Alexandre Reard Wins 2021 World Series of Poker $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout Event

The final day of the 2021 World Series of Poker $5,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em freezeout event was a fast-paced affair. France’s Alexandre Reard emerged victorious with his first gold bracelet and the top prize of $428,694 after just two hours of action.

This was the largest live tournament score of Reard’s career, topping the $380,519 he earned as the champion of a €2,200 buy-in preliminary event at the 2019 European Poker Tour Prague festival.

In addition to the title and the money, Reard was awarded 1,440 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his first POY-qualified score of the year, but it alone was enough to see him climb inside the top 100 in the overall standings.

Reard overcame a field of 421 players in this event. He entered the final day of the tournament as the chip leader with bracelet winner and World Poker Tour champion Daniel Strelitz sitting on the second-largest stack.

2021 WPT Venetian main event champion Qing Liu was the first player to hit the rail. Reard shoved from the small blind, putting Liu’s last nine or so big blinds at risk. Liu made the call with 97 and Reard flipped over A4. The board ran out 84410K and Reard’s trip fours were enough to send Liu packing in fifth place ($97,238). This was Liu’s 13th POY-qualified final table of the year, with four titles won along the way. The 600 POY points he earned in this event were sufficient to move him into second place in the 2021 POY race, which is sponsored by Global Poker. He has accumulated 5,080 points and nearly $1.3 million in year-to-date POY earnings.

Conrad Simpson followed hot on Liu’s heels. He shoved from the button for less than six big blinds with K2. Strelitz called with A5 from the big blind and flopped aces and fives. Simpson picked up some outs by pairing his king on the turn, but was unable to improve to trips on the river and was eliminated in fourth place ($133,733).

Strelitz closed the gap even further by busting Ren Lin in third place ($186,803). Lin got the last of his ten big blinds in with 22 facing the 1010 of Strelitz. The board improved neither player Strelitz chipped up to 10,045,000 after the hand.

Reard remained ahead with 11,015,000 in his stack when heads-up play got underway. He extended that advantage by taking down a few sizable pots without showdown early on. Reard won another big pot with the same pair and superior kicker to further expand his lead, holding roughly 7.5 chips for every one of Strelitz’s by the time the final hand of the event was dealt. Strelitz three-bet all-in for the last of his 12 big blinds with J9 and Reard found the call with K8. The board came down 743QK and read made a pair of kings to lock up the pot and the title. Strelitz took home $264,953 as the runner-up.

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

Winner photo credit: WSOP / Danny Maxwell.

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