Another four players captured the gold at the 2021 World Series of Poker Online [USA]. The latest winners were Anthony “Lastbullet” Kennedy, Byung “bhy101” Yoo, Bradley “DrStrange7” Ruben for his career second gold bracelet, and Ryan “Hagzzz021” Hagerty who impressed with back to back final tables, finishing 5th at WSOP #22: NLH Knockout Freezeout then winning WSOP #23: No Limit Hold’em Turbo.
Other players running well were double crown GPI Player of the Year Alex “OrcinusOrca” Foxen, triple bracelet winner Ben “WhyIsGamora” Yu, Michael “BrockLesnar” Holtz, and Troy “troyrlee” Lee, all reaching their series second final table while six time WSOP champion Daniel “DNegs” Negreanu made his final table debut. Doing better was triple ring winner John “Macallan25” Riordan with three series final tables.
The ongoing series is down to its last week of games. Action kicked off on July 1 at online platform WSOP.com and runs until August 1. The online site is only accessible to players geo located in Nevada and New Jersey. For late comers, 24 bracelets have already been awarded which means only 9 remain. Check out our latest recaps and select WSOP updated stats down below.
*Information based from WSOP.com, The Hendon Mob, PokerNews live reporting, and PokerNews Twitch.
2021 WSOP Online bracelet events by the numbers
WSOP #1 – #24 prize pool: US$ 12,483,040
Cumulative entries: 20,034
Biggest winner: Justin “Jsaliba2” Saliba – US$ 253,800 (WSOP #15: NLH High Roller Freezeout)
Biggest field: WSOP #10: No Limit Hold’em – 1,517 entries
Biggest pot: WSOP #20: $3,200 NLH High Roller – US$ 948,840
Smallest field: WSOP #15: $5,300 NLH High Roller Freezeout – 188 players
Smallest pot: WSOP #16: PLO8 6-Handed – US$ 268,920
Most unique players: WSOP #11: NLH Ultra Deepstack – 1,078 unique players
First time bracelet winners: 20
Deepest run by non USA player: Manig “Ohio77” Loeser (Germany) – WSOP #2 champion
Second career bracelet won
Bryan “Pellepelle Piccioli – WSOP #12: NLH Turbo Deepstack
Ryan “Adopt_aDogg0” Leng – WSOP #13: NLH Freezeout
Allen “Acnyc718” Chang – WSOP #16: PLO8 6-Handed
Bradley “DrStrange7” Ruben – WSOP #21: PLO 6-Handed
Three final tables
Martin “BathroomLine” Zamani – 4TH (WSOP #4) and 5TH (WSOP #15), and 1st (WSOP #19)
Michael “helionic” Dyer – 9th (WSOP #6), 6th (WSOP #10), and 8th (WSOP #12)
John “Macallan25” Riordan – 7th (WSOP #15), 8th (WSOP #20), 6th (WSOP #24)
Two final tables
Joon “jykpoker” Kim – 9th (WSOP #3) and 2nd (WSOP #8)
Kenneth “ACE710” Neri – 3rd (WSOP #9) and 8th (WSOP #6)
Aaron “WompDatTHomp” Thivyanathan – 3rd (WSOP #2) and 6th (WSOP #9)
Ye “YUAN365” Yuan – 3rd (WSOP #1) and 4th (WSOP #12)
Jonas “Puffin_Nails” Wexler – 9th (WSOP #13) and 5th (WSOP #14)
Joshua “Zeal1906” Ray – 3rd (WSOP #5) and 6th (WSOP #15)
Justin “LappyPoker” Lapka – 6th (WSOP #2) and 1st (WSOP #17)
Felix “madenspauwke” Vandeput – 2nd (WSOP # 11) and 4th (WSOP #18)
John “thirteen” Del Rossi – 5th (WSOP #8) and 3rd (WSOP #19)
Christopher “Basile28” Basile – 2nd (WSOP #1) and 4th (WSOP #20)
Michael “BrockLesnar” Holtz – 9th (WSOP #15) and 2nd (WSOP #21)
Alex “OrcinusOrca” Foxen – 4th(WSOP #15) and 3rd (WSOP #21)
Ben “WhyIsGamora” Yu – 3rd (WSOP #6) and 4th (WSOP #21)
Troy “troyrlee” Lee – 6th (WSOP #17) and 5th (WSOP #21)
Ryan “Hagzzz021” Hagerty – 5th (WSOP #22) and 1st (WSOP #23)
Most cashes by series champion
Martin “BathroomLine” Zamani – 9 cashes, 3 final tables
Final table berth by Asia Pacific players
Ye “YUAN365” Yuan – China – 3rd place (WSOP #1), 4th place (WSOP #12)
*Information based from WSOP.com, The Hendon Mob, PokerNews live reporting, and PokerNews Twitch.
WSOP #21: PLO 6-Handed – Bradley “DrStrange7” Ruben – US$ 69,148
USA’s Bradley “DrStrange7” Ruben locked up his career second gold bracelet and just like previous it was at a Pot Limit Omaha event. A few days ago, he took down the WSOP #21: PLO 6-Handed for a cool US$ 69,148. Ruben won his first shiny strap last year at the GGPoker.com 2020 WSOP Online $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha where he pocketed a career high US$ 220,160. He now has US$ 535K in total WSOP career earnings.
Briefly reviewing the bracelet chase, 281 players signed up with 270 re-entering for a total of 551 entries. At US$ 600 each, it generated a prize pool of US$ 297,540 with the top 66 spots paid. Among the early ITM fallouts were Soheb “TommyConway6” Porbandarwala (44th), Jesse “Patient0” Yaginuma (48th), Steve “gboroo” Gross (51st), Christopher “Pay_Son” Staats (52nd), Ryan “dnar2rna” Hughes (53rd), Tom “.BEAST.” Cannuli (55th), Ari “PalmTreeB” Engel (59th), and Loren “Babyjesus” Klein (66th). Making it further were series finalists Jason “TheBigGift” Gooch (12th), Andrew Lichtenberger (22nd), and John “thirteen” Del Rossi (30th).
The final table lasted over an hour and a half. Impressively, three players were back for their series second final table namely back to back GPI Player of the Year Alex “OrcinusOrca” Foxen, triple bracelet winner Ben “WhyIsGamora” Yu, and Troy “troyrlee” Lee who was on his fifth series cash. Also on the virtual round with Ruben were triple ring winner Dylan “thedogsofwar” Wilkerson and Michael “BrockLesnar” Holtz who not only carried in the biggest stack but was also on his 11th series cash.
First all in showdown was a double up for Ruben through Yu however hands later, Wilkerson was not as fortunate. Wilkerson’s stack dropped to 8 bb which all went to Holtz. Holtz continued to dominate, shipping all of Lee’s stack to widen his lead. After the two knockouts, Holtz lost momentum while Ruben was on the upswing. Ruben shaved off a sizable chunk from the leader then railed Yu in 4th place to jump into the driver’s seat.
Three handed took over 20 minutes of chips moving mainly between Holtz and Foxen while Ruben collected small uncalled pots until a showdown between him and Foxen ensued. On a turn board 
and a massive pot brewing, Ruben shoved 
trips, Foxen called with 
nut draw, the river 
was no help to send Foxen out in 3rd place. Ruben entered heads up on a 3:1 advantage. Four hands later, the deed was done. On a raised pot preflop, all chips got in on the turn 
, Holtz 
, Ruben 
flush for the gold after the river.
Date: July 21, 2021
Buy in: US$ 600
Entries: 551 (281 uniques, 270 re-entries)
Prize pool: US$ 297,540
ITM: 66 places
Final table payouts
1st Bradley “DrStrange7” Ruben – USA – US$ 69,148
2nd Michael “BrockLesnar” Holtz – USA – US$ 42,816
3rd Alex “OrcinusOrca” Foxen – USA – US$ 27,909
4th Ben “WhyIsGamora” Yu – USA – US$ 18,656
5th Troy “troyrlee” Lee – USA – US$ 12,764
6th Dylan “thedogsofwar” Wilkerson – USA – US$ 8,956
WSOP #22: NLH Knockout Freezeout – Anthony “Lastbullet” Kennedy – US$ 51,196
Thrilling race at the NLH Knockout Freezeout as 612 players battled for bounty rewards and the 22nd WSOP gold bracelet. After four prior cashes, six time bracelet winner Daniel “DNegs” Negreanu reached the final table and nearly shipped it, however it was Anthony “Lastbullet” Kennedy fulfilling the dream for his first ever WSOP title and gold bracelet. Along with the shine, Kennedy collected the US$ 46,796 first prize and 22 bounties amounting to US$ 4,400. This was only his second ever WSOP cash.
Leading up to the final table, several noteworthy players claimed a piece of the US$ 342,720 prize pool which included 2013 WSOP Main Event champion Ryan “BITC0iN” Riess, series winners Michael “njnj17” Leib, Ryan “Adopt_aDogg0” Leng, pros Felix “madenspauwke” Vandeput, and Joseph “blueberry” Cheong.
Among the players joining Negreanu and chip leader Kennedy at the final table were four time bracelet winner Jeff “NedrudRelyt” Madsen and ring winners Paul “rungood27” Scaturro and Ryan “Hagzzz021” Hagerty. The final table ran a quick 44 minutes. After the fall of Johnathan “shvszn” Bolton (9th), Madsen was next on the chopping block with Negreanu delivering the axe. This was Madsen’s 10th cash of the series. Michael “PIEROGI” Ziemba (7th) and Matthew “BraceletHUNT” Hunt (6th) were booted next then Negreanu denied Hagerty in 5th place. Despite the fall, Hagerty returned the following day and went on to ship one. You can read up on his bracelet win down below.
At four handed, the lead switched multiple times with Kennedy, Negreanu, and Ryan “badbeatbill” Basile taking turns. Basile proceeded to empty out Scaturro then hands later, Negreanu tabled his last hand. On a boosted pot, the turn board was 
, Negreanu shoved 
top pair and ran into Kennedy’s 
top pair higher kicker. The river didn’t help to send his dream of a seventh bracelet out the door.
Heads up kicked off with Kennedy ahead 47 bb to Basile’s 27 bb. Despite Basile tightening the gap, Kennedy stayed ahead. At 3:1, Basile risked it all with 
open ended on a board 
, Kennedy called with 
flush draw, the turn 
awarded the flush, and with river , Kennedy became the 22nd bracelet winner of the series.
Date: July 22, 2021
Buy in: US$ 600
Players: 612
Cash prize pool: US$ 220,320
Bounty prize pool: US$ 122,400
ITM: 99 players
Final table payouts (bounty rewards not included)
1st Anthony “Lastbullet” Kennedy – USA – US$ 46,796
2nd Ryan “badbeatbill” Basile – USA – US$ 28,708
3rd Daniel “DNegs” Negreanu – Canada – US$ 19,851
4th Paul “rungood27” Scaturro – USA – US$ 13,964
5th Ryan “Hagzzz021” Hagerty – USA – US$ 9,958
6th Matthew “BraceletHUNT” Hunt – UK – US$ 7,266
7th Michael “Pierogi” Ziemba – USA – US$ 5,354
8th Jeff “NedrudRelyt” Madsen – USA – US$ 4,032
9th Johnathan “shvszn” Bolton – USA – US$ 3,084
WSOP #23: NLH Turbo – Ryan “Hagzzz021” Hagerty – US$ 67,207
After missing the bracelet by just four spots in the previous event, Ryan “Hagzzz021” Hagerty returned to action and went the full distance. Hagerty overcame a field of 694 entries (457 uniques, 237 re-entries) at the WSOP #23: No Limit Hold’em Turbo to lock up his first ever WSOP gold bracelet and the US$ 67,207 first prize. This was Hagerty’s 9th series cash and second ever WSOP title. Last month, Hagerty won a WSOP ring at the WSOP.com Summer Online Circuit for US$ 22,925. While both these wins landed him in the headlines, he is also well known for 4th place finish at the 2020 WSOP.com Main Event World Championship where he earned his largest career score of US$ 387,130.
With action at a rapid pace, many well known players were unable to take the heat. Among those that managed to earn a piece of the US$ 312,300 prize pool were Chris “Robotbob47” Moorman (83rd), Ryan “BITC0iN” Riess (73rd), Phil “Lumestackin” Hellmuth (52nd}, Daniel “DNegs” Negreanu (26th), and Arkadiy “Crocofantos” Tsinis (11th). The final table was decided when Calvin “projector52” Anderson’s 
held against Jennifer “jlfitzgib100” Fitzgibbon’s overcards.
Final table opened with a very low average stack of just 12 bb. Three WSOP decorated players were in the round, double bracelet winner Calvin “projector52” Anderson, and ring winners Hagerty and Kyle “JackintheB0x” Miholich. With everyone short stacked, Raymond “Tastemybeans” Fillipone (9th) quickly paid off shorter stacked Miholich to drop below 1 bb which went to “Lukaslo0413”. A few hands later, Hagerty was involved in three consecutive showdowns. The first one, Hagerty awarded MIholich his second double up; on the subsequent hand, Hagerty reclaimed the lost chips and more with crushing Miholich’s 
, then the third shove was “Lukaslo0413” who risked it with only to run into Hagerty’s .
Not long after, another big hand came down. Anthony “boom81boom” Chin booted “Sub_Zer0” to bring the table down to five players. Hagerty went on to rail Chin, Richard “Na_Cho_Cheez” Liotta doubled up his < 4 bb stack through Anderson who dropped to 10 bb. Anderson tried to recoup it with 
instead lost it all to Russell “NJpincher” Crane on a dry board. With three remaining, Liotta got lucky on Crane to siphon off a huge pile and send Crane down to 2 bb which Liotta eventually took.
Heads up opened with Hagerty and Crane at par. Although the average stack was just 17 bb, the final duel still ran over 20 minutes with the lead bouncing back and forth. At times it seemed Hagerty had it with Liotta down to 1.5 bb, at times it was the reverse with Liotta sending Hagerty down to 2 bb. When blinds reached an average of 10 bb, the final hand arrived. Hagerty 
, Liotta , both players hit the board with Hagerty’s pair of aces defeating Liotta’s pair of kings. Hagerty locked up his first bracelet and Liotta collected a career high US$ 41,630.
Date: July 23, 2021
Buy in: US$ 500
Entries: 694 (457 uniques, 237 re-entries)
Prize pool: US$ 312,300
ITM: 90 places
Final table payouts
1st Ryan “Hagzzz021” Hagerty – USA – US$ 67,207
2nd Richard “Na_Cho_Cheez” Liotta – USA – US$ 41,630
3rd Russell “NJpincher” Crane – USA – US$ 28,669
4th Calvin “projector52” Anderson – USA – US$ 20,081
5th Anthony “boom81boom” Chin – USA – US$ 14,303
6th Anthony “Sub_Zer0” Marioni – USA – US$ 10,368
7th Claudio “Lukaslo0413” Guzman – USA – US$ 7,651
8th Kyle “JackintheB0x” Miholich – USA – US$ 5,746
9th Raymond “Tastemybeans” Fillipone – USA – US$ 4,403 –
WSOP #24: NLH Monsterstack – Byung “bhy101” Yoo – US$ 77,475
The WSOP #24: No Limit Hold’em Monsterstack was the second version of its kind and it did not disappoint. 826 players signed up with 350 re-entering for 1,176 total entries and a prize pool of US$ 426,360. In a ping pong heads up match that ran for half an hour, Byung “bhy101” Yoo outgunned Corey “Corgasm” Paggeot to capture his maiden victory, the dream WSOP gold bracelet and a hefty US$ 77,475. According to THM, Yoo only accrued 31 live cashes since 2011 with his largest payout of US$ 220,324 earned for runner up at the 2015 WPT Borgata Winter Open No Limit Hold’em Borgata Million. With this win, Yoo has over US$ 400K in tracked winnings.
A sizable 180 players cashed in, among them were Shaun “Ddtgg” Deeb, Michael “helionic” Dyer, Kristen “krissyb24” Bicknell, Nick “CashUsKlay” Schulman, Jeff “NedrudRelyy” Madsen for his 11th series cash, and series champions Carlos “CarlosWelch” Welch (13th) and Michael “njnj17” Leib (12th) both falling just several spots from the final table.
At the final table kick off were two WSOP decorated players, ring winner Corey “Corgasm” Paggeot who had a commanding 107 bb lead, and triple ring winner John “Macallan25” Riordan who was on his series third final table. Running 7th in chips, Yoo chipped up on a lucky break against Frank “Denzer” Williams III with flush over mid pair on a board 
. After Oliver “yongshi88” Tse (7th) fell to “aerpmh”, chip leader Paggeot went on a slashing spree, eliminating the next four players including Riordan with pocket Jacks dominating pocket Tens.
Up 8:1 at heads up or 68 bb to 9 bb, it looked like Paggeot was headed for a quick finish, however a series of pots and showdowns went Yoo’s way to bring them to par. From there, it was an aggressive battle for the gold with the lead exchanging hands multiple times. Half an hour in, Yoo accomplished what Paggeot couldn’t. Yoo closed it for his first ever title holding over on a dry board.
Date: July 24, 2021
Buy in: US$ 400
Entries: 1,176 (826 uniques, 350 re-entries)
Prize pool: US$ 426,360
ITM: 180 places
Final table payouts
1st Byung “bhy101” Yoo – USA – US$ 77,475
2nd Corey “Corgasm” Paggeot – USA – US$ 47,840
3rd Bader “lb2nyce4u” Haq – USA – US$ 33,996
4th Ace “aerpmh” Rowley – USA – US$ 24,555
5th David “Bewater” Goodman – USA – US$ 17,866
6th John “Macallan25” Riordan – USA – US$ 13,166
7th Oliver “yongshi88” Tse – USA – US$ 9,864
8th Frank “Denzer” Williams III – USA – US$ 7,451
9th Joseph “letsplay77” Bruno – USA – US$ 5,715
Remaining bracelet events
Down to single digits with only 9 WSOP gold bracelets up for grabs including the highlighted US$ 500 buy in No Limit Hold’em Grand Finale US$ 1 Million guaranteed, and the most expensive event of the series, the US$ 7,777 buy in No Limit Hold’em Lucky 7’s High Roller. Here’s a look at the remaining schedule.
July 25: WSOP #25: NLH Lucky 7’s High Roller – US$ 7,777 buy in
July 25: WSOP #26: No Limit Hold’em The Big 500 Encore – US$ 500 buy in
July 26: WSOP #27: Pot Limit Omaha Championship – US$ 1,000 buy inA
July 27: WSOP #28: NLH High Roller Championship – US$ 3,200 buy in
July 28: WSOP #29: NLH 8-Max Turbo Deepstack Championship – US$ 800 buy in
July 29: WSOP #30: NLH 6-Max Championship – US$ 600 buy in
July 30: WSOP #31: NLH Summer Saver – US$ 500 buy in
July 31: WSOP #32: No Limit Hold’em Championship – US$ 1,000 buy in
August 1: WSOP #33: NLH Grand Finale – US$ 1 MILLION guaranteed – US$ 500 buy in
2021 WSOP Online champions
WSOP #1: NLH The Big 500 Kick Off – Jose “deposit” Noboa – USA – US$ 105,161
WSOP #2: NLH Monster Stack – Manig “Ohio77” Loeser – Germany – US$ 104,313
WSOP #3: NLH Turbo Deepstack – Donnell “Spreezy52” Dais – USA – US$ 90,801
WSOP #4: NLH Super Turbo – Jeffery “Steelvikes7” Hoop – USA – US$ 73,861
WSOP #5: NLH 8-Max – Jeremiah “freestylerr” Williams – USA – US$ 139,600
WSOP #6: NLH Deepstack – Tyler “ShipTheShip” Denson – USA – US$ 175,700
WSOP #7: NLH Lucky 7’s – Michael “Stiltwalk” Mercaldo – USA – US$ 123,574
WSOP #8: NLH Crazy Eights – Carlos “CarlosWelch” Welch – USA – US$ 124,369
WSOP #9: NLH 6-Max – Philip “wingsuiter” Beck – USA – US$ 81,534
WSOP #10: No Limit Hold’em – Michael “njnj17” Leib – USA – US$ 81,645
WSOP #11: NLH Ultra Deepstack – Vijay “Eclypzed” Para – USA – US$ 86,210
WSOP #12: NLH Turbo Deepstack – Bryan “Pellepelle Piccioli – USA – US$ 83,332
WSOP #13: NLH Freezeout – Ryan “Adopt_aDogg0” Leng – USA – US$ 108,654
WSOP #14: No Limit Hold’em – Gionni “COLDWARKID” Demers – USA – US$ 90,023
WSOP #15: $5,300 NLH High Roller Freezeout – Justin “Jsaliba2” Saliba – USA – US$ 253,800
WSOP #16: PLO8 6-Handed – Allen “Acnyc718” Chang – USA – US$ 61,934
WSOP #17: NLH 8-Max – Justin “LappyPoker” Lapka – USA – US$ 75,371
WSOP #18: NLH North American Open – James “Danfriel” Gilbert – USA – US$ 137,570
WSOP #19: PLO Crazy Eights 8-Handed – Martin “BathroomLine” Zamani – USA – US$ 92,598
WSOP #20: $3,200 NLH High Roller – Sang “youngkoi” Lee – USA – US$ 241,768
WSOP #21: PLO 6-Handed – Bradley “DrStrange7” Ruben – USA – US$ 69,148
WSOP #22: NLH Knockout Freezeout – Anthony “Lastbullet” Kennedy – US$ 46,796
WSOP #23: No Limit Hold’em Turbo – Ryan “Hagzzz021” Hagerty – US$ 67,207
WSOP #24: No Limit Hold’em Monsterstack – Byung “bhy101” Yoo – US$ 77,475
Stick with us at Somuchpoker as we bring you recaps and updates of the ongoing series. All times and dates are listed in Las Vegas, Nevada time.
Tricia David
Tricia David has long experience as a recreational poker player and has been covering poker events since 2010 for numerous outfits in Asia. She spent one year working part time with Poker Portal Asia then became editor and lead writer for all event coverage of the Philippine Poker Tour (PPT). Under the PPT, she overlooked content for their website, and produced live updates on all their events. In addition, she served as the live and online events website content writer for the Asian Poker Tour. Currently, she does live events reporting in Asia for online news site Somuchpoker and is also one of their news contributors.
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