2026 WSOP Day 22: Three Bracelets Awarded as Seniors and Freezeout Events Heat Up

By Mrinal Gujare

17 Jun 2026

Mrinal Gujare 17 Jun 2026

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Smith, Aharoni, and Blumenthal won WSOP gold bracelets on Day 22.
Rosen and Agaev lead major flights in the Seniors Championship.
Goldblatt tops $2,500 Freezeout with 274 players advancing.

Image Credit: WSOP

Day 22 of the 2026 WSOP saw Justin Smith, Daniel Aharoni, and Eddie Blumenthal win bracelets. Andrew Rosen and Adam Agaev took chip leads in the Seniors Championship, while James Goldblatt led the remaining 274 players in the $2,500 Freezeout.

Day 22 of the 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP) delivered a massive wave of action across the tournament floors at The Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.

The day concluded with three players capturing coveted gold bracelets, while several major preliminary events narrowed down their respective fields.

The headline of the day belonged to Justin Smith, who successfully navigated through an immense field of 16,269 entries to capture the title in the Colossus.

In higher-stakes action, Daniel Aharoni secured his first career WSOP gold bracelet by conquering the $10,000 Big O Championship.

Meanwhile, Event #45: $2,500 Mixed Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo reached its conclusion with Eddie Blumenthal defeating Nikolai Fal in heads-up play. The victory earned Blumenthal the title while denying Fal his second career gold bracelet.

The Seniors Championship continued to draw massive numbers, completing its Day 1b starting flight today. Andrew Rosen emerged from the session as the clear pace-setter, bagging a stack of 300,000 chips. Rosen stands alone as the only player from the flight to cross the 300,000 mark.

A highly decorated group of former bracelet winners successfully punched their tickets to Wednesday's Day 2 session. Among those advancing are:

Joseph Roh (261,000)
Steve Jelinek (251,000)
Carol Fuchs (240,000)
Farzad Bonyadi (229,000)
David Bach (115,000)
David Pham (94,500)
Gary Benson (74,000)
Ivo Donev (68,000)
Humberto Brenes (40,500)

Agaev At the Helm of Seniors Day 2a

Concurrently, survivors from the Day 1a flight returned to the felt for Day 2a. The field was systematically trimmed until just 105 players remained. These survivors will earn a one-day reprieve before returning to the tournament tables for Day 3 on Thursday.

Adam Agaev holds the overall chip lead for this segment. Agaev, who recorded a 12th place finish in the $777 Lucky 7s event last year, is one of only two players alongside Scott Ruegsegger to finish the night with a stack exceeding two million chips.

The opening day of Event #49: $2,500 Freezeout attracted a competitive field of 1,561 entries. By the time the bags were brought out at the end of Day 1, only 274 players remained in contention.

James Goldblatt captured the definitive chip lead, closing his session with 780,000 chips. However, a dense collection of poker talent sits close behind him.

The top 10 chip counts feature five previous bracelet winners, including Tom Hall (635,000) and Faraz Jaka (482,000). The upper echelon of the leaderboard also features prominent 25k Fantasy Draft selections Marco Johnson (490,000) and Christian Roberts (452,000).

Day 22 showcased the full spectrum of the WSOP experience, combining massive field victories with elite mixed-game championship battles. With hundreds of players moving on in the Seniors and Freezeout events, the hunt for poker gold continues to intensify in Las Vegas.

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