Day 28 of the 2021 World Series of Poker was a Wednesday, one filled with celebrations for new bracelet winners and those adding to their collections alike.
Brian Rast won his fifth WSOP gold bracelet. Farzad Bonyadi won his fourth, his last one dating back to 2005. Darrin Wright of Chicago won his first piece of WSOP gold. And Gerson Distenfeld won his first, just one year after making the Main Event final table. And his story gets even better, as he pledged his entire $204K in winnings will go to various charities.
With a plethora of feel-good stories at the Rio yesterday, let’s get into the full slate of results.
Event 48: $1,500 NLHE Shootout
The first round of SNGs brought 80 players into the money, and the second gave ten players seats at the final table. They had nearly even stacks – a rarity for a final table – and Gershon Distenfeld started strong by eliminating the first player of the day. Johan Schumacher took a significant chip lead to the heads-up match against Distenfeld, but the latter doubled into the lead. The two battled for quite some time before Distenfeld pulled out the win. The recreational player who donates all winnings to charity told PokerNews:
“Johan was incredible, such a good player. He just had an instinct. … I thought he was a better player than me, to be perfectly honest. What a nice guy, too, such a nice guy. Could’ve gone either way, certainly. … I’ve always dreamt of winning (a bracelet), and it’s one of those things you think is never going to happen. I just don’t know what to say. I even teared up a little bit, which is not very like me. … There’s one person who always told me I was going to make a final table and would come (to the Rio) no matter what, and he, unfortunately, passed away. His name is Yonky Berger. I’d like to dedicate my win to him. He was one of my biggest supporters.”
This was the only tournament in the 2021 WSOP that attracted more entries than its counterpart in 2019. But it drew the same type of elite crowd of players. This final table brought eight of them into the spotlight, though players like Daniel Negreanu and Jack Schwartz busted early. Farzad Bonyadi entered the day third in chips but played solidly. He busted several players, including former chipleader Benny Glaser, to get to heads-up play with Johannes Becker. Bonyadi had a big chip lead going into it and cruised to victory. He collected his first bracelet since 2005 but the fourth of his career. He spoke to PokerNews about it:
“It’s good to have the fourth one. This was my first tournament this year. I’m happy. … I think I played a good game; I really do. I bluffed when I had to. I caught good cards, too, but I think I played a good game. It feels good to know you’re not that rusty.”
It was a quick tournament but a great chance for a low buy-in chance to mix PLO and NLHE action. Barely more than 60 players made it to the second day, but bigger names like Daniel Zack, Mark Seif, and Lee Watkinson busted early. Original chipleader Eric Froehlich busted in 15th place, and Darrin Wright was a mid-stacked player as the final table began. But he was active, involved in many hands and responsible for quite a few bustouts. Wright took the lead into heads-up against Victor Paredes, and despite some double-ups from the latter, Wright stayed focused and won his first bracelet in the first ever WSOP event he played. He chatted with PokerNews:
“I just felt it. You know how sometimes you can feel something and you can feel it in your stomach; they say that’s your gut. I felt it in my gut. … I just said I wanted to come out and (play the WSOP) because people say you can come out and play in some of the smaller games and stuff like that and win pretty big. And lo and behold, here I am.”
Another fairly fast tournament started with nearly a thousand entries but brought only 41 players into Day 2. Names like Sylvain Loosli and Manig Loeser exited early, and John Racener busted later in 16th place. Matas Cimbolas bubbled the final table of six, and Brian Rast took a massive chip lead to that table. He busted most of the other players and took a huge lead into heads-up play. Rast disposed of John Gallaher quickly to win his fifth bracelet. He told PokerNews:
“Things have been changing in my life. Since Covid, it’s the least I’ve played poker since I started. So, coming back to this WSOP, it’s like I really haven’t played much for almost a year and a half. This was like a challenge. This WSOP is more like playing for the competitive spirit of it, and it was cool because I’ve played poker for a lot of money, and this is a decent chunk for only putting up $3K.”
The first of two starting days began with a strong number of 2,432 entries. Today will provide more players the opportunity to get involved. Of the 50-plus-aged players, a few hundred bagged chips at the end of the night. All survivors will combine with Day 1B survivors on Friday to play into the money.
Event 52: Day 1A of 5
$1K buy-in
Seniors NLHE Championship (1RE)
Total entries:
2,432
Registration still open?
yes
Total prize pool:
TBD
Players paid:
TBD
Minimum payout:
TBD
Winner payout:
TBD
Chip leader:
George Bronstein
Players remaining:
486
Day 1B start:
10am Thursday
Event 53: $25K PLO High Roller
A very sizeable field turned out for the $25K buy-in Omaha tournament. With registration remaining open, a few more could add to the total and push the prize pool well beyond $4M.
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