WSOP 2021 Main Event Sets Final Table of Nine

Written by Jennifer Newell

Last updated on June 22nd, 2022

Affiliate Disclaimer Please note that some links on Legal US Poker Sites are affiliate links. We may receive a commission, at no extra cost to you, if you click through our links and make a purchase from one of our partners.

It’s ready. The 2021 World Series of Poker No Limit Hold’em World Championship set its final table on Day 47 of the series in Las Vegas. In more common terms, the WSOP Main Event has its final nine.

Late into the night, Event 67 played down to the final table bubble and burst it, sending nine poker players into the limelight to play the most coveted title in all of poker, a very elaborate gold bracelet, and the title of WSOP World Champion, not to mention the top prize of $8M. All of the final nine will walk away with a minimum of $1M.

Several other tournaments played down on Monday as well. Two were supposed to play to completion, but play went on long enough that they called it for the night and agreed to finish those events today.

Event 67: $10K WSOP Main Event

The day started with 36 players, all vying for those nine precious seats at the last table.

Jonathan Dwek of Canada was the first to exit the day with $198,550 in his pocket. Three bracelet winners remained, at the final three tables, but Robert Mitchell fell in 24^th place for $241,800. Chance Kornuth, who currently holds three bracelets, busted in 16^th place for $305K, and Mitchell Halverson followed in 15^th for $380,050. PokerStars Ambassador and inaugural PSPC winner Ramon Colillas finished his night in 14^th place for $380,050.

After several more bustouts, Canadian Demosthenes Kiriopoulos was on the short stack at the unofficial final table and risked his stack with A-3 suited. Koray Aldemir called with Q-T. The Q-9-5 flop helped both players, but the flush never came, and Kiriopoulos departed the field in tenth place with $585K.

The final nine will report to the Rio late in the afternoon on Tuesday to play down to the final four.

 

Event 70: $888 Crazy Eights NLHE

The three starting flights of this tournament were over, and that allowed the WSOP to set the total prize pool and the field. With more than $1.7M in the pot and from more than 5,200 entries, only 237 players remained to start Day 2. And since many players received payouts at the end of their respective flights, the final 237 were guaranteed at least $2,762 for their efforts.

The structure is fast, so they will surely thin the field enough to get close to the final table today.

 

Event 73: $10K Seven-Card Stud-8 Championship

Eleven players started the third day of this championship event with the goal of finding the tournament’s winner. Play moved along at a decent clip, as Brett Richey and Admed Mohamed busted early. The nine players remaining moved to one table, at which point, Josh Arieh had to abandon his quest for a third bracelet this year. Gary Benson of Australia busted as well, followed by Erik Seidel and John Monnette. However, play had slowed at that point, and five-handed play went on for a long time. When former chipleader Marco Johnson finally departed in fifth, they stopped play and decided to bring the final four back on Tuesday.

 

Event 74: $2,500 Mixed Big Bet

Day 2 of this tournament thinned the field from more than 90 players down to just 14. Players like Jake Schwartz, Will Givens, Michael Binger, Max Pescatori, and John Racener exited in the money, with Yuri Dzivielevski and Ray Henson eliminated later in the evening. Big names like Jerry Wong, Amnon Filippi, Jon Turner, and Noah Boeken remained to play another day, with Scott Bohlman third in chips and Denis Strebkov holding the lead.

 

Event 75: $1,500 NLHE Freezeout

One entry per player brought nearly 1200 players to the tables for some classic No Limit Hold’em. That final number pushed the prize pool past $1.5M, and play moved forward quickly through the money bubble and down to little more than 100 players bagging chips.

 

Event 76: $10K NLHE Super Turbo Bounty

Super turbo is an extremely fast structure, but it’s a player favorite for many. And more than 300 of them ponied up $10K to try to speed their way to a bracelet. Play did move quickly, per the structure, with Rainer Kempe as one of the final players to exit that first night. But it was late, and the final seven decided to return on Tuesday to play for the title.