WSOPC – Natural8: Paulius Plausinaitis wins the Main Event for over US$ 1.2M
The World Series of Poker Winter Online Circuit officially concluded with Paulius Plausinaitis crowned the Main Event champion. Plausinaitis captured his first ever WSOP circuit ring, first ever seven figure payout worth US$ 1,236,360.75, and brought Lithuania its first win in this series. As a Natural8 player, Plausinaitis was also awarded the motherlode Main Event LiveX Sponsorship which included a US$ 50K Live Event Package and a 12 month LiveX Crew Sponsorship.
Prior to this milestone victory, Plausinaitis ran well at the 2020 WSOP Online Series last summer, finishing 8th at the US$ 25K NLH POKER PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP for a take of US$ 210,079. His recorded earnings have now jumped from US$ 250K to nearly US$ 1.5 million.
The WSOP WOC ran from December 13 to January 11 on Natural8 – GG Network. The 18 rings on offer have all been claimed along with over US$ 112 million paid out. The US$ 1,700 buy in MAIN EVENT highlighted the series with its extremely attractive guarantee of ten million dollars. 6,395 joined the action at US$ 1,700 buy in to add another US$ 327K+ to the pot.
Day 2 saw 1,112 on the virtual felt with money starting at 700th place. At the seventh hour of play, the final table was formed led by Paulius Plausinaitis. Other players in the lineup were WSOP decorated champions Joseph Cheong and Alexandru Papazian. The game paused for six days, resumed on January 17 @230am HKT.
Event Recap
Buy in: US$ 1,700
Guarantee: US$ 10,000,000
Cumulative Entries: 6,395
Prize pool: US$ 10,327,925
Payout distribution: 10%
Day 2 qualifiers: 1,112
ITM: 700 places
Running time: 2 hours and 48 minutes (final table)
Although Plausinaitis was chip leader, triple ring / bracelet champion Joseph Cheong was favored to win. Cheong came out firing, rising to the top spot very early after winning a big pot against Plausinaitis that didn’t see a show of hands. Cheong was clearly the initial star player credited with four eliminations. After Israel’s BetAddict fell to Artsiom “Amsterq” Prostak with 
missing the board against 
, Cheong booted China’s DaiMing141319 then denied Alexandru Papazian a second WSOP title.
From there, the chip lead bounced from Amsterq to Cheong until China’s likeboy caught a lucky set on the river with 
to crush Amsterq’s 
. Short stacked Amsterq proceeded to lose another pot, then the rest of it was scooped by Turkey’s turkey1. The five handed round was a long one, running for nearly an hour. Plausinaitis won two big pots against Cheong to regain command however Cheong surged ahead once more after railing Joni Jouhkimainen and likeboy. Against likeboy, Cheong bad beat 
with 
when the board ran 
(pictured below).
Though ahead, tree handed was a rough one for Cheong. He lost the lead to Plausinaitis then doubled up turkey1 on a cooler 
trips to 
straight on a board 
. His chips continued to drain until Plausinaitis emptied him out with 
set against 
. Cheong pocketed the US$ 692,276.35 third place cash which was his first six figure score since November 2019.
At heads up, Plausinaitis was up against turkey1 nearly 5:1 in chips. This trimmed significantly when turkey1 rivered an ace holding to avoid the rail against Plausinaitis’s 
. The boost in chips gave turkey1 added momentum to see him win a succession of pots and take the lead. Plausinaitis battled back, doubling up with 
higher flush against 
on a board 
.
Back on top, Plausinaitis widened his lead then closed it out with 
higher two pair to turkey1’s on a final board that ran 
. Plausinaitis shipped the largest payout of the series of US$ 1,236,360.75. As for turkey1, it was a great payday as well, earning US$ 923,164.95.
Final table payouts
1st Paulius Plausinaitis – Lithuania – US$ 1,236,360.75
2nd turkey1 – Turkey – US$ 923,164.95
3rd Joseph Cheong – USA – US$ 692,276.35
4th likeboy – China – 47,269,129 – US$ 519,134.30
5th Joni Jouhkimainen – Finland – US$ 389,295.49
6th Artsiom “Amsterq” Prostak – Belarus – US$ 291,930.77
7th Alexandru Papazian – Romania – US$ 218,916.73
8th DaiMing141319 – China – US$ 164,164.68
9th BetAddict – Israel – US$ 123,105.78
Natural8 exclusive WSOPC LiveX – Live Event Sponsorship
In addition to WSOP WOC Main Event champion Paulius Plausinaitis winning the top promo prize of US$ 50,000 LiveX Sponsorship package that included a 12 month LiveX Crew Sponsorship, two other Natural8 players walked away with sponsorships as well. Hong Kong pro Yan Shing Anson “Tara@0z” Tsang and Australian pro Michael Addamo each earned a $5,000 LiveX Sponsorship package that included:
• 6 month LiveX Crew Sponsorship
• $5,000 Las Vegas Package ($2,500 to cover your buy-ins and $2,500 for expenses)
Both players were the series’s holiday event champions. Tsang won the US$ 400 CHRISTMAS PLOSSUS and Addamo won the US$ 400 NEW YEAR COLOSSUS.
