Chad Eveslage has been on the live poker tournament circuit for over a decade now, with 190 recorded cashouts totaling over $5.6 million in winnings. Over $4 million of that money has been earned since the start of 2021, with a number of milestone wins recorded over the past year and a half. Eveslage got the biggest payday yet by dropping the 2022 World Series of Poker $25,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em eight-max event for his first gold bracelet and top prize of $1,415,610.

“It feels good,” Eveslage said with a smile when asked to add a WSOP title to his rapidly growing list of accomplishments. “It’s a lot of money and it’s a bracelet.”

Eveslage also received plenty of ranking points for what was his second qualifying score of the year, after finishing seventh in a $2,200 buy-in. WSOP Circuit event at the Isle Casino Pompano Park. The 1,428 card player The Player of the Year points he received as champion of this event propelled him to 66th place in 2022 POY race, sponsored by Global Poker. He also locked up 700 Visit PokerGO points, enough to move him to 28th place in this ranking.

Eveslage today is both WSOP and world poker tour champion, having won the WPT Venetian last summer for $910,370. Seven of his top ten scores have come since the start of 2021. Before his breakthrough into bigger buy-in events last year, Eveslage’s success had mostly come in tournaments with buy-ins between 1 $600 and $3,500. When asked how he made the transition to higher-stakes events, he attributed it to the improvements made during the live shutdown during the pandemic.

“I basically played online poker every day during quarantine and worked really hard,” Eveslage said. “I think that’s when I went from, you know, an average professional to who I am now; a slightly above average or above average pro.

Eveslage was one of 251 entries made at this event. The strong turnout resulted in a prize pool of $5,929,875 which was paid out to the top 38 finishers. Given the stakes, it should come as no surprise that many of the biggest names in the game have made deep runs, including 10-time bracelet winner Phil Ivey (34th – $40,648), four-time bracelet winner and recent $100,000 bounty champion David Peters (27th – $50,810), five-time bracelet winner Brian Rast (19th – $57,009), 2015 Main Event champion Joseph McKeehen (18th – $57,009) and world poker tour champion Alex Foxen (17th – $57,009).

Only 15 players qualified for the third and final day of this event. WPT champion Justin Young (15th – $65,511), WPT champion Taylor von Kriegenbergh (13th – $77,056), breakout 2021 POY Competitor Jesse Lonis (12th – $77,056), bracelet winner Byron Kaverman (11th – $92,725) and Daniel Colpoys (9th – $114,094) were among the players to fall as the field narrowed to the table official final of eight.

Ognyan Dimov was the next to hit the rail. The bracelet winner and 2015 European Poker Tour Deauville the main event champion ran a pocket nine into Eveslage’s jacks pocket. The board did not improve any player and Dimov was eliminated in eighth place ($143,480). He now has over $3 million in career money to his name.

Antonio Lievano’s run in this event ended when his pocket six ran into Eveslage’s pocket ten. The top pair held off again and Lievano was sent home with a career-high tournament score of $184,324.

Eveslage took a big slice of fellow countryman Chris Brewer’s big stack when he flopped a set five against Brewer’s best pair of kings. After getting a good value bet called on the river, Eveslage took a huge lead over the rest of the pack.

Eveslage quickly extended that advantage even further by earning a double knockout. With two of the shortest stacks in the blinds, he opens all-in from the button with K8. Prevailing WSOP main event champion Koray Aldemir called all-in for around six blig blinds with KQ from the small blind. Then, 2021 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showown winner Brek Schutten came for his last 17 big blidns with AJ from the big blind. The flop fell Aseven5 to give Schutten top pair but Eveslage the nut flush draw. The 4 on the turn, Aldemir draws dead, but gives Eveslage a gutshot straight draw to go with his flush draw. 6 on the river completed Eveslage’s straight to send him the huge pot. Check out a replay of the hand from PokerGO’s exclusive streaming coverage below.

WHAT JUST PAST?!?!

A massive pot goes in the direction of chadeveslage after he finds a straight on the river to send kooraay90 and @BSchutten residence.

– The stream is live: https://t.co/pdvq5CmtUC pic.twitter.com/IaiWdRlOCq

—PokerGO (@PokerGO) June 7, 2022

Aldemir won $241,791 for his second final table of the series, having placed fifth in the $100,000 Bounty event days earlier for $249,693. The German high-stakes professional now has over $21 million in lifetime earnings. Schutten received $323,730 as fifth place. This is his second highest score behind the $1.2 million he earned in his WPT victory last year.

Eveslage soared to nearly 24 million in chips after this hand, with Chris Brewer’s 6.5 million as the second-highest stack among the bottom four contenders. Brewer slipped to the bottom of the chip count before the next key pot came around. It opens Kten button for 18 big blinds. Four-time bracelet winner Josh Arieh, who had it covered by only a few big blinds, called with 66 from the big blind. The board missed A422Q and Brewer was eliminated in fourth place ($442,213). It was his 14th final table of the year, with three titles won and over $2.2 million YTD POY gains accumulated along the way. He now ranks fifth in the POY ranking.

Arieh was second in chips when the three-way game started, while Jake Schindler was bottom in the count. Schindler doubled through Eveslage, his A-8 improving to become the chipleader’s best pocket king. He then won a second double up, this time putting the last of his chips on a two pair board after the river. He had five fill-ups and got a four-fill-up call from Arieh.

Arieh was left short after this hand. He won a double and was well placed to score the second, but his pocket jacks were overtaken by Schindler’s pair of twos. Arieh, the ruler WSOP Player of the Year, received $616,047 for finishing third. It was his first cash of 2022 as he seeks to defend his POY Title.

Head-to-head play began with Eveslage sitting on 19,650,000, while Schindler had climbed to 18,025,000. Eveslage took a 2:1 lead thanks to a nut flush on the river that beat the top Schindler’s flopped pair. He was able to extend that lead to more than an 8:1 advantage before Schindler won a brace, AJ holding against Eveslage’s A-5.

In the final hand of the tournament, Schindler hobbled with 106 from the button with 12 big blinds. Eveslage checked his option with K3 and the flop came K96. Eveslage checks with top pair and Schindler checks behind. The 3 on the turn, Eveslage put in the kings, while Schindler added a flush draw to go with his pair of sixes. The 10 the river gave Schindler tens. Eveslage moved all-in, an overbet of over 3.8 million into the 2.8 million pot. Schindler thought about it for a moment before calling with two pair, only to be shown the best pair. The 2022 European Super High Roller Bowl the main event champion earned $874,915 for his runner-up finish, increasing his career earnings to over $34.7 million. He also got 1,190 POY points, enough to see him climb to seventh place in the POY ranking. With 2017 PGT points, he is now also fourth in this race.

Here is an overview of the payouts and ranking points awarded at the final table:

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