2021 WSOP Online [International]: Daniel Smiljkovic dominates the $5K 6-Handed Championship; Pete Chen runs deep

Germany’s Daniel Smiljkovic cruised to victory at the WSOP #8: $5,000 6-Handed NLH Championship to become the newest player minted with a coveted gold bracelet. He defeated China’s Xuming “scplayer” Qi at heads up. Another Asian player running deep was Natural8 Team Hot pro Pete Chen with a 16th place finish. Check out our recap, updated N8 leaderboards, and other festival stats down below.

The 2021 World Series of Poker Online [International] is ongoing from August 1 to September 12 at Natural8 [GG Network] featuring US$ 53+ Million in guaranteed prize pools. Over US$ 16.5 Million has already been paid out, with 6 events pulling in seven figures. 25 bracelets remain. 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:

Natural8 offers $400,000 incentive to play 2021 WSOP Online

WSOP #8: $5,000 6-Handed NLH Championship – Daniel Smiljkovic – US$ 423,426

The WSOP #5: $5,000 6-Handed NLH Championship was a hot ticket among the biggest names in the industry with 299 turning up and 180 re-entering for 479 total entries. This amassed a hefty US$ 2,275,250, making it the sixth seven-digit prize pool out of 8 completed bracelet events. Just under ten hours of combined two day play, Germany’s Daniel Smiljkovic locked up his first ever gold bracelet and a career high payout of US$ 423,426. Prior to the win, Smiljkovic’s closest bracelet run was at the 2020 WSOP Online International COLOSSUS event where he finished 13th for US$ 20.5K while his largest tracked career score was for US$ 90K at the 2021 GGSF Super Millions last April.

Date: August 10 to 11
Buy in: US$ 5,000
Entries: 479 (299 uniques, 180 re-entries)
Prize pool: US$ 2,275,250
ITM: 71 places

Final table payouts

1st Daniel Smiljkovic – Germany – US$ 423,426
2nd Xuming “scplayer” Qi – China – US$ 306,145
3rd Christodoulos “P0t RippeR” Christodoulou – Greece – US$ 221,349
4th Marius Gierse – Germany – US$ 160,040
5th George Wolff – USA – US$ 115,712
6th Yonatan “itayalenbi” Koko – Israel – US$ 83,662
7th Aki “Seabossss” Virtanen – Finland – US$ 60,489

Among the long list of high profile players that came out were Israel’s Ravid Garbi and UK’s Chris Moorman. Both players went heads up at this same event last year with Garbi claiming the title. This year however, both failed to reach the money. Among the fortunate ones were Ajay “Ross_Geller” Chabra (17th), Claas Segebrecht (18th), Artur Martirosian (19th), Arkadiy “Kamsky” Tsinis (24th), Galen Hall (26th), David Yan (31st), Mikita Badziakouski (39th), Mark Radoja (43rd), Dan “oiltrader” Shak (55th), Renan Bruschi (57th), and Nicolo Molinelli (62nd).

For Asia Pacific, several N8 players profited, “Imar54” (21st) who is currently ranked 2nd in the APAC leaderboard, Wei Zhao (35th), and Sriharsha “Upswinger” Doddapaneni (41st) who currently leads the India leaderboard. Going even further was Team Hot pro Pete Chen with a 16th place finish for US$ 20,511. Down to three tables, Chen struggled with a short stack and got it all in on a flop holding top pair, however Marius Gierse had which held on the turn and river for a winning flush. Chen climbed to 2nd rank in the Taiwan leaderboard.

Another player missing the final day was recent USA leg bracelet winner Justin “LappyPoker” Lapka who fell in 13th place. The first day concluded with Smiljkovic leading the final 9 players.

When action resumed, short stacked Roman Hrabec was first to go. This was another strong run by the Czech who finished 4th at the WSOP #2: $1,111 Caesars Cares Charity Event. Finland’s “DontTiltGG” busted to Smiljkovic in 8th place to form the final table of 7. Smiljkovic remained up top with a commanding lead. Also advancing was China’s Xuming “scplayer” Qi who placed 14th at last year’s record breaking Main Event.

The final table ran for just over one hour and all throughout, Smiljkovic kept his massive lead intact. Qi attempted the tough climb, impressively railing the first four players – Aki “Seabossss” Virtanen (7th), Yonatan “itayalenbi” Koko (6th), George Wolff (5th), and Marius Gierse (4th). Qi also landed a double up off Christodoulos “P0t RippeR” Christodoulou with outdrawing on a board with the shoves seen at the flop. This sent Christodoulou plunging to just 7 BBs which eventually went to Smiljkovic.

Heads up kicked off with Smiljkovic up 110 bb to Qi’s 60 bb. Despite the deep stacks, it only took less than ten minutes for Smiljkovic to drain Qi and ship it. The final hand saw Qi shove with a desperate , Smiljkovic had , the board ran . Smiljkovic gave Germany its 43rd bracelet and first for this year’s international series. As for runner up Qi, he won his seat via US$ 525 Mega satellite and turned it into a career high score US$ 306K.

2021 WSOP Online bracelet events stats

WSOP #1 – #8 prize pool: US$ 16,565,599
Cumulative entries: 49,490
Biggest phased field: WSOP #1: $50 The Return NLH – 30,810 entries
Biggest one day entry field: WSOP #5: $315 Bounty Deepstack NLH – 2,989 entries
Biggest pot: WSOP #7: $1,500 MILLIONAIRE MAKER NLH – US$ 7,747,725
Smallest field: WSOP #3: $2500 Limit Hold’em Championship – 180 entries
Smallest pot: WSOP #3: $2500 Limit Hold’em Championship – US$ 427,500
First time bracelet winners: 6
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

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

Bracelets by Country

Brazil – 3
Poland – 2
Italy – 1
Greece – 1
Germany – 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

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 Amazing Race Leaderboard update (current top 3 for each category)

Asia Pacific
Joshua McCully – New Zealand – 3,817.63 points
“Imar54” – New Zealand – 1,445.8 points
Stevan Chew – Indonesia – 1,144.1 points

Latin America
Eduardo Augusto Pires – Brazil – 3,618.51 points
Rafael “riskgambler” Furlanetto – Brazil – 2,595.25 points
Joao Simao – Brazil – 2,308.65 points

Rest of World
Tomas “CoronaMyAss” Jozonis – Lithuania – 2,442.35 points
Isaac Haxton – Canada – 1,916.04 points
Internecik – Austria – 1,688.19 points

Taiwan
Chih Wei “FanChihWei” Fan – 718.74 points
Pete Chen – 665.91 points
“Tze-wei” – 568.64 points

Thailand
“Tanik” – 328.44 points
“BraydenEiei” – 303.34 points
“LuffyJd” – 301.61 points

Vietnam
Cuong “CLVT” Trinh – 925.98 points
“19_01” – 603.9 points
“AndyPokerV” – 570.72 points

Japan
Shota “shorta222” Nakanishi – 479.91 points
“Tezyy” – 452.5 points
J Lin – 394.23 points

Hong Kong
Dicky Siu Hang “Floatingworld” Tsang – 2,558.15 points
Vincent Kwun Ngai Li – 655.15 points
Wayne Heung – 492.05 points

India
Sriharsha “Upswinger” Doddapaneni – 1,315.36 points
Abhinav “OBellaCiao” Iyer – 1,003.35 points
Gaurav “Haversham” Sood – 810.27 points

*China results listed in APAC category

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-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.“

Natural8 offers $400,000 incentive to play 2021 WSOP Online

Plenty of action ahead so stick with us at Somuchpoker as we bring you recaps of the ongoing 2021 WSOP Online [International] on Natural8.