On the eve of the second weekend of the 2021 WSOP, players turned up for the Millionaire Maker in droves. And that was only for the first starting flight of the event.
Several players lost their bids to pick up fresh bracelets, like Shaun Deeb, David Williams, and Michael Gathy. However, Rafael Lebron did win his second, and Harvey Mathews won his first. The action in those final tables moved along much faster than the ones the night before, where heads-up battles took hours.
Without further ado…
Event 13: $3K NLHE Freezeout
Gathy tried hard to become only the third player in World Series of Poker history to win five bracelets in No Limit Hold’em only. He did make it to three-handed play but busted in third. Mathews had run well for much of the final table and continued that rungood heads-up. Mathews had solid competition but pulled through for the win. He told PokerNews:
“Obviously, it feels amazing. … I just ran absolutely insane, probably the most insane I’ve run in my entire life. … I used to come out every year back when I was younger, but then I stopped coming after Black Friday. So, it just feels great to be back here and to have success. This is pretty huge.”
Stud was a star-studded (get it? see what I did there?) event with several people at the final table seeking a new bracelet, though some were seeking a first one, of course. Only five players competed on Day 3 of this event, and Rafael Lebron emerged with all the chips. After having won a bracelet several years ago, Lebron thought it might be a while before he could do it again, especially considering he only plays tournaments several times a year. The father of three operates a car dealership on a full-time basis. He took the time to chat with PokerNews after this win:
“I was hoping to win (a second one). Didn’t expect it so soon, though. I felt good about this last year, but since it was online only last year, I shifted my focus to 2021 and thought, I guess 2021 is my year.”
Day 2 of this tournament started with 96 players, all well into the money. The day started with Joao Vieira cashing for $3,373 and players like Viet Vo and Kevin Iacofano following. Joe Serock busted in 69th place, Daniel Buzgon in 58th, Darren Elias in 54th, and Upeshka De Silva in 47th. As the field thinned to just a few tables, Roland Israelashvili exited in 29th place for $10,857, followed by Blair Hinkle in 21st and Melanie Weisner in 17th. Now, eight players remain, all seeking a maiden bracelet.
Event 15: Day 2 of 3
$1,500 buy-in
NLHE 6-Handed (1RE)
Total entries:
1450
Registration still open?
no
Total prize pool:
$1,935,750
Players paid:
218
Minimum payout:
$2,402
Winner payout:
$313,403
Chip leader:
Jeremy Malod
Jeremy Malod = 7.57M chips
Players remaining:
8
Bradley Jansen = 6.075M chips
Restart:
12pm Saturday
Jesse Yaginuma = 5.415M chips
Ryan Andrada = 4.495M chips
Ryan Pedigo = 4.27M chips
Mark Liedtke = 2.95M chips
Jon Baylor = 2.13M chips
Sean Hegarty = 1.45M chips
Event 16: $10K LHE Championship
Limit poker is not known for its expeditious play. So, even though the day started with only 35 players, several players booked late registration entries. That put the total number of entries at 92, not far behind this event’s tally in 2019 of 118.
The goal was to reduce the field to 5 players for the PokerGO livestream on Saturday, but that didn’t exactly happen. It took more than an hour for bubble play, ultimately making way for Chad Eveslage to cash. Brian Rast eventually busted in 11th place, and they stopped the action with 10 players.
Interestingly, poker enthusiast and well-known founder of FiveThirtyEight, statistical analyst Nate Silver is sixth in chips going to the final day. John Monette will be there, too, but aiming for a fourth gold bracelet. Others like Ray Dehkharghani, Kevin Song, and Jason Somerville will chase their second, as will chip leader John Racener.
Event 16: Day 2 of 3
$10K buy-in
Limit Hold'em Championship
Total entries:
92
Registration still open?
no
Total prize pool:
$857,900
Players paid:
14
Minimum payout:
$16,920
Winner payout:
$245,680
Chip leader:
John Racener
John Racener = 1.09M chips
Players remaining:
10
Eric Kurtzman = 975K chips
Restart:
2pm Saturday
Jason Somerville = 670K chips
Scott Tuttle = 650K chips
Kevin Song = 515K chips
Nate Silver = 440K chips
Terrance Chan = 350K chips
Ray Dehkharghani = 315K chips
John Monnette = 270K chips
Christopher Chung = 250K chips
Event 17: $1,500 NLHE Millionaire Maker
The first of two starting flights drew people in with a $1,500 buy-in and with the promise of $1M to the winner. Friday delivered 2,564 of them, but Saturday will need to be much more well attended to meet the 8,809 entries of this event in 2019. Crazier things have happened.
Event 17: Day 1 of 5
$1,500 buy-in
NLHE Millionaire Maker (1RE/flight)
Total entries:
2,564
Registration still open?
yes
Total prize pool:
TBD
Players paid:
TBD
Minimum payout:
TBD
Winner payout:
TBD
Chip leader:
Yiming Li
Players remaining:
567
Day 1B start:
11am Saturday
Event 18: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball
This event was more popular than some anticipated. With 253 entries and registration still open, the numbers are fairly close to the 296-entry field of this event in 2019. The big story, though, is Robert Mizrachi leading the field. In his quest for a fifth bracelet, he already finished third in Event 5 and seventh in Event 9. He is hungry.
Event 18: Day 1 of 3
$2,500 buy-in
Mixed Triple Draw Lowball (1RE)
Total entries:
253
Registration still open?
no
Total prize pool:
$562,925
Players paid:
38
Minimum payout:
$4,097
Winner payout:
$134,390
Chip leader:
Robert Mizrachi
Players remaining:
104
Restart:
2pm Saturday
Highlight of the Day
In the world of women in poker, it seems that Vanessa Selbst lost her position as first in the world for female all-time live poker tournament earnings. Wenling Gao is a Chinese player who primarily plays in the Asia-Pacific region. Most recently, she played on GGPoker (most likely the Natural8 skin) during the pandemic when travel was limited or non-existent. In fact, in 2020, she took second at the WSOP Online Main Event for more than $2.7M. Somehow, her huge score wasn’t recorded properly on the Hendon Mob.
Today, Globetrotting Poker Ladies founder Maureen Bloechlinger went on a mission to update the Hendon Mob to reflect that score. That put Gao ahead of Selbst in the global standings for women.
https://twitter.com/mjbloech/status/1446664072515227651?s=20
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