WSOP 2021: Brian Yoon Wins Triple Draw Championship, Anatolii Zyrin Conquers the Colossus
WSOP 2021: Brian Yoon Wins Triple Draw Championship, Anatolii Zyrin Conquers the Colossus

The 33rd day of action at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas produced two more WSOP bracelet event winners as Brian Yoon and Anatolii Zyrin both claimed gold for the fourth and second time respectively. For Brian Yoon, it was a 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw victory that saw him overcome the chip leader heading into the final seven, Danny Wong.

Yoon Topples Wong after Epic Three-Handed Action

With seven players remaining, Wong led with just over 1.5 million chips, with Yoon trailing him on 1.25m. It took almost no time for the first player to be busted, albeit a short time after an extended period of play that had seen ‘Crazy’ Mike Thorpe busted in eighth place to bring about the final table.

Jordan Siegel was the unlucky player to leave in seventh for $31,690 when his hopes were ended by the runaway chip leader Wong. The winner in that hand almost instantly claimed another scalp, taking out the talented Brandon Shack-Harris for a sixth-place finish worth $41,270. Shack-Harris, who has cashed on multiple times this series and has been one of the under-the-radar stars of the 2021 WSOP, crashed out with a rough nine eclipsed by Wong’s rough eight.

Six became five when Joao Vieira busted for $54,993, as Brian Yoon began his ascent to the top of the leaderboard. Wong was still winning more pots, however, and looked destined for the win such was the rate at which he was raking in chips. Don Nguyen let in fourth for $74,939, before his conqueror, Wil Wilkinson, was busted in third for $104,381 after a period where each of the three remaining players held the lead.

By the time Wilkinson busted in third, it had been hours since Nguyen’s elimination. A dinner break, multiple exchanges of the chip lead and just two remained for the bracelet battle. Wong had the lead with 3 million chips to Yoon’s 2.3m, but Yoon’s experience told as the multiple bracelet winner applied pressure on Wong, who remains without gold despite this closest of calls.

Wong had the chance to double back in drawing one with seven-high against Yoon’s ten-high completed hand, but a king as his fifth card finished off Wong to give Yoon the bracelet and top prize of $240,341, Wong consoled in some small part by the $148,341 runner-up prize.

WSOP 2021 Event #57 $10,000 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Final Table Results:

  1. Brian Yoon – $240,341
  2. Danny Wong – $148,341
  3. Wil Wilkinson – $104,381
  4. Don Nguyen – $74,939
  5. Joao Vieira – $54,993
  6. Brandon Shack-Harris – $41,270
  7. Jordan Siegel – $31,690

Zyrin Wins Second Bracelet after Colossal Victory

Anatolii Zyrin won the $400-entry Colossus to claim the massive $314,705 top prize and his second WSOP bracelet after beating Michael Lee heads-up. Heading into the final, it was Lee who held a big chip lead, but the dangerous Zyrin hovered in the middle of the pack and came through in the final stages to claim victory.

It was Penh Lo who was the first player to bust the nine-handed final table, busting in ninth for $32,240. Lo was all-in with 9c9d but couldn’t hold against Eric Kim’s AhQh as the board played out KdQs8s5d3d and gave Kim a big stack too.

With eight players remaining, Lithuanian player Vincas Tamasauskas was sent home by the leader after misfortune on the river. Raising for all but one chip pre-flop, Tamasauskas had AcQd and was called only by Lee with AsJh], with Tamasauskas tossing in the final chip on the flop and getting a quick call.

The board of 6c5s2c2sJs was a brutal one for the Lithuanian to take, with Lee’s rivered jack sending him home for $40,885.

By the time the next player busted, Lee was still leading, but Zyrin had risen almost to the top of the chipcounts, even after Lee’s AdKh was enough to see off Martin Gavasci in seventh for $51,180 when Gavasci’s AhJc was dominated to defeat, a king on both turn and river improving Lee’s advantage of the rest of the field.

At that stage, Zyrin was spiking, losing one pot then winning an even bigger one, but some players’ stacks were going in only one direction and Eric Kim slid out of contention when his TcTd couldn’t hold against Zyrin’s AhJh, the board of QcJs9d3d2d paying the eventual winner off in a crucial flip. Had he lost it, Zyrin would have been very short, but instead, he suddenly looked a massive threat to others’ hopes.

Zyrin was starting to build momentum and wasn’t done with the eliminations, immediately taking out another opponent, David Ripley, in fifth for $86,650. Ripley – believe it or not – was all-in and at risk with Jd8s, but Zyrin held Ah7c and with his foe down to four big blinds, hoovered them up after the KdQs5sAc4c board played out.

Phuoc Nguyen had been quiet for some time, but couldn’t afford to hang about with the blinds escalating. His last chips went into the idle pre-flop with AcTh, but he had run into a monster, with Kevin Rand holding AsKh and no help came to save Nguyen, who busted in fourth place for $112,730.

Three-handed play lasted some time, but Rand was always playing catch-up to both Lee and Zyrin and despite doubling on several occasions, couldn’t keep doing so. He bowed out for a result worth $147,595 when his all-in with Kc9c started ahead of Zyrin’s QcJd but ended behind on the tantalizing board of QhTs8h9h8d.

Zyrin won that hand and in doing so went into the heads-up battle with 235 million chips, a considerable chunk more than Lee’s 140 million at a big blind of 6,000,000. Despite some brave attempts to play back and double into the lead, Lee’s stack went south and when a flop of AhJs8h came, Lee bet holding Kc2d, getting a call from Zyrin. The turn of Qh saw both players check, but on the Tc river, Zyrin check-shoved a big bet from Lee and when the latter called, he saw that his rivered straight was no match for Zyrin’s turned flush as the Russian held 5h2h.

While Lee collected $194,450 for finishing as runner-up, he’d failed in his attempt to win his first WSOP bracelet, instead seeing Zyrin win his second and the top prize of $314,705.

WSOP 2021 Event #55 $400 Colossus Final Table Results:

  1. Anatolii Zyrin – $314,705
  2. Michael Lee – $194,450
  3. Kevin Rand – $147,595
  4. Phuoc Nguyen – $112,730
  5. David Ripley – $86,650
  6. Eric Kim – $67,025
  7. Martin Gavasci – $51,180
  8. Vincas Tamasauskas – $40,885
  9. Penh Lo – $32,240

Slaughter Leads Super Seniors

It was a massive Day 2 of the Super Seniors Event, with just 65 players remaining at the close of the action. There were some very big names in the field on the day the money bubble burst, but while some made the cut, such as Sammy Farha, James Hess and Dan Shak, others such as Barry Greenstein and Karl Pregitzer didn’t, the latter losing to Farha along the way to the 2003 WSOP Main Event runner-up making the money.

With two days of the event to go, Slaughter (1,835,000) will be chased keenly by his nearest challengers Randall Bolick (1,755,000), and Bill Stabler (1,725,000) in the coming levels, with play expected to go down to the final table on Day 3.

WSOP 2021 Event #58 $1,000 Super Seniors Top 10 Chipcounts:

  1. David Slaughter – 1,835,000
  2. Randall Bolick – 1,755,000
  3. Bill Stabler – 1,725,000
  4. Reginald Powell – 1,565,000
  5. Andrew Bodewin – 1,355,000
  6. Jean-Luc Adam – 1,140,000
  7. Robert Chow – 1,100,000
  8. David Smith – 1,080,000
  9. Steve Miller – 1,025,000
  10. Joseph Neiman – 975,000

Tag Team Down to Ten Teams as Weisner and Liu Lose Out

There are just ten teams left in the $1,000-entry Event #59, the Tag Team event which sees teams of two players take over from each other when their comrade is against the ropes. On what was a very busy day, only 10 teams of two would stay in the hunt by the close of Day 2, with players such as Melanie Weisner and Xuan Liu falling by the wayside albeit after a great run.

Others fell to the same fate, with PokerGO presenting team Brent Hanks and Jeff Platt shot down when their pocket kings ran into pocket aces to bust.

The duo, who dressed as Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth throughout, would not make the top 10, but Michael Newman and Robert Ormnt did, bagging up the lead with over 2.9 million chips, far and away the biggest stack with their nearest foes Tomer Wolf and David Landell some way back on 1.9 million.

WSOP 2021 Event #59 $1,000 Tag Team Final Table Chipcounts:

  1. Michael Newman and Robert Ormont – 2,960,000
  2. Tomer Wolf and David Landell – 1,900,000
  3. Mike Ruter and Samy Dighlawi – 1,700,000
  4. Holly Babbitt and Michael Babbitt – 1,345,000
  5. Alfie Adam and Vidur Sethi – 1,315,000
  6. Benjamin Miner and Dmitriy Uskach – 1,065,000
  7. Zachary Erdwurm and Steven Jones – 850,000
  8. Amanda Botfeld and David Botfeld – 790,000
  9. Scott Johnston and Bob Fisher – 455,000
  10. Mike Lutz and Matt Krebs – 430,000

Paul Volpe, Jungleman Top $50K PPC Day 2

The second day of action in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship took place at the Rio and in particular, one player was less than happy with their exit. With 44 players beginning the day, Phil Hellmuth was one who joined the field late to eventually swell the numbers to a total of 63 entries. Things did not go to plan for the Poker Brat.

With just 35 players remaining in with a chance of winning one of the most coveted bracelets at this or any World Series of Poker, Paul Volpe (1,092,000) leads the field from Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates (944,000) and Adam Friedman. Plenty of other big names litter the leaderboard, of course, with Daniel Negreanu worth singling out for mention, purely because of the way he has made Day 3 of the event.

Down to just 77,000 overnight with no option of rebuying, Kid Poker survived on a big stack of 655,000. With no Shaun Deeb making the cut, ‘DNegs’ could be one to watch as the tournament progresses as players battle to get their hands of the Chip Reese trophy.

WSOP 2021 Event #60 $50,000 Poker Players Championship Top 10 Chipcounts:

  1. Paul Volpe – 1,092,000
  2. Daniel ‘Jungleman’ Cates – 944,000
  3. Adam Friedman – 913,000
  4. Alex Livingston – 872,000
  5. Chris Vitch – 849,000
  6. George Alexander – 820,000
  7. Brian Rast – 790,000
  8. Yuval Bronshtein – 775,000
  9. Chad Campbell – 764,000
  10. Nick Schulman – 723,000

Deepstack Championship Gets Underway

In Event #61, the $600-entry Deepstack Championship, Robert Hankins grabbed the chip lead with 868,000, though this is one of the slimmest leads for some time in 2021 WSOP Events. Hankins leads by a three-bet from Samuel Taylor (838,000) and Radoslav Stoyanov (830,000), with others such as KC Vaughan (743,000) and Ping Liu (702,000) also well placed in the top 10.

WSOP 2021 Event #61 $600 Deepstack Championship Top 10 Chipcounts:

  1. Robert Hankins – 868,000
  2. Samuel Taylor – 838,000
  3. Radoslav Stoyanov – 830,000
  4. Dhaval Mudgal – 786,000
  5. Justin Arnwine – 779,000
  6. KC Vaughan – 743,000
  7. Matas Budginas – 719,000
  8. Ping Liu – 702,000
  9. Nissar Quraishi – 687,000
  10. Alan Ferraro – 686,000

Toma Tops $1,500 PLO Leaderboard

In tournament terms, the last event to take place on the schedule was Event #62, the $1,500-entry PLO8 event, which saw Japanese player Tsugunari Toma pile up one of the biggest Day 1 leads of the series. Toma amounted 1,076,000 chips, by far and away more than anyone else and almost as much as his nearest three challengers combined stacks.

Day 2 will see the play whittle down to just a handful of players, so watching exactly how Toma gets on will be vital as it looks like anyone who wishes to play for the win will have to go through him first.

WSOP 2021 Event #62 $1,500 PLO Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Top 10 Chipcounts:

  1. Tsugunari Toma – 1,076,000
  2. Steve Chanthabouasy – 393,000
  3. Paul Holder – 380,000
  4. Maury Barrett – 373,000
  5. Michael Trivett – 342,000
  6. Raymond Henson – 339,000
  7. Sean Remz – 333,000
  8. Nathan Gamble – 328,000
  9. Andrew Yeh – 318,000
  10. Dustin Dirksen – 314,000

Finally, with the World Series of Poker just a matter of two days away, one former champion in particular can’t wait to get into the mix and will hope for some cheers of ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!’ to echo around the Rio one more time.