Adam Friedman emerged victorious in the 2022 World Series of Poker $10,000 buy-in seven card stud championship event, defeating a field of 96 total entries to secure his fifth gold bracelet. The 40-year-old poker pro from Gahanna, Ohio became just the 30th player in poker history to have won five or more bracelets.
Friedman has now won a bracelet at each of the four most recent live WSOP festivals, including his historic back-to-back-to-back victories in the dealer’s choice championship in 2018, 2019, and 2021. To him, the game that this win came in might be more important than the number of bracelets it gave him.
“There’ve been a lot of great stud players in the last several years who have been able to win this event: Mike Wattel, Rob Mizrachi, Anthony Zinno last year, and the guy who I consider the best stud high player I’ve ever played with, Johhny World,” said Friedman. “Just being able to win an event to join a lot of players who I respect in the game, means a lot. Winning the stud high means more to me than necessarily winning my fifth bracelet. If I had to pick a few events to win, just for my own personal satisfaction, this is in my top three or four events.”
“It’s a game I’ve just played thousands and thousands upon hours in,” said Friedman of stud. When asked why he has played this particular variant so much, he replied, “Because two-card poker is boring. I got really bored of playing hold’em. I mean, my ROI went down playing stud, but I was actually enjoying playing poker. Seven card stud is the most complicated limit game that’s ever existed. There are more nuances, in my opinion, than almost any two other games combined. It’s a beautiful game.”
This event played out over the course of three days. The top 15 finishers made the money, with big names like four-time bracelet winner John Monnette (13th – $17,686), bracelet winner Randy Ohel (12th – $17,686), Cary Katz (11th -$20,213), and four-time bracelet winner Kevin Gerhart (9th – $23,536) making deep runs but falling short of the final table.
Friedman came into the final day as the chip leader with eight players remaining. Among the final eight, only James Paluszek had not won at least one bracelet prior to entering this event. Yueqi Zhu (8th – $28,258) and Paluszek (7th – $34,939) were the first to fall, with Friedman sending the latter home to maintain his lead heading into six-handed play.
Recent $10,000 dealer’s choice champion Ben Diebold knocked out Marco Johnson in sixth place ($44,487), making aces up to end the two-time bracelet winner’s run in this event.
10-time bracelet winner Phil Ivey had come into the day on a severely short stack, but managed to hang around in the early going and outlast several opponents. Ivey won a pot off of Diebold to send him to the bottom of the leaderboard as five-handed play continued. Jean Gaspard made trip nines to best the kings and queens of Diebold. He earned $58,239 for his fifth-place showing.
Gaspard then made rolled-down queens to knock two-time bracelet winner Yubval Bronshtein out in fourth place ($78,348).
Friedman won a big pot off Ivey during three-handed play, with his jack-high straight leaving Ivey in the danger zone. Things went from bad to worse for the Poker Hall of Famer when he lost to trip sixes for Friedman to be left on fumes. He soon got the last of his chips in on third street with a buried pair of kings up against the ace high of Gaspard. Gaspard hit a pair of deuces on fifth street and then made sevens up on sixth. Ivey failed to improve and was eliminated in third place, earning $108,233. He now has more than $36.3 million in lifetime tournament earnings to his name.
Friedman came into heads-up play with more than a 3.5:1 lead, but Gaspard mounted an early comeback to close the gap considerably. Friedman made jacks up in a big pot to best a lower two pair for Gaspard, erasing much of the gains that his opponent had made thus far. Friedman then extended his lead to more than a 9:1 advantage in time for the final hand of the tournament. Gaspard three-bet all-in on third street and Friedman called to put him at risk. The boards ran out as follows:
Friedman:(KK)7Q65(X)
Gaspard: (AQ)4852(J)
Gaspard needed an ace or a three on seventh street, and when failed to draw either, he was eliminated in second place ($153,433).
Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points | PGT Points |
| 1 | Adam Friedman | $248,254 | 540 | 248 |
| 2 | Jean Gaspard | $153,433 | 450 | 153 |
| 3 | Phil Ivey | $108,233 | 360 | 108 |
| 4 | Yuval Bronshtein | $78,348 | 270 | 78 |
| 5 | Ben Diebold | $58,239 | 225 | 58 |
| 6 | Marco Johnson | $44,487 | 180 | 44 |
| 7 | James Paluszek | $34,939 | 135 | 35 |
| 8 | Yueqi Zhu | $28,258 | 90 | 28 |
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