2021 WSOP: Fourth career bracelet for John Monnette; Gold #2 for Rafael Lebron; One each for Harvey Mathews and Bradley Jansen; Yohwan Lim runs deep

The gold continues to flow at the 52nd Annual World Series of Poker as another four players walked away with shiny new bracelets. John Monnette captured his fourth career bracelet, Rafael Lebron clasped his second, and earning their first dream gold were Harvey Mathews and Bradley Jansen. This brought the number of bracelet winners to 16 with over US$ 24.2 Million paid out. Other deep finishers were Yohwan Lim, Shaun Deeb, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Dave Williams, Brian Rast, and Australian Poker Hall of Fame inductee Gary Benson. 

The series kicked off on September 30 at the Rio All Suite Hotel & Casino and runs through November 23. Currently underway is the infamous MILLIONAIRE MAKER where a stone cold one million dollars awaits the champion. Among the long list of Day 2 qualifiers was Taiwanese pro/ Natural8 Ambassador Kitty Kuo with a very healthy stack. Others were Hardeep Bhatti (India), Young Choi (Korea), Yiming Li (China), and Japanese players Jun Obara, Hayato Nagasawa, Kyohei Tabe, Koji Takagi, Guohui Xu, Shohei Miyazaki, Yoshiya Agata, and Hayato Nagasawa. We will have a recap of that event once it completes. 

*Information collected from WSOP.com, PokerNews live updates, and The Hendon Mob

Event #13: $3,000 Freezeout No Limit Hold’em – HARVEY MATHEWS – US$ 371,914

Another milestone victory at the WSOP as Harvey Mathews clinched Event #13: $3,000 Freezeout No Limit Hold’em for his first ever gold bracelet and first ever live tournament win. Mathews was a dominant force at the final table, knocking out David Lolis (6th),  4x bracelet winner Michael Gathy (3rd), and Gabriel Andrade at heads up to collect the highly deserved US$ 371,914 cash prize. Prior to the win, Mathews only had 8 career cashes amounting to US$ 29,561. Interviewed by PokerNews, 

“Obviously it feels amazing. 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.”

The $3K buy in event pulled in 720 players for a prize pool of US$ 1,922,400. Out of the 108 players in the money was Korean pro Yohwan “BoxeR” Lim who was put down by Girish Apte in 18th place for a US$ 12,795 return. This was Lim’s second cash in this series. Others dipping in the pot were Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (32nd), bracelet winner Sejin Park (60th – US$ 6,558), Chinese players Keyi Tan (55th) and Ting Yi Tsai (73rd), and WPT multi champion Darren Elias (68th). 

In a brief rundown of the final action, Gathy was the only WSOP decorated player at the final table. He eliminated Andrew Jeong in 8th place and Apte in 7th. After Andrade swept nearly all of David Lolis’ chips, Mathews took the rest and from there, began his ascent from the shortest of 12 BB to champion. 

Mathews landed two double ups, catching Apte’s bluff, to take the lead. With his intimidating stack, he eliminated Brandon Caputo (5th), Gathy (3rd) with over , and carried a 2:1 advantage against Andrade at heads up. Andrade put up a strong fight, nearly closing the gap numerous times, however, Mathews found a bit of luck on his side to outdraw Andrade and bag his first WSOP title. Andrade was all in with , Mathews called with , a king spiked the river. Every player except Gathy and Caputo pocketed a career high score. 

Date: October 6 to 8
Buy inL US$ 3,000
Entries: 720
Prize pool: US$ 1,922,400
ITM: 108 places

Final table payouts

1st Harvey Mathews – USA – US$ 371,914
2nd Gabriel Andrade – USA – US$ 229,848
3rd Michael Gathy – Belgium – US$ 164,083
4th Girish Apte – USA – US$ 118,815
5th Brandon Caputo – USA – US$ 87,288
6th David Lolis – USA – US$ 65,072
7th Craig Mason – USA – US$ 49,238
8th Andrew Jeong – USA – US$ 37,284
9th Frederic Heller – USA – US$ 29,504

Event #14: $1,500 Seven Card Stud – RAFAEL LEBRON – US$ 82,262

Recreational player Rafael Lebron became the sixth player of the series to win his second career bracelet and it is one he certainly should be proud of. Lebron topped the 261 entry field of Event #14: $1,500 Seven Card Stud, overcoming several heavyweights at the final table to pocket the US$ 82,262 cash prize. His first series victory was at the 2016 WSOP $3,000 Limit Hold’em 6-Handed. He now has well over half a million in WSOP earnings. 

Lebron kicked off the final table as the big stack and after bracelet holder Steven Albini was ousted in 9th place, he widened his lead by clipping Hal Rotholz (8th) and Maurizio Melara (7th). Nicholas Seiken (6th) fell next to bracelet holder David Williams. 4x bracelet winner Shaun Deeb finally landed his first final table, but suffered a heavy blow against David Moskowitz from which he couldn’t recover and exited 5th. From this point it was all Lebron. He finished off Christina Hill (4th), claimed a big pot against Wiliams to send the pro into the danger zone then did the same to Moskowitz. Lebron cleaned out Moskowitz in two big hands and faced Williams for the title backed by a 4:1 advantage. It didn’t take long for Lebron to overwhelm Wiilliams and lift his second gold bracelet. Among the players in the money was 2009 Australian Poker Hall of Fame inductee Gary Benson in 22nd place. 

Date: October 6 to 8
Buy in: US$ 1,500
Entries: 261
Prize pool: US$ 348,435
ITM: 39 places 

Final table payouts

1st Rafael Lebron – USA – US$ 82,262
2nd David Williams – USA – US$ 50,842
3rd David Moskowitz – USA – US$ 35,521
4th Christina Hill – USA – US$ 25,344
5th Shaun Deeb – USA – US$ 18,475
6th Nicholas Seiken – USA – US$ 13,766
7th Maurizio Melara – Italy – US$ 10,490
8th Hal Rotholz – USA – US$ 8,179
9th Steven Albini – USA – US$ 6,528

Event #15: $1,500 6-Handed NL Hold’em – BRADLEY JANSEN – US$ 313,403

Short handed events have become very popular as was evident in Event#15: $1,500 6-Handed where 1,450 turned up for a hefty prize pool of US$ 1,935,750. While there was a lineup of notable players scattered in the mix, earning the win was Bradley Jansen for his first ever WSOP gold bracelet and a career high US$ 313,403 payout. Although Jansen has only cashed at the WSOP/ WSOPC a total of nine times prior to this achievement, one of them was a victory at the $400 No Limit Hold’em 6-Handed for his first circuit ring. Interviewed by PokerNews, Jansen expressed, 

“It feels great, I’ve gone through this moment in my head many times before and when it actually gets here it’s unreal. Last night I thought about it a lot and I thought about what I was going to do and how I would react. It’s easy to get ahead of yourself. It’s just a really special day.”

The three day event paid out 218 players. Among them were series winner Michael Perrone (184th), bracelet winner Joao Vieira (96th), Darren Elias (54th), and three time bracelet winner Upeshka De Silva (47th). It was good to see De Silva at the tables and cashing in however he will be looking to run much deeper having been disqualified from last year’s WSOP Main Event final table for testing positive of Covid-19. Among the Asian players in the money were Japanese players Jun Obara (41st) and Shohei Miyazaki (108th). 

At the final table, ring winner Mark Liedtke ran out of steam in 7th place, double ring winner Jesse Yaginuma was on his second series final table and hoped to add a bracelet to the collection but instead fell short in 6th place to France’s Jeremy Malod. Malod continued to run hot, cleaning out Ryan Andrada (5th) and Ryan Pedigo (3rd), to amass a near 3:1 chip lead at heads up against Jansen. However, several hands in, the advantage crumbled as Jansen charged and flipped it to 5:1 on a crucial straight over two pair. Jansen went on to snatch the bracelet with straight over top pair.  

Date: October 7 to 9
Buy in: US$ 1,500
Entries: 1,450
Prize pool: US$ 1,935,750
ITM: 218 places 

Final table payouts 

1st Bradley Jansen – USA – US$ 313,403
2nd Jeremy Malod – France – US$ 193,711
3rd Ryan Pedigo – USA – US$ 136,070
4th Sean Hegarty – USA – US$ 96,919
5th Ryan Andrada – USA – US$ 70,013
6th Jesse Yaginuma – USA – US$ 51,305
7th Mark Liedtke – USA – US$ 38,146

Event #16: $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship – JOHN MONNETTE – US$ 245,680

Another five figure buy in attracted 92 big guns to Event #16: $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship for a prize pool of US$ 857,900. After a lengthy final table battle, the coveted gold was captured by John Monnette for his fourth career bracelet. He also collected a substantial US$ 245,680 payout. This increased his total WSOP earnings to over US$ 2.6 Million. Based on his long list of achievements, Monnette is one highly talented all around poker player. He won his first gold at the 2011 WSOP $2,500 8-Game Mix, claimed his second in 2012 at $5,000 Seven Card Stud, and after multiple deep runs, Monnette locked up bracelet #3 in 2017 at the $10,00 No Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship. 

The bracelet chase denied several multiple bracelet winners such as Daniel Negreanu, Mike Matusow, Eli Elezra, and Robert Mizrachi who has already appeared at two prior final tables. On the flip side, the top 14 players in the money included 4x bracelet winner Brian Rast in 11th place.

At the final round, five WSOP decorated players were part of the golden hunt. Ray Dehkharghani exited 10th, Kevin Song followed in 9th place, John Racener out 6th, Jason Somerville in 5th, while Monnette took it to the finish line. At four handed, Monnette ended Canada’s hopes for a third win by railing Terrenc Chan. Day 1 chip leader Eric Kurtzman was stopped in 3rd place by Nate Silver to overtake Monnette at the start of heads up. The stacks quickly evened up and from there it was a boxing match for command. Silver widened to a near 2:1 lead but was caught bluffing to reverse the numbers. Silver challenged back and once again soared to build a gap over 2:1 but like previous, it didn’t hold. Monnette gained momentum and surged to a 6:1 advantage then nailed it shut for his fourth WSOP title and first at Limit Hold’em. 

Date: October 7 to 9
Buy in: US$ 10,000
Entries: 92
Prize pool: US$ 857,900
ITM: 14 places

Payouts

1st John Monnette – USA – US$ 245,680
2nd Nate Silver – USA – US$ 151,842
3rd Eric Kurtzman – USA – US$ 108,747
4th Terrence Chan – Canada – US$
5th Jason Somerville – USA – US$ 58,697
6th John Racener – USA – US$ 44,263
7th Scott Tuttle – USA – US$ 33,979
8th Christopher Chung – USA – US$ 26,561
9th Kevin Song – USA – US$ 21,149
10th Ray Dehkharghani – USA – US$ 18,506
11th Brian Rast – USA – US$ 18,506
12th Mike Thorpe – USA – US$ 16,920
13th Casey McCarrel – USA – US$
14th Chad Eveslage – USA – US$ 16,920 

Here’s a look at the series numbers and player achievements including the list of bracelet winners and multi final tables.

2021 WSOP Tally

Event #1 – #16 prize pool: US$ 24,201,330
Online Event #1 – #2 prize pool: US$ 1,260,150
Entries: 24,087
Online entries: 898
Largest prize pool: Event #7: $500 The Reunion $5M GTD – US$ 5,448,660
Largest payout: Tyler Cornell – US$ 833,289
First time bracelet winners: 10 (live)

Second career bracelet won

Jeremy Ausmus – Event #3: $1K Covid-19 Charity Relief
Connor Drinan – Event #5: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better
Martin “BathroomLine” Zamani – Online #1: $5,300 NLH Freezeout
Mark “NJ_AcesmarkA” Herm – Online #2: $500 NL Hold’em BIG 500
Ari Engel – Event #9: $10K Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship
Yuval Bronshtein – Event #12: $1,500 Limit Hold’em
Rafael Lebron – Event #14: $1,500 Seven Card Stud

Fourth career bracelet won

John Monnette – Event #16: Limit Hold’em Championship

2021 WSOP Winners

Event #1: James Barnett – USA – Casino Employees – US$ 39,013
Event #2: Jesse Klein – USA – $25K H.O.R.S.E. – US$ 552,182
Event #3: Jeremy Ausmus – USA – $1K Covid-19 Charity Relief – US$ 48,687
Event #4: Long Ma – USA – $500 The Reunion 5M GTD – US$ 514,604
Event #5: Connor Drinan – USA – $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better – US$ 163,252
Event #6: Tyler Cornell – USA – $25K HR NL Hold’em 8-Handed – US$ 833,289
Event #7: Jaswinder “Jesse” Lally – Canada – $1,500 Dealer’s Choice 6-Handed – US$ 97,915
Event #8: Zhi Wu – USA – $600 NL Hold’em Deepstack – US$ 281,406
Event #9: Ari Engel – Canada – $10K Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship – US$ 317,076
Event #10: Michael Perrone – USA – $1K Super Turbo Bounty NLH Freezeout – US$ 152,173
Event #11: Jason Koon – USA – $25K Heads-Up NL Hold’em Championship – US$ 243,981
Event #12: Yuval Bronshtein – Israel – $1,500 Limit Hold’em – US$ 124,374
Event #13: Harvey Mathews – USA – $3,000 Freezeout NL Hold’em – US$ 371,914
Event #14: Rafael Lebron – USA – $1,500 Seven Card Stud – US$ 82,262
Event #15: Bradley Jansen – USA – $1,500 6-Handed NL Hold’em – US$ 313,403
Event #16: John Monnette – USA – $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship – US$ 245,680

Online #1: Martin “BathroomLine” Zamani – $5,300 NLH Freezeout – USA – US$ 210,600
Online #2: Mark “NJ_AcesmarkA” Herm – $500 NL Hold’em BIG 500 – USA – US$ 89,356

Multiple final tables

Jason Koon
9th – Event #6: High Roller NL Hold’em 8-Handed
6th – Online Event #1: $5,300 NLH Freezeout
1st – Event #11: $10K Heads Up NL Hold’em Championship

Phil Hellmuth 
6th – Event #2: $25K H.O.R.S.E
5th – Event #9: $10K Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship

Robert Mizrachi
3rd – Event #5: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better 
7th – Event #9: $10K Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship

Jesse Yaginuma 
6th – Online Event #2: $500 WSOP.com NLHold’em BIG 500
6th – Event 15: $1,500 6-Handed NL Hold’em 

Stay tuned to Somuchpoker as we bring you updates and recaps throughout the series.