Chad Norton Wins 2021 World Series of Poker $800 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack Event

Another day, another huge-field no-limit tournament champion decided at the 2021 World Series of Poker.

The latest low buy-in, big turnout event to reach its conclusion was the $800 buy-in no-limit hold’em ‘Deepstack’ event, which drew 2,053 entries to build a prize pool of more than $1.4 million. After two long days of tournament action, Chad Norton emerged victorious with the $214,830 top prize and his first WSOP gold bracelet.

This was by far the largest live tournament score for the native of Palm Desert, CA. His previous top payday came when he finished 187th in the World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown $3,500 buy-in main event for $7,225 earlier this year. In fact, Norton told PokerNews reporters after his win that this was his first-ever live WSOP event. Incredibly, he managed to come away with the hardware and a six-figure payday in his first attempt. Norton was also awarded 540 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win.

The second and final day of this fast-paced event began with 120 players remaining from the thousands of entries made by the end of the registration period. Norton entered the day as one of the short stacks with just over 10 big blinds. He managed to outlast the like of two-time bracelet winners John Moore (70th – $2k853) and Eric Baldwin (62nd – $3,305), PokerStars Championship Bahamas main event winner Christian Harder (25th – $6,591), and high-stakes tournament regular Koray Aldemir (11th – $15,417) on his way to making the final table as one of the larger stacks.

He earned the first two knockouts at the official final table, busting Josh Herman (9th – $19,533) and William Blais (8th – $24,982) to overtake the lead. After a dinner break, Jordyn Miller’s (7th – $32,254) pocket tens were cracked by the A-8 of Andres Jeckeln to narrow the field to six.

Norton secured his third elimination of the final table when his AJ held up against the A3 of Kevin Wang ($6th – $42,031).

Ivan Uzunov was the next to fall, with his J10 running into the QJ of Jeckeln. He earned $55,279 after theboard improved neither player.

Norton extended his already commanding chip advantage when he called the small-blind shove of Narimaan Ahmadi with A6 out of the big blind. Norton was in a dominant position with A6 ahead of the K6 of Ahmadi. Ace high remained the best hand by the river and Ahmadi was sent to the rail in fourth place ($73,371).

Jeckeln’s run in this event came to an end in third place. He lost a preflop race the very next hand after Ahmadi busted, getting all-in with K10 up against the pocket sevens of Steve Lemma. The 732 flop made things even more interesting, with lemma’s top set now facing a flush draw for Jeckeln. The 5 turn changed nothing for either player. The 5 on the river improved Lemma to a full house to lock up the pot. Jeckeln earned $98,269 as the third-place finisher.

With that Norton took more than a 3:1 chip lead into heads-up play with Lemma. It didn’t take long for him to convert that advantage into the title. In the final hand Norton raised from the button with A8. Lemma three-bet all-in from the big blind holding Q9 and Norton called. The board ran out AJ355. Norton made aces and threes to secure the title, while Lemma was awarded $132,802 as the runner-up finisher.

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

Winner photo credit: WSOP / Melissa Haereiti.

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