Connor Drinan was one of the best tournament poker players without a World Series of Poker bracelet heading into the 2020 WSOP Online. He had accumulated more than $11 million in prior live tournament cashes, with plenty of success online as well. Before the series began he was one of the players who accepted Daniel Negreanu’s bracelet bet, wagering the maximum for an individual of $100,000 against the six-time winner at the WSOP. The even-money bet would be a push of neither player won a bracelet in 2020, or if they both did.
With 84 of the 85 bracelets up for grabs at the series awarded, Drinan’s last shot during this series was the $5,000,000 guaranteed $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em ‘Super MILLION$’ event. Drinan managed a deep run, and although he was quite short around the money bubble, was able to recover and enter the final table in sixth chip position. Negreanu, who finished 128th in this event for 21,483, took to Twitter during the final table to comment on the situation.
On the bubble this guy had 2 big blinds now he is crushing the final table!
How sick would it be to lose the bet on the last event of the year! Good luck @ConnorDrinan I’m rooting for you to come a solid second https://t.co/dxuZOOfoTk— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) September 8, 2020
Drinan ultimately emerged victorious, beating out a field of 899 entries and a tough final table to win the six-figure bet, the $1,423,049 top prize, and his first WSOP bracelet.
The strong turnout in this event saw the $5,000,0000 guarantee easily surpassed, with $8,720,300 in total prize money paid out among the top 134 finishers. As one might expect, there were numerous notable players among those that cashed, including two-time bracelet winner Upeskha De Silva (132nd – $21,483), three-time bracelet winner Adrian Mateos (103rd – $21,483, 2018 Card Player Player of the Year award winner Jake Schindler (100th – $21,483), three-time bracelet winner Nick Schulman (95th – $25,029), six-time Chris Ferguson (54th – $29,160), reigning POY award winner Stephen Chidwick (43rd – $33,973), Sam Trickett (27th – $33,973), and recent bracelet winner Melika Razavi (13th – $80,109).
Suraj Mishra took the chip lead into the final table, with 2013 WSOP main event fourth-place finisher Sylvain Loosli sitting in second chip position. Kenneth Smaron was the first to hit the virtual rail when his top pair failed to beat out the flush and straight draws of Christopher Kruk. Smaron earned $110,389 as the ninth-place finisher.
Arsenii Malinov was the next to fall. He called all-in from the big blind with A
Q
facing a small-blind shove from Loosli, who held 9
7. Loosli flopped two pair and held from there to knock Malinov out in eighth place ($152,113).
Drinan scored his first elimination of the final table with pocket aces. He raised from early position and Christopher Kruk moved all-in from the small blind with AJ. Drinan made the quick call and his aces remained the the best hand after the five community cards were dealt. Kruk took home $209,609 for his seventh-place showing in this event, while Drinan climbed into the chip lead.
Drinan next clashes with start-of-day leader Suraj Mishra. He opened from the cutoff with 99 and called Mishra’s three-bet shove of 14,850,000. Mishra had him pipped with 10
10. Drinan surged into the lead by hitting a set on the flop of A97. Mishra picked up a flush draw on the 5 turn, but the K river was no helped and Mishra was sent home with $288,836 as the sixth-place finisher. With that Drinan expanded his lead to the point that he had more than twice as many chips as his nearest competitor.
The knockout spree continued for Drinan when Sylvain Looslit shoved for 11 big blinds when it folded to him in the small blind. Drinan called with the A2 and found himself ahead of Loosli’s K4. Neither player improved and Drinan’s ace high was enough to earn him the pot. Loosli cashed for $398,010 as the fifth-place finisher.
With that Drinan took more than half of the total chips in play into four-handed action. He extended that advantage even further by busting fellow American poker pro Chris Oliver in fourth place ($548,450). Oliver got his last chips in with A8 from the cutoff and found himself up against Drinan’s AJ out of the big blind. Both players paired on the flop, and Drinan’s superior pair of jacks remained the best hand by the river.
Just a few minutes later, Viktor Ustimov got all-in with 77 against the AQ of Drinan. The board ran out AQJ510 and Drinan’s two pair earned him yet another knockout. Ustimov earned $755,754 as the third-place finisher.
Drinan took more than a 4:1 chip lead into heads-up play against Daniyar Aubakirov. The Kazakhstani player was able to close the gap a bit in the early going, only to have Drinan reopen a big lead. Aubakirov scored a few double-ups to keep his chances alive, but ultimately was unable to battle back into the match. In the final hand he got all-in with AJ and was in good shape to find yet another double, as Drinan held A9. The AK4 flop kept Aubakirov ahead, and the 8 turn meant that only a nine on the river would end the tournament right then and there. The 9 appeared to give Drinan two pair, securing the pot and the title for the American. Aubakirov earned $1,041,414 as the runner-up.
Here is a look at the payouts awarded at the final table:
| Place | Name | Earnings |
| 1 | Connor Drinan | $1,423,049 |
| 2 | Daniyar Aubakirov | $1,041,414 |
| 3 | Viktor Ustimov | $755,754 |
| 4 | Chris Oliver | $548,450 |
| 5 | Sylvain Loosli | $398,010 |
| 6 | Suraj Mishra | $288,836 |
| 7 | Christopher Kruk | $209,609 |
| 8 | Arsenii Malinov | $152,113 |
| 9 | Kenneth Smaron | $110,389 |
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