from Espen Jorstad. After tanking more than eight minutes to think about his decision, Adrian exclaimed, “fuck it,” and called. The hands were revealed:
Espen Jorstad: Q♦ 2♠
Adrian Attenborough: J♣ 4♠
With his full house of deuces full of queens, Jorstad prevailed over the two pair of Attenborough. For his runner-up finish, Adrian Attenborough took home a prize of $6 million.
2022 WSOP Main Event Winner Espen JorstadThe complete final table results were as follows:
- Espen Jorstad (Norway): $10,000,000
- Adrian Attenborough (Australia): $6,000,000
- Michael Duek (Argentina): $4,000,000
- John Eames (United Kingdom): $3,000,000
- Matija Dobric (Croatia): $2,250,000
- Jeffrey Farnes (United States): $1,750,000
- Aaron Duczak (Canada): $1,350,000
- Philippe Souki (United Kingdom): $1,075,000
- Matthew Su (United States): $850,675
- Asher Conniff (United States): $675,000
About the New Poker Champion
Espen Jorstad is by no means a household name among poker fans. Still, he's not exactly as obscure as some of the previous Main Event champions have been. Rather, Espen has been practicing his trade for more than a decade and has been attracting a fair amount of attention lately. Now that he has joined the pantheon of WSOP ME victors, there's no doubt that his fame will continue to grow.
Espen's Poker History
Espen Jorstad, now 34 years old, has said that he began playing poker around 2004 or 2005 in home games with his friends when he was just 16. Then he dabbled in the online realm, mostly in freerolls until one of his video gaming buddies encouraged him to play cards more seriously because there was a lot of money to be won.
Initially starting at the Limit Hold'em tables, he quickly moved over to No Limit Hold'em and became a heads-up specialist. For several years, he put poker on the back burner while he focused on university and business ventures.
However, Espen started a twitch poker stream, which led to a Unibet sponsorship. This led to a decision in 2015 or 2016 to concentrate full-time on poker. During this time, he inhabited the mid-stakes cash game tables while playing live tournaments from time to time. But he soon made the switch to playing mostly tournaments.
Espen Jorstad Today
Today, Espen is a coach for online training site RunItOnce, and he resides in London. Though he had more than 20 WSOP cashes in online events before this year, 2022 was the first time he had any success in the live installment of the series. Curiously, Jorstad picked up his first bracelet earlier this year in Event #55: $1,000 Tag Team NLHE, which he entered as a partner of Patrick Leonard. His Main Event victory is thus his second WSOP bracelet.
Espen Jorstad won his seat into this year's Main Event via a $1,050 online satellite at GGPoker instead of paying the full $10,000 sticker price. After prevailing in the year's most important poker tournament, Espen called his mother. “She was crying and had trouble speaking,” he explained to a group of reporters. “She's my biggest fan so it was kind of emotional. It feels really good.”
The new poker champion stated that with the $10 million boost to his bankroll, he intends to enter more high-roller events going forward. Additionally, he will invest some of it, perhaps in crypto-currency and the stock market.
More About the 2022 WSOP
This year marked the first time that the World Series of Poker took place on the Las Vegas Strip with various events being held in the ballroom at the Paris Casino, in the event center at Bally's Casino, and in the grand ballroom at Bally's. There were 88 bracelet events in this years Series, and they ran from May 30 through July 20.
Bally's and Paris Casinos on Las Vegas StripPrior to this, from 2005 to 2021, the WSOP was held at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino a couple of blocks west of the Strip. Before 2005, it was held at Binion's Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas, which is where the series began life in 1970.
Incidentally, Bally's Las Vegas is rebranding to the Horseshoe Las Vegas, so in a sense the World Series is returning back to its roots metaphorically if not literally. The original Horseshoe Casino downtown, where the WSOP began, is now known as Binion's Gambling Hall.
This move to the Strip follows the sale of the Rio Casino in 2019 by Caesars, which is the owner of the World Series of Poker brand. Caesars retained control of the Rio Casino for two years following the sale, which explains why the move to Bally's and Paris did not occur immediately.
Rio Hotel and Casino, Former Site of the WSOPAfter an initial period of trepidation and skepticism, most players lauded the move to the Strip especially once the cards started flying and they got to experience what the new venues were like. Many praised the competence of the dealers compared to what they were used to at the Rio, and the parking situation seems to have improved as well. A lot of participants felt that the temperatures within the casinos were more reasonable also after years of playing in the chilly Rio Amazon Room, which has been described as “a meat locker.”
The feelings of most of the poker community appear to be summarized accurately in a tweet posted by 2009 Main Event winner Joe Cada:
Practice for the WSOP Online
It's probably too late for you to book a WSOP vacation this year, but it's never too early to prepare for 2023. If you wish to brush up on your poker skills, then there are any number of offshore poker providers that will let you play in the kind of large-field tournaments that are a prominent part of the Series.
You won't have to fork over thousands of dollars to play either; many online MTTs feature buyins in the $10 - $250 range: ideal for almost every budget. Some sites even run WSOP satellite tourneys, giving you the chance to score your seat for a fraction of the normal cost, which is just what this year's Main Event winner, Espen Jorstad, did.
Find out more in this comprehensive guide to U.S.A. online poker. Rest assured, it's legal for you to play poker over the internet as you will realize if you browse over to this page devoted to online poker legality.