Anthony Zinno Wins Second His Second Bracelet Of The Series

At the time of publishing, the 2021 World Series of Poker has already seen 33 events come to a conclusion, with 30 bracelets awarded in person at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino and another three in online events available to players located within the borders of Nevada and New Jersey.

So far, more than $44.7 million in prize money has been paid out in those completed events, with 58 more live events and another eight online tournaments still to go. A total of 40,105 entries have already been made in the official bracelet events that have wrapped up. Below is a look at the most recent winners from the series. (A recap of the first week of the series can be found in issue no. 23.)

Tournament Stars Add To Their Trophy Cases

Of the 22 bracelet winners crowned since our first 2021 WSOP update, nine of them were previous champions at the series, with five having already had multiple bracelets to their name before their latest title run. Chief among these winners was none other than all-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth winning his record 16th gold bracelet. (For an in-depth look at that victory turn to page 22.)

High-stakes mixed-game mainstay John Monnette became just the 52nd player in poker history to win four or more bracelets by taking down the $10,000 buy-in limit hold’em championship for $245,680. Monnette defeated political journalist and FiveThirtyEight founder Nate Silver heads-up to secure his fourth title at the series and his first in hold’em.

Three-time World Poker Tour champion Anthony Zinno earned his third career bracelet by taking down the $10,000 seven card stud championship for $182,872. Just four days later, he came out on top in the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. event for another $160,636.

As a result, he joined Monnette and 51 other legendary poker players with at least four titles at the series.

“Until a few years ago, I hadn’t been taking my limit games too seriously,” Zinno told Card Player after coming out on top. “Just the other day, I nailed my first limit bracelet in stud and now to have a second limit bracelet is awesome because I pride myself on my love for all the games.”

Poker pro Ryan Leng posted on Twitter that he ran into Zinno the night before the series started and asked him what his plans were. “He said, ‘I’m going to win Player of the Year,’ very matter of factly,” Leng reported. Zinno’s pair of wins at the series has indeed temporarily propelled him into the lead in the WSOP Player of the Year race.

It wasn’t long after, however, that Leng found himself in the winner’s circle as well, securing his third bracelet as the winner of the $1,500 eight-game six-max event. He defeated two-time bracelet winner Connor Drinan heads-up to grasp the gold yet again. Leng took home $137,969 as the victor.

A few days later Chance Kornuth also joined the illustrious list of three-time champions. The high-stakes pro came out on top in the $10,000 buy-in short deck event to earn $194,670 and his third title of the year.

Ari Engel ($10,000 Omaha eight-or-better – $317,076), Yuval Bronshtein ($1,500 limit hold’em – $124,374), Rafael Lebron ($1,500 seven card stud – $82,262) and Daniel Lazrus ($1,500 ‘Millionaire Maker’ no-limit hold’em – $1,000,000) all earned their second bracelets in recent weeks as well. Lazrus topped a field of 5,326 entries to earn the first seven-figure payday awarded at the 2021 series.

Notables Grasp WSOP Gold For The First Time

A number of accomplished poker pros scratched their name off the list of ‘best players without a bracelet’ in recent weeks. Standing apart from the rest in this regard was Jason Koon, who had more than $33 million in prior live tournament earnings to his name before finally breaking through to secure his first title at the series. For more on his big win, check out our feature story on page 12.

WPT champion Dylan Linde also secured his first bracelet in 2021. The Las Vegas-based poker pro had accumulated more than $5 million in tournament earnings, with major wins including his WPT title, a WSOP Circuit main event ring, and a victory at the inaugural PokerGO Cup high roller series. Linde had more than 80 cashes and three final-table finishes at the series heading into this year, but had yet to earn a bracelet. He finally picked one up in the $1,500 mixed Omaha eight-or-better event, defeating a field of 641 entries to secure the hardware and the top prize of $170,269.

Dylan Weisman locked up his first bracelet in the $1,000 pot-limit Omaha eight-max event. He overcame a field of 1,064 entries, closing out the final table with a nearly wire-to-wire victory. While Weisman is not a tournament regular, he is a regular high-stakes PLO cash game player. He also headlined a course on PLO for a popular online training site. The $166,461 top prize was the largest of Weisman’s career.

Four years removed from a runner-up finish in the ‘Millionaire Maker’ event, poker pro DJ Alexander emerged victorious in the inaugural live ‘Flip & Go’ event, earning his first bracelet and $180,665. The unique format saw 1,240 players narrowed down to just 155 players in a single hand, by design. Entrants each ponied up $1,000 and were dealt a pineapple flip, with three cards each before the flop and one discarded after the flop. The turn and river were then dealt, and whichever player had the best hand moved on while the rest hit the rail.

Other players to win their first bracelet in recent weeks include $5,000 no-limit hold’em six-max champion Scott Ball ($562,667), $600 no-limit hold’em ‘deepstack’ winner Zhi Wu ($281,604), $3,000 no-limit hold’em freezeout champion Harvey Matthews ($371,914), $1,500 six-max no-limit hold’em winner Bradley Jansen ($313,403), $2,500 mixed triple draw lowball victor Vladimir Peck ($134,390), $1,000 Ladies no-limit hold’em champion Lara Eisenberg ($115,694), $600 pot-limit Omaha deepstack winner Michael Prendergast ($127,348), and $1,000 no-limit hold’em freezeout champion Dalibor Dula ($199,227).

The lone online bracelet was won by Pete Chen, who topped the $400 no-limit hold’em ultra deepstack, earning $82,559 after defeating a 1,023-entry field. While Chen plays most of his tournament volume online, he is an accomplished live pro with $3.1 million in live tournament earnings. His largest live score came when he finished as the runner-up in the $5,000 no-limit hold’em at the 2017 WSOP for $382,122. ♠