The numbers all came together on Wednesday, and the finally tally for the 2021 World Series of Poker Main Event is good. It’s quite respectable, actually, considering everything that the WSOP had to do to host this year’s live series. And the players made it happen. They stepped up, got vaccinated, stood in lines to prove it, dealt with travel complications, wore those masks, and came to the WSOP in very solid numbers.
For a year in which a pandemic remains a factor (after a year when it ruled everything), most WSOP executives seem happy with this number. That number is:
It is the tenth largest WSOP Main Event in 50+ years of WSOP history.
In a somewhat bold move and one that produces very easy numbers, the WSOP decided to pay exactly 1,000 players. And the min-cash will be $15K. Everyone at the final table will make at least $1M. Also controversially, the winner will take home $8M with the runner-up receiving $4.3M. That’s a big gap. Pro players have issues with these things.
However, this is what the 2021 WSOP Main Event is. With all of the bruises it has from enduring the punches along the way, the WSOP seems pleased.
https://twitter.com/WSOP/status/1458623238133596160?s=20
The rest of the series is moving along as well. Let’s check in with the Little One for One Drop and the new Stud-8 tournament that started yesterday, too.
Event 67: $10K WSOP Main Event
With the prize pool set and all of the Day 2 action played out, the field will combine today. Everyone will play Day 3 at the same time. The number of the field varies slightly, as PokerNews reported 2,355 and the WSOP said 2,362. That discrepancy should be cleared up today.
Out of all of the big stacks going into Day 3, it is notable that Chris Moneymaker is 11th in chips from the Day 2C-E-F final counts.
https://twitter.com/jeffplatt/status/1458609659397357570?s=20
Today, they will play down toward the money. The WSOP estimates that the money bubble will burst early on Day 4 (Friday), but today’s playdown will dictate that more accurately. There will be a lot of broken hearts at the Rio today, but a lot of dreams will remain alive as well.
Event 67: Day 2C-E-F
$10K buy-in
NLHE World Championship (Main Event)
Starting stack: 60K
Levels: 120 minutes
Total entries:
6,650
Registration still open?
no
Total prize pool:
$62,011,250
Players paid:
1,000
Minimum payout:
$15,000
Winner payout:
$8,000,000
Day 2A-B-D chip leader:
Rameez Shahid (Canada)
Day 2C-E-F chip leader:
Conrad De Armas (USA)
Total Day 2 players remaining:
2,362
(1440 + 922)
Day 3 start:
11am Thursday
Top ten 2C-E-F chip counts:
Conrad De Armas (USA) 744,000
Adam Walton (USA) 673,100
Keyu Qu (USA) 664,900
Cameron Mitchell (USA) 642,000
Daniel Lowery (USA) 625,600
Jorge Arriola (USA) 580,000
Matt Glantz (USA) 580,000
Artan Dedusha (UK) 577,100
Artsteidis Moschonas (Greece) 555,400
Daniel Soltys (USA) 540,700
Top ten 2A-B-D chip counts:
Rameez Shahid (Canada) 731,700
David Mock (USA) 679,700
Damien Steel (Canada) 649,000
Farhad Jamasi (USA) 635,000
Raul Martinez (Spain) 628,100
Steve Foutty (USA) 620,000
Mitchell Halverson (USA) 617,600
Scott Davies (USA) 615,100
David Coleman (USA) 614,500
Kayvon Shahbaz (USA) 599,200
Event 68: $1,111 NLHE Little One for One Drop
It’s not too late for players wanting to start or reenter this tournament. Registration remains open a bit into today’s action. So far, there are 3,224 entries recorded, quite a drop from the 2019 number of 6,248. That is one of the bigger differences year-over-year that we’ve seen in this series so far. Regardless, the prize pool will set itself today, and play will move ever more quickly toward the money bubble.
The latest tournament to get underway at the Rio was a change from the two ongoing ones. This Stud-8 event allowed no reentries and closed registration by the end of the first day of play. The field chopped itself nearly in half by the end of the night, with even some bears eliminated from the tournament. (If Phil Hellmuth can enter the Main Event as a Lord of the Rings character with a group of women - not in character - following him, do we really need to question bear costumes?)
This clip is actually from Day 41, but it’s very much worth posting as Gershon Distenfeld asks poker players, as he has been doing, to consider donating a percentage of their winnings to charity.
https://twitter.com/cardplayerlife/status/1458212922757292040?s=20
On Day 2, George Qiao played at a feature table with Erick Lindgren and Barry Greenstein. Qiao is a longtime friend of the one and only Johnny Chan, and he returned to poker after a long break. Speaking of long breaks, Qiao quickly became the talk of the internet on Wednesday because he tanked for nine minutes before folding a hand.
https://twitter.com/KevinRobMartin/status/1458677766308597762?s=20
Jeff Platt then took him aside and talked to Qiao about that situation…and urged him to play faster.
https://twitter.com/jeffplatt/status/1458704861415968769?s=20
