Ryan Hansen
Ryan Hansen won his first-ever WSOP bracelet after a superb comeback win at the Rio

Ryan Hansen won his first-ever World Series of Poker title as he got the better of Japanese opponent Kosei Ichinose to claim a debut bracelet and top prize of $109,692 as the latest champion won gold at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Hansen Takes It To The Limit

Event #44 was a tournament that plenty of big names battled for, with the $3,000-entry Six-Handed Limit Hold’em event seeing legends such as Joe McKeehen (23rd for $4,830), Nick Schulman (21st for $5,597), Dan Zack (19th for $5,597) and Mike Matusow (16th for $6,668) all run deep without making the final table. Terrence Chan was one player who didn’t make it that far and upon realizing that it would be his final tournament at the Rio, put out a poignant post on Twitter.

When just six players remained, Kevin Erickson led the way with a big stack of 2.3 million chips, Hansen his nearest challenger with 1.4 million and everyone else with six-figure chip stacks. It was Steve Chanthabouasy who busted first of the six, losing his last with QhTc against the Ah8h of Ichinose on a board of 7s7d4hAsJc. Chanthabouasy’s run to sixth place was worth $17,486.

Despite starting the final day as chip leader, Kenny Hsiung would go next, drifting short before busting in fifth place for $23,688. Hsiung’s Qc9d saw him commit his last chips on a flop of Qs6c5c, but Ichinose had Qh5s and held through the 4c turn and Ah river.

It was the turn of Ken Deng to be eliminated in fourth place for $32,864 when he committed his stack on the turn of a board showing 8h7h7sTh. Deng held QsJd for a gutshot, but Hansen had AhJs and when the Jh landed on the river, made a flush to take the tournament into three-handed play.

It was Erickson who left in third place for $46,669, with Ichinose again the benefactor from the hand. Ichinose had AcKc and although he was in bad shape pre-flop against Erickson’s KsKh, calling off the remainder of Erickson’s stack post-flop was easy and the 3d turn and 9s sent Ichinose into heads-up play with an exact 2:1 chip lead.

That lead was not immediately vanquished – it was Limit after all – but Hansen made quad eights just five minutes into heads-up to claim a vital pot and he managed to turn around the lead before an extended period of play saw the chips see-saw wildly. Both men held the chip lead and momentum as the epic duel swung both ways before its conclusion.

After getting Ichinose short, Hansen managed to close it out with Kd4h holding against his Japanese opponent’s JsTs, winning the top prize of $109,692 and his first WSOP bracelet, with Ichinose cashing for $67,796 as runner-up.

WSOP 2021 Event #44 $3,000 Limit Hold’em Final Table Results:

  1. Ryan Hansen – $109,692
  2. Kosei Ichinose – $67,796
  3. Kevin Erickson – $46,669
  4. Ken Deng – $32,864
  5. Kenny Hsiung – $23,688
  6. Steve Chanthabouasy – $17,486

Jeff Platt Leads $1K Double Stack

In Event #43, the $1,000-entry Double Stack event, chip leader at the close of play was Jeff Platt, with the popular poker broadcaster and player bagging up a massive 3,315,000 chips. While Platt was the only player to end the day with over 3 million chips, he was followed in the top 10 by some big names and stacks, including Sylvain Naets (2,740,000), Kathy Stahl (2,485,000), and Matthew Vaughan (2,255,000) all likely to be threats on Day 3.

Plenty of others made it through, with Niall Farrell (960,000), Day 1b chip leader Terry Presley (865,000), and former WSOP Main Event winner Martin Jacobson (590,000) all making it through.

Others weren’t fortunate, with two-time WSOP 2021 bracelet winner Daniel Lazrus, GGPoker ambassador Felipe Ramos and online poker legend Chris Moorman all eliminated on Day 2.

There’s no easy way to leave the table after busting a World Series of Poker event, but Shannon Shorr put his two pennies worth into the mix, with plenty of entertaining comebacks.

WSOP 2021 Event #43 $1,000 Double Stack Top 10 Chip Counts:

  1. Jeff Platt – 3,315,000
  2. Zach Daly – 2,905,000
  3. David Guay – 2,900,000
  4. Sylvain Naets – 2,740,000
  5. Avraham Azulay – 2,715,000
  6. Gene Harrill – 2,610,000
  7. Kathy Stahl – 2,485,000
  8. Matthew Vaughan – 2,255,000
  9. Sihao Zhang – 2,250,000
  10. Josue Aguirre – 2,175,000

Witz Ends The Day Atop The $10K PLO

Event #45 saw just 18 players survive the day as Jonathan Witz bagged up the biggest stack, ending the day with 2,620,000 chips. He was followed by players such as Arthur Morris (2,390,000) and Day 1 chip leader Chris Sandrock (1,900,000), with WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Zack (1,845,000) not far behind.

Elsewhere, other gold-holders Tommy Le (1,000,000), Dylan Linde (780,000), Mike Matusow (715,000), Eli Elezra (650,000), and Jeremy Ausmus (600,000) will all feel confident that their experience will see them through to the final, while some big names to fall short included 2019 WSOP Player of the year Robert Campbell, Brandon Wong, and John Racener.

WSOP 2021 Event #45 $10,000 PLO Championship Top 10 Chip Counts:

  1. Jonathan Witz – 2,620,000
  2. Arthur Morris – 2,390,000
  3. Chris Sandrock – 1,900,000
  4. Daniel Zack – 1,845,000
  5. Kyle Montgomery – 1,430,000
  6. Artem Maksimov – 1,400,000
  7. Anderson Ireland – 1,305,000
  8. Nader Younes – 1,190,000
  9. Tommy Le – 1,000,000
  10. Jordan Spurlin – 960,000

Only 120 Left In $800 Deepstack

In Event #46, Alejandro Andión led the remaining 120 players who survived a tumultuous Day 1 where 2,053 entries paid $800 and took their chances in pursuit of gold. Andión totaled 2,400,000 at the end of Day 1, a considerable distance ahead of Joel Orum (1,705,000) and Tomasso Briotti (1,675,000), both of whom took podium places heading into Day 2.

With players such as Eric Baldwin (720,000), Anthony Marquez (250,000), and John Gorsuch (240,000) making the cut, others weren’t so fortunate, with Ryan Riess, JJ Liu, Kathy Liebert, Ari Engel, and Jesse Sylvia all busting, along with 16-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth.

This was all after Hellmuth seemed to get the ideal preparation, too.

WSOP 2021 Event #46 $800 Deepstack Top 10 Chipcounts:

  1. Alejandro Andión – 2,400,000
  2. Joel Orum – 1,705,000
  3. Tommaso Briotti – 1,675,000
  4. Jonas Wexler – 1,630,000
  5. William Blais – 1,600,000
  6. Koray Aldemir – 1,380,000
  7. Xiao Yu – 1,345,000
  8. Virab Zakaryan – 1,345,000
  9. Itzhak Ashkenazi – 1,325,000
  10. Gregory Giannokostas – 1,275,000

Daniel Negreanu Bags Top 10 Stack In $5K Freezeout

In the final event of the day to conclude, there were some very big names to make the top 10 in the $5,000 Freezeout Event #47. While Jamie Sequeira (1,070,000) was the only player to ‘crack a milly’, Daniel Negreanu (617,000) and Daniel Lazrus (597,000) both had spectacular starting days at the felt, with the latter having registered immediately after busting the Double Stack event in the money.

Others to thrive included Joni Jouhkimainen (559,000) and WSOP Main Event runner-up Tony Miles (429,000), while some players not to make the Day 2 draw included Chance Kornuth, Paul Newey, Thomas Boivin, Taylor Paur, Brian Yoon and Manig Loeser.

WSOP 2021 Event #47 $5,000 Freezeout Top 10 Chipcounts:

  1. Jamie Sequeira – 1,070,000
  2. Benjamin Chalot – 733,000
  3. Daniel Rezaei – 702,000
  4. Daniel Negreanu – 617,000
  5. Daniel Lazrus – 597,000
  6. Ivan Galinec – 561,000
  7. Joni Jouhkimainen – 559,000
  8. Johan Martinet – 450,000
  9. Jongwook Lee – 430,000
  10. Tony Miles – 429,000

It’s been an eventful weekend on ‘Poker Twitter’ with Ben Lamb feeling his surname entitles him to wade in on the merits of how much mustard goes with ketchup… kind of!

Finally, is there a truer tweet from the World Series than this simple gem? We’re not saying we’d sign up to what comes next, but if ever there was a heads-up opponent you wanted to beat…