Kazuki Ikeuchi Wins First World Series of Poker Bracelet In $1,000 Online Championship

After two consecutive live World Series of Pokers with a runner-up finish, Kazuki Ikeuchi won his first WSOP bracelet in the early hours of Monday morning in the $1,000 no-limit hold’em online championship.

The Japanese pro bested a field of 555 entries and defeated Dennis Wilber heads-up to win $152,798. The victory bumped the Tokyo native’s career earnings to more than $1.2 million. While his first WSOP victory came on the virtual felt, Ikeuchi built most of his career earnings with a close call at the 2019 series.

Ikeuchi netted $830,783 for a second place in the $1,500 no-limit hold’em ‘Millionaire Maker’ more than two years ago, losing heads-up to John Gorsuch. The year before, Ikeuchi and his two partners Hiroki Iwata and Sho Mori, finished second to Giuseppe Pantaleo and Nikita Luther in the $1,000 tag team event.

He joins Martin Zamani, Mark Herm, Pete Chen, Ryan Stoker as the five players to win online bracelets at the live 2021 WSOP. There are still five more bracelets to be awarded on the virtual felt, as well as a Pennsylvania-only online $1,000 mini main event.

Simon Levy, Dan Stavila, and Anthony Pagan were the first three casualties of the final table, which left it six-handed and with Wilber in control of it. The New York native held a sizable chip lead with more than double his closest competitor, but Ikeuchi made his run up the leaderboard as the next several players hit the rail.

Artem Sloitsev busted in sixth, East Coast regular Mike Azzaro fell in fifth and World Poker Tour champion James Gilbert was sent packing in fourth. Ikeuchi spiked a three outer with A-9 against A-Q to eliminate Qinghai Pan in third and start heads-up play with Wilber nearly even.

Ikeuchi dominated heads-up play and quickly ground Wilber down to a short enough stack to where he shoved all in on the button with 9-4. Ikeuchi picked up pocket queens in the big blind, called, and held up to win the tournament. This was Wilber’s first-ever WSOP cash.

Final Table Results:

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