Dalibor Dula Wins 2021 World Series of Poker $1,000 Freezeout Event

The 2021 World Series of Poker $1,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em freezeout event drew a field of 1,358 entries. It took just two full days of play to narrow that sizable turnout down to a winner. When the dust settled, it was Czech player Dalibor Dula who emerged victorious with the $199,227 top prize and his first WSOP gold bracelet.

This was by far the largest live tournament score of Dula’s poker career, with only a handful of four-figure paydays to his name prior to this victory. In addition to the title and the money, Dula was also awarded 960 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his first career POY-qualified score, but it alone was enough to move him inside the top 200 in the 2021 POY race sponsored by Global Poker.

The second and final day of this event began with 38 players still in the hunt for the bracelet. By the time the field was narrowed to just nine competitors, Cole Ferraro had overtaken the chip lead.

A double-elimination got the final table started with a bang. 14-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Maurice Hawkins got the last of his short stack in with JJ, and found himself up against the AQ of Levi Klump and the KJ of Maxx Coleman. A king-high flop gave Coleman a lead which he retained through the river to earn the pot. Hawkins earned $17,270 as the ninth-place finisher, while Klump took home $22,080 for his eighth-place showing.

Just a few minutes later, Nicolo Audannio got all-in with A-8 up against the pocket jacks of Ferraro. This time around the jacks held up and Audannio was eliminated in seventh place ($28,565).

Six-handed action continued for nearly two hours. Anthony Askey was the short stack. he found a few double-ups to stave off elimination but eventually saw his pocket queens beaten by the KJ of Edward Welch, who flopped a full house. Askey was left on fumes again, and was eliminated moments later in sixth place ($37,393).

Maxx Coleman, who won an eight-game event at the 2021 Poker Masters series earlier this fall, was the next to hit the rail. he got all-in preflop with K10 facing the QJ of Ferraro. Three clubs hit the board by the turn to give Ferraro an unbeatable flush, and Coleman was sent home with $49,519.

Dula earned his first knockout of the final table with a one-two punch that shot him up the leaderboard. First he won a preflop race with AK beating the pocket queens of Guowei Zhang. The next hand, the two clashed again for the remained of Zhang’s stack, with Dula’s AQ making the nut flush to beat the 33 of Zhang (4th – $66,335).

Edward Welch’s run in this event came to an end in third place. He called a small-blind shove from Ferraro with A2 out of the big blind. Ferraro revealed the A10 for a dominating ace. Ferraro made trip tens by the river to secure the pot. Welch earned $89,875 as the third-place finisher.

With that Ferraro took roughly a 3:2 chip advantage into heads-up play with Dula. The two traded the lead multiple times before Dula regained the top spot in time for the final hand of the event. Dula shoved from the button with K3 and Ferraro called for roughly nine big blinds with J8. The board ran out A64QA and Dula’s king-high was good enough to lock up the pot and the title. Ferraro was awarded $123,142 for his runner-up showing.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at this final table:

Winner photo credit: WSOP / Katerina Lukina.

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