WSOP Main Event Offers $62M Prize Pool with $8M to First
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:
-Total players: 6,650
-Total prize pool: $62,011,250
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.
6,650! pic.twitter.com/0UGEdsrHfc
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) November 11, 2021
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.
It does actually appear like @CMONEYMAKER has improved since 2003, ever so slightly pic.twitter.com/5qBPSB5SM3
— Jeff Platt (@jeffplatt) November 11, 2021
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.
| Event 68: Day 1C of 5 | $1K buy-in | Little One for One Drop NLHE (RE) |
| Total entries so far: | 3,224 | |
| Registration still open? | yes | |
| Total prize pool: | TBD | |
| Players paid: | TBD | |
| Minimum payout: | TBD | |
| Winner payout: | TBD | |
| Day 1C chip leader: | Oscar Alache | |
| Players remaining: | 1.079 | |
| Day 2 restart: | 2pm Thursday |
Event 69: $1,500 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo 8-or-Better
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?)
| Event 69: Day 1 of 3 | $1,500 buy-in | Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo 8-or-Better |
| Total entries: | 372 | |
| Registration still open? | no | |
| Total prize pool: | $496,620 | |
| Players paid: | 56 | |
| Minimum payout: | $2,433 | |
| Winner payout: | $113,459 | |
| Chip leader: | Jermaine Reid | |
| Players remaining: | 141 | |
| Restart: | 3pm Thursday |
"Why are you guys dressed up as bears?"
"Because it's the $1500 Stud8." pic.twitter.com/Rqpo18kTlk
— Benny Glaser (@BennyGlaser) November 11, 2021
Random Main Event Highlights
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.
Do yourself a favor and watch (and share) these 2 minutes from the incredible speech of #Wsop bracelet winner @GDistenfeld.
This is what it means to be an absolute class act and a mensch.
Someone from whom we can all learn how to conduct ourselves when given a platform.
— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) November 9, 2021
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.
This gentleman just tanked on the WSOP feature table for…NINE MINUTES!
I’ve never seen a turn tank like that! 😳 pic.twitter.com/VDrIgVLE48
— KMart (@KevinRobMartin) November 11, 2021
Jeff Platt then took him aside and talked to Qiao about that situation…and urged him to play faster.
Tried to grill George Qiao on all the tanking… pic.twitter.com/TqinvlQY00
— Jeff Platt (@jeffplatt) November 11, 2021
