Farzad Bonyadi Wins His Fourth World Series of Poker Gold Bracelet

Farzad Bonyadi became the latest highly-decorated player to add to their bracelet collection at the 2021 World Series of Poker. The 62-year-old defeated a field of 122 entries in the $10,000 buy-in no-limit deuce-to-seven lowball event to capture his fourth WSOP title and the top prize of $297,051. Bonyadi became just the 55th player the have won four or more bracelet events. it had been 16 years since he had secured his third title at the series.

“I don’t play tournaments that much. This was my first tournament this year,” Bonyadi told PokerGO after coming out on top. “I haven’t been playing poker for two years. I haven’t played mixed games for so long. Feels good to know that you’re not too rusty.”

Without much recent practice, Bonyadi likely relied on his decades of experience competing at the highest levels of the game. The Iranian-born poker pro based out of California has accumulated 4,548,095 in lifetime tournament earnings, including his three prior wins at the WSOP and a runner-up in the 2011 World Poker Tour Championship $25,00 buy-in event for his lone seven-figure score ($1,061,900). His earliest recorded score came all the way back in 1994, with a ninth-place finish in a $200 buy-in event at the Bicycle Casino’s Winnin o’ the Green series.

Bonyadi earned his first bracelet as the champion of the $2,000 buy-in limit hold’em event at the 1998 WSOP. His second came in the 2004 $1,000 buy-in triple draw deuce-to-seven lowball event. The following year he took down the $2,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em event for $594,960.

“It’s good to have the fourth one,” said Bonyadi. “I like it. Who doesn’t like it? I’m happy about it.”

In addition to the title and the money, Bonyadi also earned 660 Card Player Player of the Year points as the champion of this event. It was his first POY-qualified score of the year. The 297 PokerGO Tour points he earned for the win in this high-stakes event were enough to move him into a tie with Gil Yifrach for 70th place on that leaderboard.

The final day began with Bonyadi in third chip position and eight competitors remaining. Six-time bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu was the first to fall. He called the three-bet shove of Dustin Dirksen with a 9-5-4-3 draw and was up against a pat J-7-5-3-2. Negreanu paired his four to hit the rail in eighth place, earning $32,162 for his 13 cash in a bracelet event this month.

2018 Card Player Poker Tour bestbet Jacksonville main event winner Ben Diebold was the next to hit the rail. He shoved with a 10-7-5-4-2 and got called by Johannes Becker, who stood pat. Diebold went into the tank with his 10-7, but eventually decided to pat as well. Becker revealed his 9-8-7-6-4 to take down the pot and narrow the field to six. Diebold was awarded $41,515 as the seventh-place finisher.

Julien Martini was chasing his second WSOP bracelet, but ultimately fell a handful of spots short in this event. He got all-in with a 6-5-2 draw facing the 10-7-4-3 of Jake Schwartz, who promptly found a 9 to make a 10-9 low. Martini looked down at a 4 to keep his hopes alive, but he ended up making a J-6 low to finish sixth ($54,359).

Becker secured his second knockout of the day when his pat J-10-9-6-4 withstood the 9-5-3-2 draw of Schwartz, who drew the worst possible card to end up with a pair of nines. Schwartz earned $72,185 as the fifth-place finisher. This was his fifth final-table finish at this year’s WSOP, with two third-place showings and a runner-up finish under his belt already. He has accumulated more than $380,000 in earnings so far at the series.

Bonyadi slid to the bottom of the chip counts early in four-handed action, but managed to win some crucial pots to get his stack heading in the opposite direction. His comeback continued when he eliminated Dirksen in fourth place ($97,199). Bonyadi’s pat J-10-8-4-2 beat the 8-7-4-3 draw of Dirksen, who drew up an ace to bring his run in this event to an end.

Three-time bracelet winner Benny Glaser came into the final day with the lead, which he held through most of the day. He relinquished it to Bonyadi in a massive showdown that saw all of the two players’ chips get into the middle before the draw. Bonyadi stood pat and Glaser took one. Bonyadi flipped over his 10-8-7-5-4. Glaser had the 7-5-4-3, but drew an ace to make Bonyadi’s hand the winner. Glaser got all-in not long after that with a pat jack, but Bonyadi drew one to make a 9-6-5-3-2 to take down the pot and eliminate Glaser in third place ($132,685).

Heads-up play began with Bonyadi holding 4.7 million to Becker’s 2.6 million. The German poker pro and 2018 mixed triple-draw lowball bracelet winner was unable to find any traction and soon found himself at a nearly a 4:1 chip disadvantage. In the final hand, Becker raised to 80,000 from the button with a K-8-6-5-3. Bonyadi three-bet to 275,000 with 9-8-7-5-4. Becker shoved for 1.6 million and Bonyadi called. Becker ditched his king, but the jack he drew up wasn’t enough to beat Bonyadi’s 9-8 low. Becker earned $183,591 as the second-place finisher.

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

Winner photo provided by PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.

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