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Another bumper day of World Series of Poker action saw four WSOP event winners across different events, with first-time winners joining five-time champion Brian Rast and four-time winner Farzad Bonyadi in celebrating WSOP gold.

Bonyadi’s victory came in the stunning finale to the $10,000-entry No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Championship, where Bonyadi triumphed against Johannes Becker heads-up to take the title. Also at the final table was Daniel Negreanu, Jake Schwartz and Julien Martini and there were some surprise placings as the short-stacks fought back.

You can watch all the action from the Thunderdome at the Rio in Las Vegas right here.

WSOP 2021 Event #49 $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Championship
Place Player Country Prize
1st Farzad Bonyadi U.S.A. $297,051
2nd Johannes Becker Germany $183,591
3rd Benny Glaser United Kingdom $132,685
4th Dustin Dirksen U.S.A. $97,199
5th Jake Schwartz U.S.A. $72,185
6th Julien Martini France $54,359
7th Ben Diebold U.S.A. $41,515
8th Daniel Negreanu Canada $32,162
Final Table 49
The atmosphere at the final table of WSOP Event #49 was electric inside the Thunderdome at the Rio

In Event #48, Gershon Distenfeld took the WSOP bracelet as the first-time winner bagged the top prize of $204,063 after a three-hour heads-up saw the philanthropic poker player triumph and pledge to donate his entire winnings to charity. It’s an incredible gesture, made all the more special by the fact that he beat such a quality final table to do so.

It was a ten-strong final day, and Distenfeld was off to a greats tart when he busted Craig Trost with pocket aces. It wasn’t long before other quality players left the field, with Thomas Boivin busted first at the official final table of eight, shortly followed by Ari Engel, who fell short in his attempt to win an unbelievable third WSOP bracelet this series.

Down to the business end of the tournament, the chips were very even, and heads-up, Johan Schumacher held a 2:1 chip lead, but the generous Distenfeld took the title to the celebration of his rail and the benefit of plenty of charitable causes.

WSOP 2021 Event #48 $1,500 Shootout NLHE
Place Player Country Prize
1st Gershon Distenfeld U.S.A. $204,063
2nd Johan Schumacher Belgium $126,133
3rd Jonathan Betancur U.S.A. $94,270
4th Orson Young U.S.A. $71,142
5th David Tran U.S.A. $54,217
6th Sohale Khalili U.S.A. $41,728
7th Ari Engel Canada $32,439
8th Thomas Boivin Belgium $25,473

Event #50 saw a fast-paced final table conclude with Darrin Wright holding a brand-new WSOP bracelet as the first-time winner saw off the challenge of Victor Paredes heads-up. At what was an entertaining final table, Wright’s stunning win symbolized his only cash in World Series events, making it all the more special to seal victory.

With others such as Dan Zack (57th for $1,974), Mark Seif (31st for $3,717) and Justin Lapka (27th for $3,717) and Lee Watkinson (23rd for $4,493) all missing out on additional WSOP bracelets, the race for gold saw the remaining 22 players all battle for what they knew would be their first bracelet and it created a special atmosphere inside the Rio.

WSOP 2021 Event #50 $600 Mixed PLO / NLHE
Place Player Country Prize
1st Darrin Wright U.S.A. $127,219
2nd Victor Paredes U.S.A. $78,604
3rd Joshua Ray U.S.A. $57,276
4th Colten Yamagishi Canada $42,192
5th Hanan Braun Canada $31,425
6th Ryan Colton Australia $23,668
7th John Gilchrist U.S.A. $18,028
8th Kyle Mclean United Kingdom $13,889

Brian Rast won his fifth WSOP bracelet in thrilling fashion as he took down the $3,000-entry six-max event under the lights on Wednesday night.

Rast’s victory comes after what he admitted afterwards has been an extended period away from the tables, but he has clearly lost none of his mercurial powers at the felt, seeing off the challenge of players such as Tuan Phan, Nick Yunis and heads-up opponent John Gallaher along the way.

WSOP 2021 Event #51 $3,000 Six-Max
Place Player Country Prize
1st Brian Rast U.S.A. $474,102
2nd John Gallaher U.S.A. $293,009
3rd Tuan Phan U.S.A. $210,913
4th Nick Yunis Chile $141,478
5th Jun Obara Japan $100,827
6th Francisco Benitez Uruguay $73,107

Day 1a of the $1,000-entry Seniors Championship saw George Bronstein total the largest number of chips as he piled up 585,000 to lead the remaining field of 486 players.

With 2,432 total players taking to the felt in one of the most popular ‘traditional’ events of the World Series, there were some big names involved, with ‘Miami’ John Cernuto (355,500), David Slaughter (351,500) and Giuseppe Iadisernia (330,500) all making the top 10 chipcounts.

Elsewhere, top names such as Jack McClelland (175,000), JJ Liu (170,000) and David Pham (139,500) all made the Day 2 seat draw, with some that missed out being former WSOP Main Event winners Robert Varkonyi and Tom MvEvoy, poker legend Barry Greenstein and female poker stars with Kathy Liebert and Linda Johnson.

WSOP 2021 Event #52 $1,000 Seniors Championship
Place Player Country Chips
1st George Bronstein U.S.A. 585,000
2nd Tim Killday U.S.A. 433,000
3rd John Thornton U.S.A. 373,000
4th John Cernuto U.S.A. 355,500
5th David Slaughter U.S.A. 351,500
6th Edward Zidd U.S.A. 346,000
7th Angela Jordison U.S.A. 341,000
8th Joseph Beasy U.S.A. 334,000
9th Antonin Teisseire France 331,000
10th Giuseppe Iadisernia Venezuela 330,500

Local player Eric Kurtzman bagged the chip lead on Day 1 of Event #52, the $25,000-entry Pot Limit Omaha High Roller. Kurtzman ended proceedings on 773,500 chips as he edged out players such as Joseph Cheong (592,000), Yuval Bronshtein (580,000) and Shaun Deeb (566,500) behind him.

After 170 entries translated into 107 survivors, there were appearances from superstars of the game such as Chance Kornuth(547,000), Dylan Weisman (506,500) and Sam Soverel (491,000) also in the top 10, it’s sure to be an intense Day 2 at the felt, with registration open until the first card hits the felt.

WSOP 2021 Event #53 $25,000 Pot Limit Omaha High Roller
Place Player Country Chips
1st Eric Kurtzman U.S.A. 773,500
2nd Joseph Cheong U.S.A. 592,000
3rd Yuval Bronshtein Israel 580,000
4th Shaun Deeb U.S.A. 566,500
5th Chance Kornuth U.S.A. 547,000
6th Martin Dam Denmark 530,500
7th Dylan Weisman U.S.A. 506,500
8th Michael Batell U.S.A. 500,000
9th Sam Soverel U.S.A. 491,000
10th Simon Lofberg Sweden 487,500

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