Norton Nabs New Bracelet on Day 26 of 2021 WSOP
As the 2021 World Series of Poker pushes full speed ahead into its second half, this writer wraps a few days in Las Vegas. It’s been real. And I’m off to St. Louis on an early morning flight. Therefore, this recap is short and to the point.
Event 43: $1K NLHE Double Stack
A tournament that started with nearly 4K players brought just 149 of them into the third day of play. That night ended with only 17 of them still standing and going for the title. The day’s original chipleader, Jeff Platt, finished in that group. The PokerGO commentator will have another day off on Tuesday as he battles a tough two tables of finalists. Previous bracelet winner Michael Wang holds a significant chip lead, and two other previous WSOP champs remain in the top five.
Speaking of five, the action will play down to the final five today.
| Event 43: Day 3 of 5 | $1K buy-in | NLHE Double Stack (1RE) |
| Total entries: | 3,991 | |
| Registration still open? | no | |
| Total prize pool: | $3,551,990 | |
| Players paid: | 599 | |
| Minimum payout: | $1,602 | |
| Winner payout: | $446,983 | |
| Chip leader: | Michael Wang | |
| Players remaining: | 17 | |
| Restart: | 12pm Tuesday |
Event 45: $10K PLO 8-Handed Championship
There were 18 players who started the third of four days in this championship event, but only five remain. To get to that point, Mike Matusow, Dylan Linde, and Daniel Zack busted early in the action. Eli Elezra had been on his mission to win his fifth WSOP bracelet but busted in sixth place for $124,508. That leaves five in the running, with two-time bracelet winner Jeremy Ausmus on the shortest stack and Tommy Le at the top and seeking his second piece of WSOP gold.
| Event 45: Day 3 of 4 | $10K buy-in | PLO 8-Handed Championship |
| Total entries: | 344 | |
| Registration still open? | no | |
| Total prize pool: | $3,207,800 | |
| Players paid: | 52 | |
| Minimum payout: | $16,141 | |
| Winner payout: | $746,477 | |
| Chip leader: | Tommy Le | Tommy Le = 7.24M chips |
| Players remaining: | 5 | Artem Maksimov = 5.08M chips |
| Restart: | 4pm Tuesday | Chris Sandrock = 3.2M chips |
| Jordan Spurlin = 2.885M chips | ||
| Jeremy Ausmus = 2.335M chips |
Event 46: $800 NLHE Deepstack
This accelerated-structure tournament brought 120 players into Day 2 and ended with a winner in only about eight hours. And in the first WSOP bracelet event he ever played, Chad Norton emerged victorious with a shiny new piece of jewelry…and a nice stack of cash. The former car salesman told PokerNews:
“This is surreal. It was a quick tournament with a lot of ups and downs like always, but it was a lot of fun, and I’m really grateful to come out with the win. … To be honest, I’ve only played in one WPT event, and this was my first-ever live WSOP tournament. I play mostly online, but I came in on such a downswing, so to be able to come in and win my first-ever WSOP tournament feels amazing.”
| Event 46: Day 2 of 2 | $800 buy-in | NLHE Deepstack (1RE) |
| Total entries: | 2053 | |
| Total prize pool: | $1,445,312 | |
| Players paid: | 308 | |
| Minimum payout: | $1,284 | |
| Final table results: | 1st place: | Chad Norton (USA) $214,830 |
| 2nd place: | Steve Lemma (USA) $132,802 | |
| 3rd place: | Andres Jeckeln (Argentina) $98,269 | |
| 4th place: | Narimaan Ahmadi (USA) $73,271 | |
| 5th place: | Ivan Uzunov (Bulgaria) $55,279 | |
| 6th place: | Kevin Wang (USA) $42,031 | |
| 7th place: | Jordyn Miller (USA) $32,254 | |
| 8th place: | William Blais (Canada) $24,982 | |
| 9th place: | Joshua Herman (Canada) $19,533 |
Chad Norton topped a field of 2,053 entries in Event #46: $800 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack to seize his first gold bracelet and $214,830.
📸 @timeweavershttps://t.co/jZAO6zm8Se pic.twitter.com/6aViID6dNi
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) October 26, 2021
Event 47: $5K NLHE Freezeout
It took most of the day on Monday to whittle the field down to just a final table. As they worked their way to the final five spots, Dario Sammartino busted in tenth place for $25,168. Former chipleader Jamie Sequeira exited in eighth place for $41,132, and Diogo Veiga did the same in seventh place for $53,913. Alexandre Reard does have a substantial lead in his quest to win his first bracelet, but former bracelet winner Daniel Strelitz is in second and a force to reckon with.
| Event 47: Day 2 of 3 | $5K buy-in | NLHE 8-Handed Freezeout |
| Total entries: | 421 | |
| Registration still open? | no | |
| Total prize pool: | $1,941,863 | |
| Players paid: | 64 | |
| Minimum payout: | $8,000 | |
| Winner payout: | $426,694 | |
| Chip leader: | Alexandre Reard | Alexandre Reard = 8,820,000 chips |
| Players remaining: | 5 | Daniel Strelitz = 5,345,000 chips |
| Restart: | 3pm Tuesday | Qing Liu = 3,375,000 chips |
| Conrad Simpson = 2,390,000 chips | ||
| Ren Lin = 1,535,000 chips |
Event 48: $1,500 NLHE Shootout
A total of 800 players wanted some sit-n-go action on Day 26 of the WSOP, knowing they needed to win that first SNG to make the money and win one more for the final table. The first day of play did give 80 players the guarantee of some money for their efforts. At this stage, many players are already bracelet winners, including Taylor Paur, Ari Engel, Jared Jaffee, Brian Yoon, and Joseph Cheong. All will battle today for final table seats.
| Event 48: Day 1 of 3 | $1,500 buy-in | NLHE Shootout |
| Total entries: | 800 | |
| Registration still open? | no | |
| Total prize pool: | $1,068,000 | |
| Players paid: | 80 | |
| Minimum payout: | $5,459 | |
| Winner payout: | $204,063 | |
| Chip leader: | n/a | |
| Players remaining: | 80 | |
| Restart: | 12pm Tuesday |
Event 49: $10K NL 2-7 Single Draw Championship
It was a slow day for Single Draw players, especially when not even a dozen of them sat down when the table began. Eventually, more players showed up, but registration remains open until the start of Day 2, so more may join. Today, the WSOP staff will announce the prize pool and then play into the money. High-stakes pro Sam Soverel holds the chip lead, but others in the top five are a who’s who of bracelet winners – Johannes Becker, Julien Martini, Shaun Deeb, and Benny Glaser. Day 2 will be a tough one for everyone.
| Event 49: Day 1 of 3 | $10K buy-in | NL 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship (1RE) |
| Total entries: | 106 | |
| Registration still open? | yes | |
| Total prize pool: | TBD | |
| Players paid: | TBD | |
| Minimum payout: | TBD | |
| Winner payout: | TBD | |
| Chip leader: | Sam Soverel | |
| Players remaining: | 43 | |
| Restart: | 2pm Tuesday |
