It was third time’s a charm for Sweden’s Omar Eljach as he won the 2022 WSOP Europe Main Event, overcoming a field of 763 entries to win €1,380,128.
After twice coming close to winning a maiden bracelet — including a runner-up finish just seven days ago — Eljach defeated France’s Jonathan Pastore after a six-hour heads-up match slog.
“There are so many emotions,” he said, after his victory. “I feel relief, I feel incredible joy…it’s an amazing feeling.”
2022 WSOPE Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Omar Eljach | Sweden | € 1,380,128 |
| 2 | Jonathan Pastore | France | € 852,949 |
| 3 | Shaun Deeb | United States | € 607,531 |
| 4 | Vladas Tamasauskas | Lithuania | € 438,978 |
| 5 | Paul Covaciu | Romania | € 321,838 |
| 6 | Armin Rezaei | Austria | € 239,466 |
| 7 | Barny Boatman | United Kingdom | € 180,867 |
| 8 | Alexandre Reard | France | € 138,702 |
Winner’s Reaction
Eljach, who came into the final table as chip leader, says he first learned the game with playing home games for pennis with his cousin.
“Then, in my early 20s, I began to give it a shot and play low-stakes cash at the casinos in Stockholm. I’ve just been grinding away step-by-step, playing bigger and bigger, and now we’re here.”
The victory more than triples his previous career earnings and sees him soar up to 15th on the Swedish all-time money list ahead of the likes of Robin Ylitalo, Niklas Astedt and Simon Mattsson.
“It was such a draining battle,” he said. “I want to do a short vacation and celebrate, but I don’t know where yet! It will be nice to see something else after being here for a couple of weeks.”
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Final Table Recap
The early stages saw an Armin Rezaei double while Eljach extended his chip lead. Alexandre Reard must have thought he was in line for a double with pocket queens, but ran into the pocket aces of Vladas Tamasauskas to become the first elimination of the final day.
If Reard thought he was going to double, then Barny Boatman definitely did after picking up pocket aces in early position. However, he as out-flopped by Shaun Deeb who made two pair to send the two-time bracelet winner to the rail. This result came 12 years and over 4,000 days since Boatman first cashed a WSOP Europe Main Event, finishing 13th in London back in 2010.
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This elimination saw Deeb take over as chip leader, before Eljach battled back with the elimination of Rezaei in sixth place. He was immediately followed out the door by Paul Covaciu as the average stack continued to increase.
Tamasauskas tried in vain to hang onto the coat tails of the other three players before being eliminated by Pastore, with Deeb starting to pull away at the top of the counts. However, back came Eljach, who found his way to the top of the counts and eliminated the now short-stacked Deeb to take things to heads-up.
Said at start of day would be happy to get 3rd but sad to get half the chips and not even get hu tough when you nev… https://t.co/YnU09FH9Ow
Heads-Up Play
First blood went to Pastore who moved into the lead, only for the Frenchman to triple barrel bluff over half of his chips away. A Pastore double saw him stay alive and he would go on to regain the chip lead, only for momentum to swing back and forth between the two players over the course of six gruelling hours.
The final hand saw Pastore four-bet jam with 
only for Eljach to call with 
. Pastore did flop an eight, but there was no further help as Eljach was crowned champion, taking home €1,380,129 and a seat at the 2023 WSOP Tournament of Champions.
Former WSOPE Main Event Champions
| Year | Entries | Winner | Prize | Recap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 362 | Annette Obrestad | £1,000,000 | Recap |
| 2008 | 362 | John Juanda | £868,800 | Recap |
| 2009 | 334 | Barry Shulman | £801,603 | Recap |
| 2010 | 346 | James Bord | £830,401 | Recap |
| 2011 | 593 | Elio Fox | € 1,400,000 | Recap |
| 2012 | 420 | Phil Hellmuth | € 1,022,376 | Recap |
| 2013 | 375 | Adrián Mateos | £1,000,000 | Recap |
| 2015 | 313 | Kevin MacPhee | £883,000 | Recap |
| 2017 | 529 | Marti Roca de Torres | € 1,115,207 | Recap |
| 2018 | 534 | Jack Sinclair | € 1,122,239 | Recap |
| 2019 | 541 | Alexandros Kolonias | € 1,133,678 | Recap |
| 2021 | 688 | Josef Gulas Jr | € 1,276,712 | Recap |
| 2022 | 763 | Omar Eljach | € 1,380,128 | Recap |