2021 WSOP Winter Circuit Online: India’s Sriharsha Doddapaneni captures first career ring; Andreas Nasman wins the Thriller; Main Event down to final 9

Two more victories at the 2021 World Series of Poker Winter Circuit Online with Finland’s Andreas Nasman and India’s Sriharsha “Upswinger” Doddapaneni both securing a second series ring for their home country. For Doddapaneni, the perks of being a Natural8 player also earned him a US$ 10K LiveX Sponsorship. We’ve got those stories for you below.

The online festival is nearing its end with only the Main Event championship ring left on the plate. Out of the 2,081 final day qualifiers, it is down to nine players. USA’s David Miscikowski currently leads the hunt. Among the contenders are four Asian players, China’s Chunyang “NanaPS” Hao and Jifeng “Snakey” Huang, Japan’s Naoya “Giriri7” Katagiri, and Vietnam’s Vu Duc “Taicu” Tai. The game resumes in a few days and will be broadcasted live with cards faced up on GGPoker.tv. We will have a recap for you once it concludes. 

Ring #17: GGMasters HR Freezeout – SRIHARSHA “Upswinger” DODDAPANENI – US$ 219,808

Players from India have been tearing up the online felt with two gold rings captured and a runner up finish. The newly minted was Natural8 MTT grinder / online beast Sriharsha “Upswinger” Doddapaneni who shipped the $1,050 GGMasters HR Freezeout NLH for a sweet score of US$ 219,808. In addition, Doddapaneni was awarded the exclusive LiveX Sponsorship which includes a $10,000 Las Vegas Package ($2,500 Travel Expense + $7,500 buy-ins) and membership for six months to LiveX Crew. 

Doddapaneni followed in the footsteps of fellow countryman Aniket “lockstock” Waghmare who won the first ring of the series at the Big 50 MILLION$. The victory boosted his total network winnings to well over US$ 1.7 Million. Among the long list of payouts Doddapaneni has collected throughout his career, the largest pile was US$ 357,409 for reaching 3rd place at the 2021 WSOP Online [International] Double Stack NLH. Two months later, he placed 5th at the Super MILLION$ High Rollers $10,300 for US$ 132,335. Aside from Natural8 accomplishments,  Doddapaneni is recognized as one of the fiercest players in the India online scene with heaps of victories and five figure scores. 

Briefly reviewing the two day event, 1,716 players joined the hunt with 287 seeing a piece of the US$ 1,716,000 prize pool. Only 47 returned on the final day led by Bulgaria’s Lachezar “Psychedelica” Petkov. Petkov maintained a formidable stack throughout but ultimately fell in 2nd place. For China’s “TUTUTUTUTUTUTU” it was another impressive performance with a 6th place finish for US$ 52,124. This was TUTUTUTUTUTUTU’s second final table appearance, having also finished 7th at the series opener Big 50 MILLION$.

Other Asia Pacific players on the final day were Yucheng “Xyc888” Xiao (17th), Hong Kong’s “dilrababa” (22nd), Chao “DuanChao” Duan (23rd), Zheng Shu “zhiborensheng” Sheng (31st), Australia’s Jason “Cracked_” Pritchard (32nd), and Wenhao “pwhwin” Peng (36th). 

 Date: January 9 to 10
Buy in: US$ 1,050
Guarantee: US$ 1,500,000
Entries: 1,716
Prize pool: US$ 1,716,000
ITM: 287 places

Final table payouts

1st Sriharsha “Upswinger” Doddapaneni – India – US$ 219,808
2nd Lachezar “Psychedelica” Petkov – Bulgaria – US$ 164,832
3rd Gheorghe Butuc – Moldova – US$ 123,606
4th Aleksandr “gipotenuza” Ovechkin – Russia – US$ 92,692
5th “Gottcha” – UK – US$ 69,509
6th “TUTUTUTUTUTUTU” – China – US$ 52,124
7th Damir “Shershnyaga” Gabdullin – Russia – US$ 39,087
8th “PUYA” – Canada – US$ 29,311
9th “gogyimogyi” – Hungary – US$ 21,980

Ring #16: Thursday Thriller Bounty – ANDREAS NASMAN – US$ 49,995

The last bounty event was the two-day $105 Thursday Thriller Bounty NLH which saw an outpour of 7,436 entries to generate a prize pool of US$ 743,600. In the aftermath it was Finland’s Andreas Nasman aka “Duckzzz” with all the chips to turn his measly US$ 105 buy-in into a cool US$ 49,995 payday. Additionally, Nasman locked up his first ever WSOP circuit ring. He followed in the footsteps of fellow countryman Tommi “wnbgambb” Lankinen who won the earlier Ring #7: PLO Championship. 

A known regular on GGNet, Nasman has accumulated over US$ 2 Million in winnings. Among his list of achievements was a huge victory in October 2021 at the Super MILLION$ High Rollers event for a massive US$ 335,625 takedown. This remains his largest tracked online score. Two months prior, he nearly clasped a bracelet at the WSOP Online series but fell short in 2nd place for US$ 121,209. 

Out of the 908 places paid, bracelet holder Christian Rudolph reached the final table and placed 7th. Flying under Asian flags, in the top 100 were Snehil “snehil99” Aggarwal (21st), Hairong “mahairong9” Ma (24th), Chien Fa “Thrive_Fa” Chou (50th), Ahn Nguyen “LittleFishVN” Ngoc (53rd), Aniket “lockstock” Waghmare (64th), Lining “deerbox” Tan (65th), Goonjan “gm-ind” Mall (69th), Jin “SharkLeeeee” Li (74th), Wei-Hsun “BrighTomorro” Lu (91st), and Rubin “kornkid” Labroo (94th). 

Date: January 6 to 7
Buy in: US$ 105
Guarantee: US$ 500,000
Entries: 7,436
Prize pool: US$ 743,600
ITM: 908 places

Final table payouts

1st Andreas Nasman – Finland – US$ 49,995
2nd “just plastic!” – Romania – US$ 37,141
3rd “LuckyErnest!” – Brazil – US$ 26,718
4th “spakiiinator” – Poland – US$ 14,472
5th Marcelo “MasesNeto” Aziz – Brazil – US$ 12,119
6th “stackato” – UK – US$ 8,400
7th Chris Rudolph – Austria – US$ 8,948
8th ElLoco77” – Austria – US$ 7,529
9th Roberto Weilin Jian “gpasa26” Liao – Panama – US$ 5,188

Update: Ring #18: MAIN EVENT

Buy in: US$ 525
Guarantee: US$ 5,000,000
Entries: 14,235
Final day qualifiers: 2,081
Prize pool: US$ 7,117,500
ITM: 1,500 places 

David Miscikowski – USA
Georgi Sandev – Bulgaria
Nikita “FatGarry” Kupchin – Russia
Chunyang “NanaPS” Hao – China
Jifeng “Snakey” Huang” – China
Rodrigo “SePico77” Presutti – Uruguay
Naoya “Giriri7” Katagiri – Japan
“hamzes” – Austria (unknown)
Vu Duc “Taicu” Tai – Vietnam

Remaining payouts

1st US$ 664,725
2nd US$ 498,472
3rd US$ 373,801
4th US$ 280,311
5th US$ 210,203
6th US$ 157,630
7th US$ 118,206
8th US$ 88,642
9th US$ 66,472

Game resumes on January 16 at 2am HKT. The event will be streamed live with cards face up on GGPoker.tv. Final table betting is still open. 

Festival results

Ring #1 – #17 prize pool: US$ 28,130,522.80
Side events: US$ 105,169,916
Cumulative entries: 89,423 (ring events)
Biggest field: $100 MILLION$ Mini Main Event – 25,625
Biggest pot: SUPER MILLION$ High Roller NLH – US$ 4,140,000
Biggest winner: Dario Sammartino – SUPER MILLION$ High Roller NLH – US$ 740,917
Overlay: BIG 500 No Limit Hold’em – US$ 236,800

Ring Winners

Ring #1: Aniket “lockstock” Waghmare – India – BIG 50 MILLION$ – US$ 89,738
Ring #2: Adria Faura Calonge – Spain – BIG 500 NLH – US$ 251,427
Ring #3: Wei Guo “SPARK1207” Liang – China – Deepstack Championship – US$ 182,219
Ring #4: Vladimirs “justVOL” Sarigins – Latvia – SUPER SIX Bounty NLH – US$ 86,481
Ring #5: Dario Sammartino – Italy – SUPER MILLION$ High Roller NLH – US$ 740,917
Ring #6: Nenad “O O L” Djukic – Serbia – COLOSSUS – US$ 368,421
Ring #7: Tommi “wnbgambb” Lankinen – Finland – PLO Championship – US$ 129,414
Ring #8: Ole Schemion – Germany – LUCKY SEVENS Bounty NLH – US$ 89,568
Ring #9: “Futti18” – Poland – MONSTER STACK NLH – US$ 217,020
Ring #10: Andrey “Mr-Doberman” Nikonorov – Russia -PLOSSUS – US$ 136,309
Ring #11: Yulian “Ector” Bogdanov – Bulgaria – 6-Handed Championship – US$ 204,609
Ring #12: Silvio “valterzao” Costa – Portugal – CRAZY EIGHTS Bounty NLH – US$ 113,886
Ring #13: Sylvain “LaBeSSeRoyA” Cisterna – France – DOUBLE STACK NLH – US$ 154,605
Ring #14: Guilherme “wolverine27” Schreiber – Brazil – MILLION$ Mini Main Event – US$ 118,160
Ring #15: Christian Jeppsson – Sweden – Bounty Hunters Championship – US$ 209,989
Ring #16: Andreas Nasman – Finland – Thursday Thriller Bounty – US$ 49,995
Ring #17: Sriharsha “Upswinger” Doddapaneni – India – GGMasters HR Freezeout – US$ 219,808

2021 WSOP WC Online recaps

2021 WSOP WC Online recap: Ring winners #1 – #6
2021 WSOP WC Online recap: Ring winners #7 – #12
2021 WSOP WC Online recap: Ring winners #13 – #15

Multiple final tables

Ognyan “fizoka” Dimov
9th – Ring #3 $1,500 Deepstack Championship
5th – Ring #5: $10,300 Super MILLION$

Ravid Garbi
2nd –  Ring #8 $777 LUCKY SEVENS Bounty No Limit Hold’em
4th – Ring #11 $1,500 6-Handed Championship No Limit Hold’em

Simon Mattsson

4th – Ring #3: $1,500 Deepstack Championship
5th – Ring #15: $2,100 Bounty Hunters Championship

“TUTUTUTUTUTUTU”
7th – Ring #1: Big 50 MILLION$
6th – Ring #17: $1,050 GGMasters HR Freezeout NLH 

Stay tuned to Somuchpoker as we bring you the final recap and highlights of the 2021 WSOP Winter Circuit Online series.