Ryan Hansen Wins 2021 World Series of Poker $3,000 Limit Hold'em Six-Max Event

Ryan Hansen is a regular in limit hold’em games at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, NJ. The Stamford, CT native put his experience with the game to work in the 2021 World Series of Poker $3,000 buy-in limit hold’em six-max event. Hansen defeated afield of 162 total entries to earn $109,692 and his first WSOP gold bracelet.

“This is the dream that I never expected to happen,” Hansen told PokerGO. “I was just having a shot at having some fun and look what happened.”

In addition to the money and the hardware, Hansen also secured 468 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his first-ever POY-qualified score. It was also his first-ever six-figure tournament payday.

The final day of this event began with ten players remaining and bracelet winner Kenny Hsiung in the lead. Hsiung earned his WSOP hardware in a $3,000 buy-in limit hold’em event back in 2012. By the time the official final table of six was set, Hsiung had called from the lead towards the bottom of the chip counts.

Steve Chanthabouasy was the shortest stack when cards got in the air at the final table. He was left on fumes after a river bluff was looked up by the ace-high of Kosei Ichinose. Shortly after he was all-in with Q-10 facing two opponents. Ichinose showed A8 for aces and sevens to take down the pot and eliminate Chanthabouasy in sixth place ($17,486).

Five-handed play continued for roughly two-and-a-half hours. Hsiung was ultimately the next to fall. He lost a big chunk of his chips clashing with fellow short stack Kevin Erickson. Hsiung had three-bet Erickson’s button open with K-10 out of the small blind. Erickson called with pocket deuces. The 964 flop saw Hsiung’s continuation bet called. The J on the turn drew a check from Hsiung. Erickson bet his underpaid, moving all-in for 120,000. Hsiung folded and was left with less than two big bets. he got all-in with top pair moments later, but was up against the flopped two pair of Ichinose. Hsiung failed to improve on the turn or river and was eliminated in fifth place, earning $23,688 for his latest deep run in a limit hold’em event at the series.

Ken Deng’s run in this event concluded when he called all-in for less than a full big bet on a 87710 board with QJ. He was in trouble against the AJ of Hansen. The J on the river gave Hansen the ace-high flush to lock up the pot. Deng was sent home with $32,864 for his fourth-place showing.

The next elimination took place as a result of a preflop cooler. Erickson picked up KK on the button and raised. Ichinose three-bet from the small blind with AK and Erickson four-bet. Ichinose capped the action and Erickson came along. The AQJ was huge for Ichinose, giving him top pair and a royal flush draw. He checked to Erickson, who bet his remaining 40,000. Ichinose called held through a 3 turn and 9 river. Erickson was awarded $46,669 as the third-place finisher.

With that Ichinose took roughly a 2:1 chip lead into heads-up play with Hansen. The gap was closed considerably when Hansen won a healthy pot with quad eights beating the eights and fours of Ichinose. The two traded the advantage a few times before Hansen took the lead for the last time. Ichinose got his last 135,000 in preflop with J10 up against the K4 of Hansen. The board ran out A63Q9 and Hansen’s king-high was enough to take down the pot and the title. Ichinose earned $67,796 as the runner-up.

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

Photo provided by PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.

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