Brian Rast Wins Fifth World Series of Poker Gold Bracelet

The exclusive list of players with five or more World Series of Poker bracelets to their name grew by one in the late hours of Wednesday, Oct. 27. Brian Rast emerged victorious in the 2021 WSOP $3,000 six-max no-limit hold’em event to become just the 27th player in poker history to secure five titles at the series. The 39-year-old poker defeated a field of 997 total entries to secure the hardware and the first-place prize of $474,102.

This latest victory saw Rast surpass four players as he surged into 26th place on poker’s all-time money with $21,746,912 in lifetime tournament earnings. His largest career score came when he won the inaugural Super High Roller Bowl for $7,525,000. More than $6.5 million of Rasts’ career winnings have come in WSOP events.

“I turn 40 in a couple weeks and it was on my mind to make the Poker Hall of Fame. I think I have a pretty good claim. I’ve played the biggest cash games in the world for over a decade and I’ve done a lot in tournaments as well," Rast told the PokerNews live reporter after securing the title. "I just don’t think there are too many people. I wanted to come back here this year to the WSOP and show myself that I can still play great poker and be around and enjoy it and hopefully add more.”

All of Rast’s five bracelet wins have come in the last decade. He won his first two in 2011, taking down the first of his two $50,000 Poker Players Championship titles and that year’s $1,500 pot-limit hold’em event. Rast earned his second $50k PPC title five years later to secure his third bracelet. His fourth came in the $10,000 buy-in no-limit deuce-to-seven lowball event.

Rast came into the final day of this tournament among the top five stacks with 41 contenders remaining. By the time the official final table of six was set, he had battled his way into the outright lead. He added to that advantage by eliminating Francisco Benitez in sixth place ($73,107). Benitez shoved for 6.5 big blinds as the first to act preflop with AQ. Rast called from the big blind with 76 and flopped middle pair to take the lead. The turn and river changed nothing for either player and Rast’s pair of sevens was enough to win the pot and narrow the field to five.

Not long after that Jun Obara got all-in with 75 on a J106 flop. He was up against the J9 of Nick Yunis. Obara did not catch any of his outs on later streets and was sent to the rail in fifth place, earning $100,827 for his strong showing in this event.

Despite securing that knockout, Yunis was the next to fall. Rast open-shoved from under-the-gun with A4. Yunis called for around 15 big blinds from the big blind with A5. The board came down 107438 and Yunis was eliminated in fourth place ($141,478).

Rast took more than 75 percent of the chips in play into three-handed action. He doubled up one of his short-stacked opponents but won the next all-in to set up the final heads-up showdown. Rast shoved from the small blind with 54 and Tuan Phan called with QJ. The J8657 runout saw Rast spike a straight on the river to bust Phan in third place ($210,913).

Heads-up play got underway with Rast holding 33,880,000 to the 6,000,000 of John Gallaher. It was only a matter of minutes before Rast converted his sizable lead into the title. Galleher limped in from the button with Q10 and then called when Rast moved all-in. Rast showed K10. The board came down JJ6103 and Rast’s king kicker played to earn him the pot and the title. Gallaher was awarded $293,009 as the runner-up finisher.

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

Winner photo provided by PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.

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