The 2021 World Series of Poker Online Bracelet Events on the GGPoker Network have been very successful for Natural8 players and two contenders narrowly missed out on a Team Bling sponsorship in the latest batch of tournaments. On top of that, Karolis “Internecik” Sereika has become the second Natural8 contender to reach two final tables.
Find out below who the latest trio of poker players were that have joined the winner’s circle and claimed their maiden WSOP gold bracelet.
Andrii Derzhypilskyi Wns Event Event #19: $840 6-Handed Bounty NLHE
A large field of 2,053 entries emerged in Event #19: $840 6-Handed Bounty and that boosted the prize pool all the way to $1,642,400. Half of that was paid out in cash prizes to the top 296 finishers, who collected at least $1,146 for their efforts. The other half was handed out in progressive knockout prizes every time one of the participants was sent to the rail.
Day 1 completed with just 21 players still in contention and notables that were sent to the rail in the top 50 prior to that included Blaz Zerjav, William “BigCharles” Romaine, Gediminas Uselis, Rodrigo “PAPAI_PIG” Caprioli, and Erwann Pecheux.
Four tables remained for the start of Day 2 and Natural8 player Luciano Hollanda from Brazil was in the lead. Well-known poker pro Diego “TheProjector” Ventura became the first casualty and Rafael “IWinFarms” Freitas departed prior to the final three tables. The two former WSOP bracelet winners Huahuan “F7588” Feng and Nick Maimone busted in 15th and 14th place, followed by German pro Pascal Hartmann.
Portuguese bracelet winner Joao Vieira ended up as the final table bubble boy when he ran with pocket treys into the queens of Andrii Derzhypilskyi. He earned moe than $11k for his efforts and the final seven featured two Natural8 players. The first of them, Lithuania’s Karolis “Internecik” Sereika, had to settle for seventh place and $20,450 in combined cashes after losing a flip with king-queen versus pocket jacks.
The Brazilian poker pros Kelvin Kerber and Eder “BlueMoon” Campana fell in sixth and fourth place respectively before Costa departed in third. Hollanda was still in the mix and faced Derzhypilskyi in the heads-up duel for the gold bracelet. The lead changed back and forth, then culminated in a flip.
Hollanda got it in with pocket fives and Derzhypilskyi tabled ace-king. An ace on the flop and king on the turn left the Brazilian with two outs and he missed them to earn $66,785 in cash and $21,681 in bounties. For Derzhypilskyi, the victory came with $154,322 in combined prizes and he put the Ukraine on the scoreboard for the ongoing festival.
Double Knockout Secures Victory for Eduardo “Ghazbaran” Rodrigues in Event #20: $1,500 MONSTER STACK
It was a monster field of 1,080 entries in Event #20: $1,500 MONSTER STACK NLH Freezeout and they battled for a share of the $1,539,000 prize pool. Only one entry was allowed and the top 179 finishers in the event took home at least $2,596 for their efforts.
Upon completion of Day 1, the field was whittled down all the way to the final 24 contenders and Dario Sammartino was in the mix. The Italian has had numerous WSOP final table appearances to his name including the memorable runner-up finish in the 2019 Main Event in Las Vegas. He also reached the final table of the 2019 WSOPE Main Event the same year and finished in fourth place.
However, one thing had escaped him so far and that was the gold bracelet. The Italian was sitting in second place on the overnight leaderboard and played a role right until the end, which would result once more in heartbreak.
Felix “jesuisallin” Van De Put, Tudor “hotsince93” Lazar, Ricardo “stamina22” Da Silva, and Ranno “RukKuRuku” Sootla were among the notable casualties prior to the nine-handed final table. Mexico-based Dutch player Rick “chucknorris” Hutting was one of two Natural8 players still in contention and bowed out in 10th place for $15,626. The next to go was Karolis “Internecik” Sereika, who made back-to-back final tables and earned $21,281 this time.
Romain “Flingue” Dours, Rnato Valentim and Thomas “zizelux” Harvey came up shy of the podium spots and the tournament then ended with a double knockout. Day 1 chip leader and shortest stack Jerecho “choleeek89” Caballero got it in with ace-trey and Sammartino shipped it in with pocket tens. Eduardo “Ghazbaran” Rodrigues caleld with the biggest stack and ace-queen suited to hit an ace and prevail thanks to his kicker.
Caballero earned a prize worth $110,674 and Sammartino had to settle for $159,588 while Rodrigues continued the hot streak of players from Brazil. It was the sixth gold bracelet for the South American nation during the ongoing festival and Rodrigues padded his bankroll with $212,815 for the efforts.
Alexandros Theologis Scoops Seven-Figure Prize in $25,000 Super High Roller Championship
Some of the biggest names in the world of poker battled for a gold bracelet in the most expensive tournament of the entire festival on the GGPoker Network. With an elevated price tag of $25,000, the Super High Roller Championship held a $5 million guarantee. The event attracted a field of 255 entries and the top 30 spots were slated to receive a payday of at least $52,100.
Among the hopefuls were the GGPoker ambassadors Fedor Holz, Felipe Ramos and Daniel Negreanu. But all of them were eliminated prior to the money bubble, as were the Natural8 High Roller regulars Sam Greenwood, Michael Addamo and Daniel Dvoress. Defending champion Christian Rudolph hit the rail a few spots before the money as well and China’s Kevin Pu ended up as the bubble boy.
From there on, big names such as Jason Koon, Shyngis Satubayev, Matthias Eibinger, Benjamin Rolle, David Peters and Joao Vieira all busted en route to the final table run. Natural8 player Guilaume Nolet lost a race with pocket fours against the queen-jack suited of Mark Radoja and cashed for $74,808 in 15th place. Kahle Burns was more fortunate and doubled through Isaac Haxton to then also knock out the American poker pro and Pavel Veksler in the same hand.
Rising Russian star Artur Martirosian won the Super High Roller Bowl Europe Main Event for $1.4 million before signing up for this event in the evening. He went on to finish in 10th place for $107,413 and Burns held a narrow lead for the final table.
When they returned, it was all about Alexandros Theologis. The Greek stamped through the final day and earned his first WSOP gold bracelet in under two hours. Four players were gone within the first hour including Timothy Nuter, Adrian Mateos, Rui Ferreira, and Eduardo “srjtdyfgukh” Silva.
GGPoker ambassador Anatoly Filatov finished in fourth place for respectable $555,720 after sending his chips over to Theologis. The same fate also awaited Wenjie “Jerome001” Huang in third place ($934,604) and Theologis held an overwhelming lead in heads-up for Burns. One double-up for the Aussie barely put a dent into the massive wall of chips and Theologis then hit a three-outer on the river with ace-six versus ace-ten to end it.
Burns missed out on his third WSOP gold bracelet and the Team Bling sponsorship but earned a massive payday of $934,604. For Theologis, the top prize of $1,212,033 was the biggest score of his career and he became the second Greek winner of the festival.
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