Yesterday, the 2021 World Series of Poker pressed on with some fast-moving No Limit Hold’em and not-so-fast playing Monster Stack. Jim Collopy beat a pro-filled HORSE final table, and Ran Koller took down a deepstacked event after a refreshingly diverse final table. And a Dealer’s Choice Championship got underway to round out the action.
Phil Hellmuth attended a bracelet ceremony to speak about his 16th bracelet win. He claims to normally skip those kinds of events because he doesn’t want to feed his ego and get more attention. (Insert laugh track here.) But he chose to do it for his fans. So, that happened.
Event 30: $1,500 Monster Stack NLHE
With plenty of play, the Monster Stack started its third day of play with 148 players but ended with just 24. Ryan Leng may be second in chips, but he led to start Day 3. He might be butter because he’s certainly on a roll. (That’s a good one, no?) He has some tough competition on Day 4, however, including chip leader Jaesh Balachandran.
Event 30: Day 3 of 5
$1,500 buy-in
NLHE Monster Stack Freezeout
Total entries:
3,520
(Day 1A = 2,356 / Day 1B = 1,972)
Registration still open?
no
Total prize pool:
$4,699,200
Players paid:
528
Minimum payout:
$2,404
Winner payout:
$610,347
Chip leader:
Jaesh Balachandran
Players remaining:
24
Restart:
11am Tuesday
Event 32: $3K HORSE
Twenty players started the final day of this event, but there were some early bustouts, including those of Barbara Enright in 16th place, Tom Koral in 15th, Brandon Shack-Harris in 14th, and Amnon Filippi in 13th. David Williams exited in ninth place with $13,989, followed by Daniel Negreanu in eighth. The day’s original chipleader, Eli Elezra, busted in fourth, denied a fifth bracelet. And Jim Collopy grabbed his second one. With regard to winning his first bracelet in 2013, he told PokerNews:
“I wanted to see if I still had it, and that was rewarding to me, to see if I still had it.”
A relatively fast structure propelled this tournament to a relatively quick finish. More than 150 players started the second day, but that number dwindled to just nine players in less than five hours. An international group took their seats – rare in this 2021 WSOP so far due to travel restrictions – and it all boiled down to two players from Israel. Both were also named Ran. But Ran Koller was the one who earned his first bracelet. He was nearly speechless with PokerNews afterward:
“It’s amazing. I do not even have the words for it. It was surreal.”
From 76 players down to six, the final table is set for a Triple Draw bracelet competition. David “Bakes” Baker may not have the chip lead, but he has two previous bracelets in his corner. But Peter Lynn and Kristijonas Andrulis have a lot of the chips, which helps. They’ll all play for the win today.
Event 34: Day 2 of 3
$1,500 buy-in
Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw (1RE)
Total entries:
284
Registration still open?
no
Total prize pool:
$380,475
Players paid:
43
Minimum payout:
$2,434
Winner payout:
$87,837
Chip leader:
Peter Lynn
Peter Lynn = 1.68M chips
Players remaining:
6
Kristijonas Andrulis = 1.665M chips
Restart:
2pm Tuesday
Mark Fraser = 1.355M chips
Stephen Deutsch = 985K chips
David "Bakes" Baker = 815K chips
Marc Booth = 620K chips
Event 35: $500 NLHE Freezeout
Another fast-playing structure brought in nearly 3,000 players for this event, took 440 of them into the money, and ended play with just 132 still standing. It will all play out today.
Event 35: Day 1 of 2
$500 buy-in
NLHE Freezeout
Total entries:
2,931
Registration still open?
no
Total prize pool:
$1,231,020
Players paid:
440
Minimum payout:
$801
Winner payout:
$167,272
Chip leader:
Denys Chufarin
Players remaining:
440
Restart:
12pm Tuesday
Event 36: $10K Dealer’s Choice Championship
An elite group of mixed game players put up $10K each to compete for a championship title in this event. Dealer’s Choice offered up 19 poker variants, and it attracted 86 players. There were no reentries, but registration remains open until the start of play today.
Event 36: Day 1 of 3
$10K buy-in
Dealers Choice 6-Handed Championship
Total entries:
86
Registration still open?
yes
Total prize pool:
TBD
Players paid:
TBD
Minimum payout:
TBD
Winner payout:
TBD
Chip leader:
Nacho Barbero
Players remaining:
42
Restart:
2pm Tuesday
Highlight of the Day
With Hellmuth collecting his 16th bracelet without drawing attention – on a stage with a microphone in front of hundreds of poker players – it is prudent to show some respect. That’s why Matt Kiefer’s Sixth Sense spoof is the highlight of the day. It is about Hellmuth, so there’s that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpxJHBhUCkM
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