Rich Dixon Leads the Final Six Players of Event #1: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em
Rich Dixon leads the final six players of Event #1: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em in the inaugural Stairways to Millions. Joining Dixon at the final table are Justin Saliba, Joseph Cheong, Daniel Sepiol, Mehdi Anooshahr, and Qing Liu round out the final table as the players will enter the PokerGo Studio at 12:00 p.m. on January, 13 with the final table stream set to air at 12:30 p.m. on PokerGo.com.
The 190 entrant field created a prize pool of $190,000, nearly doubling the guaranteed prize pool of $100,000. The remaining six players are all guaranteed at least $7,600, which includes a seat into Event #2: $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em, with the winner taking home $28,500.
Dixon took the chip lead late in the day when he played the biggest pot in the tournament thus far against Anooshahr early in level 20. Dixon three-bet pre-flop and fired on every street getting called by Anooshahr all the way, before tabling pocket aces. They were good when Anooshahr tabled pocket jacks for a missed straight draw, and Dixon let out a shy of relief as he took the chip lead.
Sepiol was down to his last 225,000 in chips after playing the tournament’s second four million chip pot a short while later against Saliba. Still, the Bloomington, Indiana native spun the two big blind stack up to 2.4 million to end the night when he scored a double knockout of Lee Alejandro and Josh Willard to end the night. Sepiol held ace-eight against the pocket sevens of Willard and the ace-king of Alejandro. Both Alejandro and Sepiol found an ace on the flop, but Sepiol binked an eight on the river for two pair and the double knockout.
The 190-entrant field paid the top 28 finishers, with all 28 walking away with a seat into Event #2. Notables walking away with a seat included Brad Owen (28th), Shannon Shorr (24th), Stephen Song (17th), Chance Kornuth (18th), and David Levi (14th). Just missing out on his seat in Event #2 was Callen Bunyan when he ran his king-jack into the kin-queen of Willard to fall in 29th place and burst the Event #1 money bubble.
Click here to view the 2022 Stairway To Millions Structure and Payout Information
| Event #1 Final Table | |||
| Seat | Name | Country | Chip Count |
| 1 | Qing Liu | United States | 3,250,000 |
| 2 | Justin Saliba | United States | 3,900,000 |
| 3 | Joseph Cheong | United States | 2,200,000 |
| 4 | Daniel Sepiol | United States | 2,400,000 |
| 5 | Rich Dixon | United States | 6,500,000 |
| 6 | Mehdi Anooshahr | United States | 725,000 |
When play resumes there is 4:28 remaining in level 20 and the button is in seat 1
The final six players will enter the PokerGO Studio on Thursday, January 13, at 12 p.m. PT with the final table airing on PokerGO.com at 1 p.m. PT.
Connect with PokerGO Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Use code “PGT2022” for $20 off an annual PokerGO.com subscription now!
