The 2021 World Series of Poker Online [International] has officially kicked off at online platform Natural8 [GG Network] and like its USA counterpart, 33 signature bracelets headline the festival. The past days have already witnessed a blazing platform with over 32K entries across two opening events. Poland’s Bartlomiej Swieboda and Brazil’s Joao Simao charged to victory to lock up their first ever dream gold and six figure cash prizes. For champion Simao, he also won a Natural8 Team Bling sponsorship worth US$ 10,000. Another N8 player running well was Vietnam’s Cuong Trinh who missed the gold by one spot. We’ve got those stories for you below.
The series runs from August 1 to September featuring US$ 53+ Million in guaranteed prize pools. Over US$ 2.7 Million has already been paid out. 31 bracelets remain. For players that sign up on Natural8, expect plenty of added perks amounting to US$ 400,000 in exclusive prizes. You can read up on those perks at the bottom of the page or via this link:
Event Recaps
WSOP #1: $50 The Return – Bartlomiej “Chester20o” Swieboda – US$ 161,110
First to take off was the WSOP #1: $50 The Return NLH, $1M GTD which was the cheapest buy in bracelet event scheduled and the first of 13 events featuring a guarantee. Leading up to the final day were 10 qualifying heats that drew a massive 30,810 entrants. This more than crushed the guarantee for a richer US$ 1,417,260 prize pool. 3,584 advanced with 1,600 earning a share of the pot. After 8 hours and 20 minutes of final day action, Bartlomiej “Chester20o” Swieboda overcame a deficit at heads up against Vietnam’s Cuong Trinh to give Poland its first ever gold bracelet. In addition to the shine, Swieboda turned his US$ 50 to a career high score US$ 161,110.
Date: July 27 to August 1
Buy in: US$ 50
Guarantee: US$ 1,000,000
Entries: 30,810
Prize pool: US$ 1,417,260
Day 2 qualifiers: 3,584
ITM: 1,600 places
Running time: 8 hours and 20 minutes
Among the long list of players running very deep was Juan Pardo Dominguez who burned out in 31st place. Dominguez also ran well at the second bracelet event with a 49th finish. Other players in the top 100 were entering chip leader “Let_Me_Be” (36th), bracelet winner Mike Leah (67th), Pulkit Goyal (75th), Jinho Hong (76th), and Amichai Barer (94th).
The final table opened with no bracelet winners which meant one player was destined for glory. Ring winner Ivan “GangstaZab” Zabiyakin was ranked fourth, Neville Mateus “NevSlater” Endo Costa who finished 6th at the 2020 WSOP Online [International] Millionaire Maker event was ranked second, and Sergey “sit_boom777” Sitnikov carried in the chip lead.
The final table ran just under two hours. Vietnam’s Cuong Trinh delivered the first blow with Matheus Andrade “durezabh” De Souza on the receiving end. With stacks deep, it took another 35 minutes before the next bust. Along the way, Costa lost a succession of pots to drop to the lower ranks. His final hand saw a turn board 
, he pushed with 
flush draw, Zabiyakin called with 
straight, the river 
sent him packing in 8th place while Zabiyakin amassed an enormous stack. Plenty of big pots continued to shuffle around the virtual felt with Trinh initiating most of the action. This led to his stack swinging and to the downfall of two players, Sergey “sit_boom777” Sitnikov and Matheus Hilario “tio_ricco” Dos Santos, both falling to Trinh two minutes apart. Sitinkov’s 
bricked against Trinh’s 
, and Santos’ 
was dominated by Trinh’s 
.
Short stacked Alexander “OMGWTF!!” Jung couldn’t get in the action but did ladder up to 5th place. At four handed, Trinh and Zabiyakin tangled ending with Trinh scoring two-thirds of the chips in play as 
flush beat 
two pair, on a board 
. Zabiyakin lost another costly pot, this time to Swieboda who had been quiet up until the double up. Down to 4bb, Zabiyakin busted to Trinh who then proceeded to finish off Eran “Ma_Yesh_Beze” Soffer a few hands after.
Carrying the drive into heads up, Trinh looked to be headed for the gold as he climbed to a 5:1 chip advantage however Swieboda took a stand and rivered a flush 
on a board 
against Trinh’s 
straight. From there, Swieboda attacked the felt to drag in consecutive pots and take the lead. The winning momentum widened his lead to nearly 3:1 but again Trinh reclaimed it on a double up with 
trips beating two pair on a board 
. Command switched once more when Swieboda won a pot with top pair to second pair. From there, Swieboda pulled away. The final hand saw Trinh all in with on a flop 
, Swieboda had , the turn was and river 
. Both players walked away with six figures with Swieboda earning the bigger cut and the gold.
Final table payouts
1st Bartlomiej “Chester20o” Swieboda – Poland – US$ 161,110
2nd Cuong “CLVT” Trinh – Vietnam – US$ 120,810
3rd Eran “Ma_Yesh_Beze” Soffer – Israel – US$ 90,595
4th Ivan “GangstaZab” Zabiyakin – Russia – US$ 67,936
5th Alexander “OMGWTF!!” Jung – Germany – US$ 50,945
6th Matheus Hilario “tio_ricco” Dos Santos – Brazil – US$ 38,203
7th Sergey “sit_boom777” Sitnikov – Russia – US$ 28,648
8th Neville Mateus “NevSlater” Endo Costa – Brazil – US$ 21,483
9th Matheus Andrade “durezabh” De Souza – Brazil – US$ 16,110
WSOP #2: Caesars Cares Charity Event – Joao Simao – Brazil – US$ 206,075
The Caesars Cares Charity Event was the second bracelet event with proceeds for the benefit of US-based Caesars team members greatly affected by Covid-19. 1,584 entered to generate a cash prize pool of US$ 1,759,824 and a charity fund of US$ 175,824. Brazilian pro Joao Simao seized it on his third bullet to lock up his first ever gold bracelet and a WSOP high score of US$ 206,075. This was Brazil’s 11th bracelet. By playing on Natural8, Simao became the first player in this series to win a Team Bling US$ 10,000 sponsorship package.
Looking at his achievements, Simao has over US$ 3.4 Million in live earnings with an added US$ 1.3 Million on the GG Network. Among his largest tracked scores was at the 2018 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS in Germany, placing 4th at the € 5,300 No Limit Hold’em for US$ 347,200 and finishing 2nd at the Super High Roller € 25,500 No Limit Hold’em for US$ 309,038. Another hefty super high roller payout was at the 2019 EPT Monte Carlo, placing 2nd at the € 25,000 No Limit Hold’em for US$ 324,240. His bracelet win was the fourth biggest payout of his career.
Date: August 1 to 2
Buy in: US$ 1,111
Entries: 1,584
Prize pool: US$ 1,759,824
Charity fund: US$ 175,824
ITM: 269 places
Running time: 3 hours and 17 minutes (Day 2)
The event ran for two days with plenty of big names filling up the virtual felt. Among those that cashed in the top 100 were bracelet winners Daniel Dvoress (24th), Joao Vieira (62nd), double winner Yuri Dzivielevski (67th), and notable pros Leandro Bianchini (42nd), Shyngis Satubayev (45th), Juan Pardo Dominguez (49th), and Anatoly Filatov (76th).
Day 1 closed at the end of 32 levels with 20 players remaining led by Simao followed by Hungarian pro Andras Nemeth, and ring winner Claas Segebrecht ranked third. Down the line were Elio Fox (two time bracelet winner) and Spain’s Sergio Aido. It took one hour for the final table to form. Along the way Segebrecht’s ran into Timo “omaha4lolz” Kamphues’ to exit 18th, Fox was stopped by Ilya “Dezauzer” Yakunin in 15th place with higher full house over 
full house on a board 
, then Aido joined the rail in 13th place. The fall of China’s “eeeva” established the final nine.
The final table ran for 2 hours and 15 minutes. The only player hunting down a second bracelet was Norway’s Espen “_sennj_” Sandvik, everyone else was gunning for their first. Nemeth was the most decorated with nearly US$ 3.5 Million in just live earnings. At the get-go, Austria’s Roman Hrabec led in chips and Simao ranked second. The first showdown awarded Le “Hugo777” Fang a double up off Nemeth then hands later, Nemeth claimed a massive pot from Simao to catapult to the top with a 144 bb stack, average was 44 bb. Nemeth nearly added to his fortress on a face off against Sandvik, but his 
was outdrawn by .
After the fall of Peter “BigFishEight” Raimondi (9th), Le “Hugo777” Fang (8th), and Jinlong “yiliuqi” Hu (7th), Nemeth went on a downward swing, losing a costly pot to Sandvik. On a turn board 
, Sandvik raised all in holding 
trips, Nemeth called with trips but lower kicker, the river doubled up Sandvik and sent Nemeth down to the shortest stack. A few minutes later, Simao’s 
bad beat bust Nemeth’s when the board 
improved him to a straight. Following Simao’s footsteps, Sandvik did the same to Ilya “Dezauzer” Yakunin with pocket Twos burning pocket Tens with a two on the river. Simao finished off Roman Hrabec then Sandvik emptied out Tom “Jabochi” Shaham to bring about the final duel for the gold. Shaham collected the first six figure payout of the event for his largest WSOP score.
Sandvik was ahead but quickly fell behind when Simao doubled up on the first hand with dominating . Several minutes of heated exchanges sent Sandvik back on top, then the biggest hand came down (hand pictured above). On a board , Sandvik shoved which sent Simao tanking for a couple of minutes. Simao finally called and exposed Sandvik’s bluff. Simao shipped it with his flush while Sandvik plunged to just 6 bb. Sandvik shoved on the next hand with , Simao called with , the board dropped a ten on the flop. Despite having been denied a second bracelet, runner up Sandvik still earned a WSOP high score of US$ 154,533.
Final table payouts
1st Joao Simao – Brazil – US$ 206,075
2nd Espen “_sennj_” Sandvik – Norway – US$ 154,533
3rd Tom “Jabochi” Shaham – Israel – US$ 115,883
4th Roman Hrabec – Austria – US$ 86,900
5th Ilya “Dezauzer” Yakunin – Russia – US$ 65,166
6th Andras Nemeth – Hungary – US$ 48,867
7th Jinlong “yiliuqi” Hu – China – US$ 36,645
8th Le “Hugo777” Fang – China – 27,480
9th Peter “BigFishEight” Raimondi – Canada – US$ 20,607
Exclusive Natural8 promos
To give more value to your buck, Natural8 players can expect added incentives amounting to US$ 400,000 up for grabs throughout the series. We’ve broken them down right here.
WSOP Team Bling Sponsorship
Win any of the 2021 WSOP Online bracelet events and you are assured entry to Team Bling along with one of these fine sponsorship packages listed:
Main Event = $100,000 Team Bling Sponsorship*
Win the WSOP Main Event and you’ll not only become a part of Team Bling, you’ll be the CAPTAIN of the team. This exclusive package includes:
12 month Team Bling Sponsorship
$25,000 for live event buy in sponsorships
$5,000 to cover expenses
T$70,000 in online event sponsorships, paid out over 12 months
Buy-ins of $1,000 and above = $10,000 Team Bling Sponsorship*
Win a WSOP Bracelet from any event with a buy-in of $1,000 and above, and you’ll get a Team Bling package that includes:
6 month Team Bling Sponsorship
$7,500 for live event buy in sponsorships
$2,500 to cover expenses
Buy-ins from $50 to $999 = $5,000 Team Bling Sponsorship*
Win a WSOP Bracelet from any event with a buy-in of $999 and below, and you’ll get a Team Bling package that includes:
6 month Team Bling Sponsorship
$3,500 for live event buy in sponsorships
$1,500 to cover expenses
WSOP Amazing Race
Top the leaderboards to win a piece of the US$ 75,000 prize pool! There are ten leaderboards running throughout the series with varying prizes. Points can only be earned at bracelet events and WSOP side events. Three different LiveX packages up for grabs are listed:
US$ 5,000 LiveX Gold which includes US$ 3,500 live event buy in sponsorship and US$ 1,500 in expenses.
US$ 3,000 LiveX Silver which includes US$ 2,000 live event buy in sponsorship and US$ 1,000 in expenses.
US$ 2,000 LiveX Bronze which includes US$ 1,500 live event buy in sponsorship and US$ 500 in expenses.
WSOP 2-in1 Challenge
Win a share of US$ 30,000 via the WSOP 2-in-1 incentive. This unique perk is only offered in Natural8. To start off, play any of the WSOP bracelet events and WSOP side events to earn points. As written on the website,
Take part in any WSOP Branded Tournaments to earn points and boost those points by playing in cash games. We’ll multiply the points you’ve earned by playing tournaments with the points from cash games to reveal your chipstack for the final WSOP 2-in-1 Challenge Flipout.
Plenty of action ahead so stick with us at Somuchpoker as we bring you recaps on the ongoing 2021 WSOP Online on Natural8.
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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