The stakes have been raised in the 2021 Poker Masters as Chris Brewer took down Event #8 ($25,000 NLHE) on Wednesday for a career-high tournament cash of $427,500.

The $10Ks on the schedule are in the rearview mirror and the super high rollers have made their way to the PokerGO studio in Las Vegas. In fact, Event #8 saw a total of 57 entries which created an impressive prize pool of $1.425 million. For Brewer, an emerging face on the high-stakes scene, he relied on both his experience and a little bit of luck to take down first of the $25Ks.

“I won a lot of all-ins which was super helpful,” Brewer said after his win. “I’m pumped to win.”

It looked like it could be a quick final table after the early exit of table short stack John Riordan. On the very first hand, with the blinds at 20,000/40,000 (40,000 bb ante), Darren Elias was looking to apply some pressure on the short stack as he moved all-in with the . Riordan, the lone blind, picked up and went with it, sticking his eight big blind stack in the middle. The flop came giving Elias trips and leaving Riordan looking for runner-runner help to survive. The opened the door for a possible flush for Riordan, but he missed when the river came the . Riordan’s fifth-place finish was good for $114,000 and it marked his fourth cash in the first eight events.

Brock Wilson had also been on a Poker Masters heater, sitting at his third final table of the series and capturing a win in Event #4 for $189,800. For the better part of an hour, Wilson had been nursing the short stack and when the blind climbed to 25,000/50,000 (50,000 ante) he was sitting on just eight big blinds when he moved all-in from the small blind holding . Elias was in the big blind, looked down at and instantly called. The flop kept Elias’ dominating hand in the lead with top pair. The turn came the and Wilson found himself drawing dead to the river. He added to his Poker Masters resume with his fourth-place finish for $142,500, bringing his 2021 Poker Masters total to $414,300, good enough to assume the top of the leaderboard for the Purple Jacket.

Lou Garza, who started the day with the chip lead continued to be the leader when three-handed play started. But as the first break approached, he lost that lead to a surging Elias while Brewer also found himself losing chips. By the end of the third hour, Elias was building a tower of chips as Garza slipped to the bottom of the chip counts.

With the blinds at 50,000/100,000 (100,000 bb ante) the two short stacks went to war. Brewer opened from the small blind to 575,000 with his , forcing Garza to go all-in if he wanted to call. Indeed he did as Garza put his chips in the middle with the . The flop paired up Brewer and left the former chip leader needing help to stick around. The turn was the and the river was not an ace, but the , ending Garza’s back-to-back final table run in third place for $199,500.

Elias held a healthy 2.5-to-1 chip lead over Brewer when heads-up began. But in a key hand where Elias had and Brewer held and the flop came , Brewer was able to bring the two stack to even. It was just twenty minutes later that Brewer had flipped the chip counts, holding the 2.5-to-1 chip lead over Elias.

The blinds escalated to 50,000/125,000 (125,000 bb ante) and Elias was sitting on just over 10 big blinds when he moved all-in from the button with his . With the lead and , Brewer defended, looking to finish off the four-time WPT champion. The board never really provided a sweat for the duo as Brewer’s king-high hand was good enough to score the win. Elias collected $285,000 as the runner-up and Brewer booked the win and $427,500 to go with it. Brewer’s third 2021 Poker Masters cash brings his series total to $490,800.

2021 Poker Masters Event #8 Final Table Results

1. Chris Brewer – $427,500
2. Darren Elias – $285,000
3. Lou Garza – $199,500
4. Brock Wilson – $142,500
5. John Riordan – $114,000