The 2021 World Series of Poker Online $5,000 no-limit hold’em six-max championship attracted 479 total entries, building a prize pool worth $2,275,250. In the end it was German poker pro Daniel Smiljkovic who emerged victorious, earning $423,426 and his first WSOP gold bracelet for the win.
This was Smiljkovic’s largest recorded tournament score, surpassing the $87,274 he took home as the fifth-place finisher in the 2020 European Poker Tour Online $10,300 main event. He now has $831,966 in cashes to his name.
The final day began with nine players remaining in this six-handed tournament. Roman Hrabec was eliminated in ninth place ($32,218) by Christodoulos Christodoulou to narrow the field to eight. Smiljkovic won a race with pocket jacks against the A-Q of a player known only as ‘DontTiltGG’ (8th – $37,452) to set up the final-table bubble.
Xuming Qi went on a knockout spree, busting Aki Virtanen (7th – $60,489), Yonatan Koko (6th – $83,662), and George Wolff (5th – $115,712) in relatively short order. Wolff actually was eliminated by both Qi and Christodoulou, who both made an ace-high straight to best his set of tens. Qi continued acting as the grim reaper, beating Marius Gierse’s Q
7
with K9 to enter three-handed play in second chip position behind Smiljkovic. Gierse took home $160,040 for his fourth-place showing, having made a pair of sevens that lost out to a rivered pair of nines for Qi.
Qi fell to the bottom of the leaderboard during short-handed action, but flopped trips and got all-in against the pocket aces of Christodoulou climb back into contention. A short-staked Christodoulou was elimianbted not long after when his Q
7 failed to outrun the AK of Smiljkovic. The board came down QJJ5K and Smiljkovic made kings and jacks to set up a showdown with Qi for the bracelet. Christodoulou was awarded $221,349 as the third-palce finisher.
Heads-up play began with Smiljkovic holding better than a 2:1 chip advantage over Qi. He extended that lead event further by the time the final hand arose. Qi shoved his last 15 or so big blinds with 86 from the button and Smiljkovic called with KQ from the big blind. The A33
4Q runout secured the pot and the title for Smiljkovic, while Qi earned $306,145 as the runner-up.
Here is a look at the payouts awarded at the final table:
| Place | Player | Earnings |
| 1 | Daniel Smiljkovic | $423,426 |
| 2 | Xuming Qi | $306,145 |
| 3 | Christodoulos Christodoulou | $221,349 |
| 4 | Marius Gierse | $160,040 |
| 5 | George Wolff | $115,712 |
| 6 | Yonatan Koko | $83,662 |
Smiljkovic photo credit: partypokerLIVE.
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