2021 WSOP Online [International]: Erik Seidel wins ninth career bracelet and US$ 977,842 at the Super MILLION$ High Roller NLH

Nothing short of phenomenal at the two day $10,000 Super MILLION$ High Roller NLH bracelet event with American legend Erik Seidel outlasting a field of elite live and online pros, to claim the massive US$ 977,842 first prize and his 9th WSOP gold bracelet. Another impressive detail, unlike most of the finalists, Seidel won it using just one bullet. Taking place simultaneously was the WSOP #13: $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship which paused at the final 7 players led by USA’s Hernando “dardusss” Guzman. Running a close second was Natural8 player Vincas “seimininkas” Tamasauskas. Check out our event recaps, updated N8 leaderboards, and other festival stats down below.

The 2021 World Series of Poker Online [International] bracelet series is in full swing at Natural8 [GG Network] with games ongoing from August 1 until September 12. The festival features US$ 53+ Million in guaranteed prize pools. To date, over US$ 30 Million has been paid out with 10 events pulling in seven figures. 20 gold 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:

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

WSOP #11: $10,000 Super MILLION$ High Roller – Erik Seidel – US$ 977,842

Recognized as one of the greatest poker players of all time, American OG Erik Seidel further cemented his name in history after clinching the WSOP #11: $10,000 Super MILLION$ High Roller NLH for his 9th WSOP career gold bracelet. Seidel topped a field of 624 entries (373 uniques, 251 re-entries), defeating Uruguay’s Francisco Benitez at heads up. He claimed a WSOP high score of US$ 977,842, bumping up his overall WSOP earnings to over US$ 6.74 Million. This was also Seidel’s largest ever online payout.

Thanks everyone for the kind words, I’m totally thrilled! Really caught me by surprise because I’m so out of my element online. Hope I can sleep 🍾🏆

— Erik Seidel (@Erik_Seidel) August 17, 2021

Entering the final table there was no question that “old school” poker veteran Seidel was the most decorated with US$ 37.8 Million in recorded live tournament cashes and 8 WSOP bracelets. However in online winnings, he had only recorded a total of US$ 36,988 prior to this win.

Taking a look at Seidel’s extensive live accomplishments, 33 years ago he blasted into the Las Vegas poker scene with a stunning 2nd place finish at the 1988 WSOP US$ 10,000 No Limit Hold’em World Championship, earning US$ 280,000 for his first ever tournament cash. In 1991, he was denied a WSOP title again with another runner up finish, however the following year, he finally nailed it at the $2,500 Limit Hold’em event, locking up US$ 168,000 and his first gold bracelet. From there, the collection grew with wins in 1993, 1994, 1998, 2001, 2003 and 2005.

In 2007, Seidel set off with a runner up finish at the Aussie Millions Main Event for US$ 437K then scored his eighth bracelet that summer winning the $5,000 No Limit Deuce to Seven Lowball Draw Championship for US$ 538.8K. It was his second bracelet under this variant. Having reached near success at the Aussie Millions, he returned the following year, and reminiscent of his WSOP beginnings, he once again placed 2nd at the Main Event however this time the payout was a much larger US$ 879,000. A few months later, he added a WPT title to his portfolio.

Three years later, his relentless pursuit of the Aussie Millions proved fruitful, winning the A$ 250,000 Super High Roller No Limit Hold’em for a monstrous A$ 2.5 Million (~US$ 2,472,4555). He since added four other seven figure payouts however the win down under remained his largest takedown to date.

Date: August 15 and 17
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

The two day $10,000 Super MILLION$ High Roller NLH is a regular weekly tournament offered on the GG Network however for the WSOP bracelet edition, the guarantee was raised to US$ 5 Million. With an impressive 624 entries, it produced a richer US$ 6,052,800 prize pool. One of the biggest pot contributors was Natural8 player David Yan who fired a shocking 12 bullets.

Recapping his latest gold, after a rough opening day that saw Seidel down to just 5 bb during the bubble round, he entered the second day ranked seventh out of the final 9 players. Uruguay’s Francisco Benitez was up top and was on his ninth bullet. In fact, only three players were riding on their first bullet, 8x bracelet winner Seidel, ring winner Shyngis Satubayev, and Natural8 player / ring winner Chin-Wei “davidchien88” Chien. Other WSOP decorated players were bracelet winner Isaac Baron and ring winner Claas Segebrecht. Thomas Muehloecker was on his fifth bullet and on his fifth final table appearance at this season’s GG Network weekly event, and three players won a satellite into this event. Both Satubayev and Natural8 player Joachim Haraldstad earned their ticket via a US$ 1K satellite while Chien won his via a US$ 525 satellite.

Final table payouts
1st Erik Seidel – USA – US$ 977,842
2nd Francisco Benitez – Uruguay – US$ 759,418
3rd Thomas Muehloecker – Austria – US$ 589,785
4th Shyngis Satubayev – Kazakhstan – US$ 458,043
5th Chin-Wei ‘davidchien88” Chien – Taiwan – US$ 355,728
6th Joachim Haraldstad – Norway – US$ 276,268
7th Claas Segebrecht – Austria – US$ 214,557
8th Isaac Baron – USA – US$ 166,631
9th Rui Neves Ferreira – Brazil – US$ 129,410

On just the second hand, shortest stacked Rui Neves Ferreira pushed with A-K that bricked against Muehloecker’s pocket Jacks to quickly depart in 9th place. The next bust didn’t happen for another hour. During that time, plenty of big hands were tabled to switch up the ranking. Baron nosedived to 5 bb on a cooler with running into Chien’s while Seidel won multiple pots with big pocket pairs to steal the lead from Benitez. One of the biggest hands before the first break saw Benitez get very lucky on Segebrecht. It opened with Haraldstad min-raising, Benitez three bet jammed his 23 bb stack with , Segebrecht four bet jammed his 44 bb stack, and back to Haraldstad who stunningly opted to fold his . The board ran for a lucky straight and a double up to Benitez. With his big pile of chips, Benitez grinded back to the chip lead, which he held all the way to heads up.

Short stacked Baron fell in 8th place to Chien and was followed shortly after by Segebrecht with pocket losing to Seidel’s pocket . Muehloecker looked to be the next one out but the poker gods were on his side with improving to a set to survive Chien’s . Both players met again with Muehloecker behind once more in chips and in hole cards of to Chien’s , but like previous, he was spared with the board running . Chien plunged to 3 bb that slightly recovered on two double ups. After the charging Benitez finished off Haraldstad (6th), Chien was eliminated by his nemesis Muehloecker with pairing the ace to dust .

At four handed, Benitez continued to muscle the table leading to the fall of Satubayev in 4th place and Muehloecker in 3rd place. Benitez faced Seidel at heads up with a healthy 49 bb to Seidel’s 11 bb. Within the first two minutes, Seidel had it all in with over for a double up then grinded to retake the lead. He proceeded to win a majority of the pots, even calling out a river bluff bet with a small pair to build a solid 2:1 chip advantage. The final hand soon arrived with Seidel’s getting lucky on Benitez‘s rivering a flush on a board .After a 14 year wait,Seidel finally locked up his ninth WSOP gold bracelet, tying with Johnny Moss. It was a true display of his mastery of the game having accomplished the difficult task online for the first time in his career. Prior to this, his deepest online run was 21st place at the 2020 WSOP Online $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha. As for runner up Benitez, he still turned a sizable profit despite the nine bullets, earning his largest score of US$ 759,418.

In addition to the finalists, notable players that profited in Day 1 were Ravid Garbi (54th), David Kitai (52nd), Mikita Badziakouski (49th), Georgios Manousos Sotiropoulos (44th), Isaac Haxton (21st), Matthias Eibinger (20th), Galen Hall (14th), and David Coleman (13th). Natural8 players running deep were Kosei Ichinose (11th), Michael Addamo (12th), and Yan Shing “Anson” Tsang (35th).

Healthy turnout at the two day WSOP #13: $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship with 267 entries (158 uniques, 109 re-entries) for another handsome seven figure prize pool of US$ 1,268,250. That brought the series to ten events with pots over a million. Among the players in attendance and turning a profit were Hok Yiu Lee (32nd), Nicolo Molinelli (30th), Paul Teoh (28th), Niklas Astedt (21st), Michael Watson (20th), Daniel Negreanu (19th), Joao Simao (12th), and Simon Klas Lofberg (10th). Israeli player “Lee0r” bubbled to the final table with beaten by Lithuania’s Vincas “seimininkas” Tamasauskas flush on a board . USA’s Hernando “dardusss” Guzman closed the first day as chip leader and was trailed closely by Tamasauskas. When they return after a night’s break, they will be hunting down the thirteenth series bracelet and the US$ 268,926 first prize. Everyone is guaranteed a minimum payout of US$ 38,418.

Date: August 17 to 18
Buy in: US$ 5,000
Entries: 267 (158 uniques, 109 re-entries)
Prize pool: US$ 1,268,250
ITM: 39 places

Upcoming Events – Guaranteed and and Non-Guaranteed

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 – #13 prize pool: US$ 30,967,049
Cumulative entries: 59,479
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 #11: $10,000 Super MILLION$ High Roller – Erik Seidel – USA – US$ 977,842
WSOP #12: $1,000 DOUBLE STACK No Limit Hold’em – Keunwoo “POLALIFE!” Lee– Korea – US$ 635,575

Ninth career bracelet won

Erik Seidel – USA – WSOP #11: $10,000 Super MILLION$ High Roller

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
USA – 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
WSOP #13: $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship – US$ 1,268,250

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 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.“

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.