It was the biggest Sunday yet at the 2021 World Series of Poker Online [International] with two bracelet events amassing over US$ 11.6 Million in combined prize pools. Claiming the day’s biggest cut was Korea’s Hinojas “POLALIFE!” Jerome aka Keun Woo Lee who came from behind at the WSOP #12: $1,000 DOUBLE CHANCE NLH to capture his first ever gold bracelet and a hefty six figure US$ 635,575 payout. This also gave Korea its first bracelet in this series and fifth overall. Impressively, Asians dominated the final table with six in the virtual round which included India players Sriharsha “Upswinger” Doddapaneni and Manish “thekid” Lakhotia. Doddapaneni currently leads the Natural8 India WSOP Amazing Race leaderboard.
At the WSOP #11: #10,000 Super MILLION$ High Roller NLH, the event paused at the final 9 with poker legend Erik Seidel and Taiwanese ring winner Chin-Wei “davidchien88” Chien in the lineup, and Uruguay’s Francisco Benitez as chip leader. Check out our event recap, updated N8 leaderboards, and other festival stats down below.
The international bracelet series kicked off on August 1 at Natural8 [GG Network] with games ongoing until September 12. The festival features US$ 53+ Million in guaranteed prize pools. To date, over US$ 27.5 Million has been paid out with 9 events pulling in seven figures. 21 coveted bracelets are still up for grabs. For players that sign up on Natural8, expect plenty of added perks amounting to US$ 400,000 in exclusive prizes. Natural8 players Joao Simao and Eduardo Augusto Pires have already won one of the Team Bling US$ 10,000 Sponsorship Packages. You can read up on those perks at the bottom of the page or via this link:
WSOP #12: $1,000 DOUBLE STACK NLH – Keunwoo “POLALIFE!” Lee – US$ 635,575
After seven days of qualifiers, the $1,000 DOUBLE STACK NLH pulled in an immense 5,894 entries (4,765 uniques, 1,129 re-entries) to absolutely crush its US$ 4M guarantee in place of a richer US$ 5,599,300 prize pool. 972 players qualified into the Final Day with money paid to the top 600 places. At the ninth hour, Korea’s Hinojas “POLALIFE!” Jerome won it for his first ever dream gold bracelet and a life changing high score of US$ 635,575. Not much is known of “POLALIFE!” other than that he is also known as Keun Woo Lee with three prior WSOP cashes and a win at the 2018 Asia Poker League NLH Turbo for a combined US$ 11,700 in earnings.
Date: August 9 to 15
Buy in: US$ 1,000
Guarantee: US$ 4,000,000
Entries: 5,894 (4,765 uniques, 1,129 re-entries)
Prize pool: US$ 5,599,300
Final Day Qualifiers: 972
ITM: 600 places
Running time: 9 hours
Final table payouts
1st Keunwoo “POLALIFE!” Lee – Korea – US$ 635,575
2nd Felipe Ramos – Brazil – US$ 476,612
3rd Sriharsha “Upswinger” Doddapaneni – India – US$ 357,408
4th Yi “jolen” Wang – China – US$ 268,018
5th Stoyan Madanzhiev – Bulgaria – US$ 200,985
6th Anton Yakuba – Ukraine – US$ 150,718
7th Xuejian “LuckyCat00” Li – China – US$ 113,022
8th Nethanel “natykkk” Klein – Israel – US$ 84,755
9th Manish “thekid” Lakhotia – India – US$ 63,557
With a thunderous 972 players through to the final day, it was no surprise to see many known pros, champions, Asia Pacific contenders, and Natural8 players cashing in. Among the top half were Charles “TheMadQueen” La Boissonniere (297th), Rainer Kempe (294th), David “MPEW299” Wang (250th), Neel Joshi (207th), Wayne Heung (180th), Isaac Haxton (176th), Eduardo Pires (175th), Sosia “Aunty_Ninja” Jiang (172nd), Michael Addamo (159th), Gaurav “Haversham” Sood (158th), Vincent “Moist” Huang (154th), Thomas “readytoship” Ward (144th), Phachara Wongwichit (137th), Niklas Astedt (134th), Pete Chen (127th), Kacper Pyzara (91st), Daniel Negreanu (83rd), Bryan Paris (81st), Thiago “IneedWasabi” Macedo (22nd), and David Miscikowski (19th). The final table was formed at the fall of Jiachen “Transurfing” Gong in 10th place.
For the first time, Asians filled the table with six players representing the region however carrying in the biggest presence were the 2020 WSOP Online Main Event champion Stoyan Madanzhiev and ring winner Felipe Ramos who held the chip lead with 91 bb. “POLALIFE!” brought up the rear with 14 bb.
It took just under two hours for the gold to be claimed. Along the way, Madanzhiev broke from mid-pack and charged upwards after railing three players namely, India’s Manish “thekid” Lakhotia (9th) on a set over set, Israel’s Nethanel “natykkk” Klein (8th) on a bad beat with AKo improving to a straight to crack pocket Aces, and China’s Xuejian “LuckyCat00” Li (7th) with a better kicker. Just before the next bust, China’s Yi “jolen” Wang took a chunk from India’s Sriharsha “Upswinger” Doddapaneni to even up with Madanzhiev.
It was at this point that “POLALIFE!” came out from the bottom and began sweeping the field. To kick off his rush, he doubled up through Madanzhiev with 
dominating 
, then won a pot off Wang to take the lead. After Ukraine’s Anton Yakuba was chunked by Ramos on a failed bluff, “POLALIFE!” shipped the rest with 
dominating 
. Madanzhiev was next on the Korean’s chopping block with 
pairing the queen on fifth street to dust 
. Minutes later, Wang met the “POLALIFE!” axe, falling to pocket Aces. Getting a little life back was Ramos who managed to double up off “POLALIFE!” but not so fortunate for Natural8 player Doddapaneni with 
outdrawn by 
nine on the board. Doddapaneni walked away with his fifth series cash and his largest known career score of US$ 357,408.
Heads up got underway with “POLALIFE!” on top over 3:1. It only took several hands to wrap it up. Ramos shoved with , “POLALIFE!” called 
, both players hit the board 
with “POLALIFE!” rivering a lucky three of a kind sixes to capture the glorious dream gold. For runner up Ramos, his deep finish earned him his largest tracked tournament score of US$ 476,612.
Day 1: WSOP #11: $10,000 Super MILLION$ High Roller NLH
No shortage of elite players at the WSOP #11: $10,000 Super MILLION$ High Roller NLH as they piled in for a shot at the US$ 5 Million on offer. 373 signed up and a whopping 251 re-entered for 624 total entries and a smashing prize pool of US$ 6,052,800 that well exceeded the guarantee. Once the final 9 was set, the game was stopped, and scheduled to resume after a two night’s break. When they return, everyone is guaranteed a minimum US$ 129,410 with the top prize at US$ 977,842.
Come final day, one player everyone will keep a close watch on is eight time bracelet winner Erik Seidel in 7th rank. During the bubble round, Seidel was in danger of elimination with his stack down to just 5 BB, however multiple double ups brought him back to health and he went on to secure his spot at the final table. Another bracelet winner is Isaac Baron ranked 6th. The list also has three ring winners namely, Claas Segebrecht, Shyngis Satubayev, and Taiwan’s Chin-Wei “davidchien88” Chien. Chien has been running hot this year. One of his online achievements was winning a WSOP circuit ring back in May.
Date: August 15
Buy in: US$ 10,000
Guarantee: US$ 5,000,000
Entries: 624 (373 uniques, 251 re-entries)
Prize pool: US$ 6,052,800
ITM: 60 places
Final day: August 17 to be broadcasted on Twitch GGPokerTV
Recapping the Day 1 action, although many players re-entered, many still missed ITM. Among them were David Yan who fired an unfathomable 12 bullets, Wiktor Malinowski (8 buy ins), Wei Zhao (6 buy ins), Elio Fox (6 buy ins), Niklas Astedt (5 buy ins) Artur Martirosian (4 buy ins), David Peters (4 buy ins), Amichai Barer (4 buy ins), Justin Bonomo (3 buy ins), and Chris Rudolph (3 buy ins). Daniel Negreanu, Dario Sammartino, James Chen, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, and Melika “Melirazavii” Razavi also fell empty handed but used up only one bullet.
Just before the ninth hour of play, multiple players shoved, leading to the fall of Jean Pierre “Kunkuwap” Van Der Spuy on the bubble. Once the money flowed, it was an all in fest knockout spree. Among the departed that profited were Ravid Garbi (54th), David Kitai (52nd), Mikita Badziakouski (49th), Georgios Manousos Sotiropoulos (44th), Yan Shing “Anson” Tsang (35th), Isaac Haxton (21st), Matthias Eibinger (20th), Galen Hall (14th), and David Coleman (13th).
Just missing the final table were Natural8 players Kosei Ichinose (11th) and Michael Addamo (12th). Addamo was outdrawn by fellow Natural8 player Joachim Haraldstad and Ichinose was eliminated by Thomas Muehloecker with 
set over pair (hand pictured below).
The final table was formed at the fall of Wenjie “RaiseRorever” Huang who first doubled up Francisco Benitez in a battle of the blinds. Small blind Huang had 
flush, Benitez with 
full house on a board 
. This sent Benitez zooming to the top. Several minutes later, Claas Segebrecht railed Huang with 
outdrawing 
.
Upcoming Events – Guaranteed and Non-Guaranteed
August 17: WSOP #13: $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship [2 Day event]
August 19: WSOP #14: $500 THE BIG 500 [2 Day event]
August 21: WSOP #15: $10,000 Heads Up NLH Championship [128 cap]
August 22: WSOP #16: $1,050 WSOP GGMasters HR Freezeout NLH, $2,000,000 GTD [2 Day event]
August 22: WSOP #17: $400 PLOSSUS [Bounty], $1,000,000 GTD [Final Day]
*Day 1 flights currently ongoing
2021 WSOP Online bracelet events stats
WSOP #1 – #12 prize pool: US$ 29,698,799
Cumulative entries: 59,212
Largest phased field: WSOP #1: $50 The Return NLH – 30,810 entries
Largest one day entry field: WSOP #5: $315 Bounty Deepstack NLH – 2,989 entries
Biggest pot (phased): WSOP #7: $1,500 MILLIONAIRE MAKER NLH – US$ 7,747,725
Biggest pot (single day entry): WSOP #12: $10,000 Super MILLION$ High Roller NLH – US$ 6,052,800
Smallest field: WSOP #3: $2500 Limit Hold’em Championship – 180 entries
Smallest pot: WSOP #9: $400 DOUBLE CHANCE PLO – US$ 366,600
First time bracelet winners: 9
Largest payout: WSOP #7: $1,500 MILLIONAIRE MAKER NLH – Eduardo Pires – US$ 1,384,013
2021 WSOP Online champions
WSOP #1: $50 The Return NLH – Bartlomiej “Chester20o” Swieboda – Poland – US$ 161,110
WSOP #2: $1,111 Caesars Cares Charity Event – Joao Simao – Brazil – US$ 206,075
WSOP #3: $2500 Limit Hold’em Championship – Nicolo Molinelli – Italy – US$ 88,461
WSOP #4: $800 DOUBLE CHANCE NLH – Thiago “IneedWasabi” Macedo – Brazil – US$ 161,636
WSOP #5: $315 Bounty Deepstack No Limit Hold’em – Kacper Pyzara – Poland – US$ 79,789
WSOP #6: $200 FLIP & GO No Limit Hold’em – Georgios Sotiropoulos – Greece – US$ 117,022
WSOP #7: $1,500 MILLIONAIRE MAKER NLH – Eduardo Pires – Brazil – US$ 1,384,013
WSOP #8: $5,000 6-Handed NLH Championship – Daniel Smiljkovic – Germany – US$ 423,426
WSOP #9: $525 Superstack Turbo Bounty NLH – Lucio “WizardOfAz” Lima – US$ 91,204
WSOP #10: $400 DOUBLE CHANCE PLO – Roland “Quina Quen” Czika – Hungary – US$ 55,369
WSOP #12: $1,000 DOUBLE STACK No Limit Hold’em – Keunwoo “POLALIFE!” Lee – Korea – US$ 635,575
Second career bracelet won
Nicolo Molinelli – WSOP #3: $2500 Limit Hold’em Championship
Georgios Manousos Sotiropoulos – WSOP #6: $200 FLIP & GO No Limit Hold’em
Multiple final tables
Stanislav Kuvaev
8th – WSOP #3: $2,500 Limit Hold’em Championship
5th – WSOP #9: $525 Superstack Turbo Bounty NLH
Bracelets by Country
Brazil – 4
Poland – 2
Italy – 1
Greece – 1
Germany – 1
Hungary – 1
Korea – 1
Seven figure prize pools
WSOP #1: $50 The Return NLH – US$ 1,417,260
WSOP #2: Caesars Cares Charity Event – US$ 1,759,824
WSOP #4: $800 Double Chance NLH – US$ 1,248,680
WSOP #6: $200 FLIP & GO No Limit Hold’em – US$ 1,209,920
WSOP #7: $1,500 MILLIONAIRE MAKER NLH – US$ 7,747,725
WSOP #8: $5,000 6-Handed NLH Championship – US$ 2,275,250
WSOP #9: $525 Superstack Turbo Bounty NLH – US$ 1,114,500
WSOP #11: $1,000 DOUBLE CHANCE NLH – US$ 5,599,300
WSOP #12: $10,000 Super MILLION$ High Roller NLH – US$ 6,052,800
Natural8 Exclusive Promo results
Natural8 Team Bling Sponsorship Package winners
Joao Simao – WSOP #2: Caesars Cares Charity Event – US$ 10,000 Sponsorship
Eduardo Augusto Pires – WSOP #7: $1,500 MILLIONAIRE MAKER NLH – US$ 10,000 Sponsorship
Natural8 WSOP 2-in-1 Challenge Week 1 winners
“Masukito83” – Dominican Republic – US$ 823.61
“DanielTsai” – Taiwan – US$ 597.12
“LotusFocus” – India – US$ 433.33
Natural8 WSOP Amazing Race Leaderboard update (current top 3 for each category)
Asia Pacific
Joshua McCully – New Zealand – 4,549.45points
“Imar54” – New Zealand – 2,150.55 points
Vincent “Moist” Huang – New Zealand – 1,906.12
Latin America
Eduardo Augusto Pires – Brazil – 3,797.38 points
Rafael “riskgambler” Furlanetto – Brazil – 3,710.47 points
Daan “DaanOss” Mulders – Mexico – 2,583.31 points
Rest of World
Isaac Haxton – Canada – 3,962.23 points
Tomas “CoronaMyAss” Jozonis – Lithuania – 3,032.02 points
“Rumukulus” – Austria – 2,945.69 points
Taiwan
Pete Chen – 2,558.85 points
Yen-liang “yao_poker” Yao – 1,071.89 points
Chuyi “Un-mazing” Huang – 828.36 points
Thailand
George Kitsios – Greece – 1,311.46 points
“LuffyJd” – 683.76 points
Martijn “visacard” Gerrits – 494.31 points
Vietnam
Cuong “CLVT” Trinh – 925.98 points
“LittleFishVN” – 677.37 points
“19_01” – 603.9 points
Japan
Shota “shorta222” Nakanishi – 535.82 points
Takashi “IKAIKA” Ogura – 526.23 points
“tezyy” – 452.5 points
Hong Kong
Dicky Siu Hang “Floatingworld” Tsang – 3654.66 points
Anson Tsang – 967.23 points
Wayne Heung – 668.42 points
India
Sriharsha “Upswinger” Doddapaneni – 3,217.81 points
Gaurav “Haversham” Sood – 1,666.39 points
“happysim” – 1,169.97 points
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 includesUS$ 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-in-1 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 of the ongoing 2021 WSOP Online [International] 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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