Ian Steinman won his first career bracelet and $110K after shipping Event #27 of the 2020 WSOP Event Online. (WPT photo)

Heading into Event #27 ($400 NLHE Freezeout) of the 2020 World Series of Poker Online, Ian ‘apokerjoker2’ Steinman had cashed 10 times, made two final tables, and was in the top 20 for the WSOP leaderboard.

Steinman, who has 4 WSOP Circuit rings to his credit, outlasted 1,939 other players to win Event #27 for $110,557 and his first career bracelet and now moves into the driver’s seat for the leaderboard.

Down to less than four big blinds, Chris Radcliff moved all in for 747,602 and ‘Psycho101’ called from the button and Lokesh Garg defended his big blind. The flop came [kd][6d][3c], Garg bet 950,000 and ‘Psycho101‘ folded. Radcliff showed [ks][jh] for top pair but Garg tabled [kh][qh] for top pair with a better kicker. The [tc] turn was no help and neither was the [6c] river to bust Radcliff in ninth.

There wasn’t an elimination for another 20 minutes. Huiwen Liu shoved for 2,130,748 from late position and ‘crezident‘ defended their big blind. Liu showed [kc][qh] and ‘crezident’ was ahead with [as][9s]. The board ran out [ah][th][7c][6h][qc] to give Liu multiple draws on the flop and turn before bricking out on the end to eliminate Liu in eighth place.

From UTG, Alida Veliu bet 1,225,000 before ‘Psycho101’ re-raised to 2,170,000 forcing the rest of the table to fold. Veliu called all in and tabled [qd][qs] with ‘Psycho101’ showing [as][6s]. The [ac][ks][jh] flop gave ‘Psycho101’ top pair and left Veliu drawing thing. However, neither the [5s] turn nor [5c] river managed to save her from a seventh place result.

The relatively slow pace of eliminations continued and it took 10 minutes for the next player to bust. Steinman opened from UTG to 560,000 before Garg moved all in for 3,042,128. Nicholas ‘Got_The_Glow’ Brancato then came over the top for 5,746,148 and Steinman folded. Garg was racing with [7c][7d] against Brancato’s [ac][qs]. The [ks][6c][5h] kept Garg in command of the pot but the [ad] turn flipped the script to give Brancato top pair. Garg found no help on the [jh] river and was out in sixth.

It took another 15 minutes to go from five players to four. ‘crezident’ opened to 640,000 from the cutoff before Steinman moved all in for 12,530,824 from the small blind. ‘crezident’ called and showed [ac][jd] with Steinman tabling [9d][9h]. The [6c][5h][3s][8d][2h] run out was a safe one for Steinman and ‘crezident’ was out in fifth place.

Steinman sent another player to the rail 10 minutes later. After Steinman opened to 800,000 from UTG, Nicholas Brancato move all in from the button for 3,351,882. Steinman called and showed [ah][qd] and Brancato tabled [as][th]. The [jh][9s][6h] flop kept Steinman in front. The [kc] turn changed nothing and Brancato was sent packing in fourth after the [5s] river completed the board.

The Steinman show continued five minutes later when he sent the tournament to heads up. ‘Psycho101’ moved his last 5,351,012 into the middle and Steinman re-raised to 10,302,024 from the small blind and Satoshi folded. ‘Psycho101’ showed [ah][9h] but was outpipped by Steinman’s [as][9h]. The [th][7d][4c][3h][qs] runout failed to improve anything for ‘Psycho101’ and they were eliminated in third.

Steinman began heads up play with a nearly 4-1 chip lead over Satoshi Tanaka though he did relinquish it briefly before battling back to a 2.5-1 lead before ending the tournament. Steinman shoved for 26,974,082 and Tanaka called for 11,700,948. Tanaka turned over [kh][jc] which put him behind Steinman’s [as][5d]. The board ran out [qc][8h][2s][7h][6d] to eliminate Tanaka in second place and give Steinman his first career bracelet and $110,557.

Final Table Payouts

  1. Ian ‘apokerjoker2’ Steinman – $110,557
  2. Satoshi ‘Godzillla’ Tanaka – $68,373
  3. Psycho101 – $49,796
  4. Nicholas ‘Got_The_Glow’ Brancato – $36,526
  5. crezident – $27,028
  6. Lokesh ‘lanku111’ Garg – $20,254
  7. Alida ‘av1925’ Veliu – $15,295
  8. Huiwen ‘HLM99’ Liu – $11,663
  9. voltron12 – $9,009

Faces in the Crowd

A pair of former #1-ranked PocketFivers narrowly missed out on the final table. Shaun ‘ddtgg’ Deeb finished 13th for $5,517.36 one spot ahead of Bryan ‘Pellepelle’ Piccioli who also earned 5,517.36. Jamie Kerstetter finished 163rd for $838.08. One day after winning Event #26, Ethan ‘RampageP’ Yau snuck into the money with a 217th place finish for $698.40.