WSOP Weekly: ‘Homeless Poker Player’ & Strategy Writer Scores Bracelet, More Updates
Plenty of action continued over the weekend in the World Series of Poker Online WSOP.com. That included two events that topped 1,400 entries and more big prize pools.
A major name has yet to emerge as a bracelet winner, but Nevada and New Jersey online regulars continue to score well. Poker strategy writer Carlos Welch made some waves over the weekend by winning his first bracelet.
Here’s a look at some of the recent results.
Event Tournament Entries Prize pool Winner Winner payout
1 $500 NLHE BIG 500 Kickoff (July 1) 1,277 $574,650 Jose “Deposit” Noboa $105,161
2 $600 NLHE Monster Stack (July 2) 1,038 $560,520 Manig “Ohio77” Loeser $104,313
3 $500 NLHE Turbo Deepstack (July 3) 950 $427,500 Donnell “Spreezy52” Dais $90,801
4 $500 NLHE Super Turbo (July 4) 850 $382,500 Jeffery "Steelvikes7" Hoop $73,861
5 $1,000 NLHE 8-Max 459 $648,700 Jeremiah "freestylerr" Williams $139,600
6 $2,000 NLHE Deepstack 416 $769,600 Tyler "ShipTheShip" Denson $175,700
7 $777 Lucky Sevens 888 $621,600 Michael "stiltwalk" Mercaldo $123,574
8 $888 Crazy Eights 782 $625,600 Carlos "CarlosWelch" Welch $124,369
9 $400 NLHE Six-Max 788 $438,120 Philip "wingsuiter" Beck $81,534
10 $2,000 NLHE 1,517 $455,100 Michael "njnj17" Leib $81,645
11 $400 NLHE Ultra Deepstack 1,417 $510,120 Vijay "Eclypzed" Para $86,210
12 $500 NLHE Turbo Deepstack 958 $431,550 Bryan “Pellepelle” Piccioli $83,332
13 $1,000 NLHE Freezeout 561 $504,900 Ryan “Adopt_aDogg0” Leng $108,654
14 $500 NLHE 671 $466,200 Gionni “Coldwarkid” Demers $90,023
15 $5,300 NLHE High Roller 188 $940,000 Justin “Jsaliba2” Saliba $253,800
16 $600 PLO Hi/Lo Six-Handed 498 $268,920 Allen “Acnyc718” Chang $61,394
17 $400 NLHE 8-Max 747 $405,000 Justin “LappyPoker” Lapka $75,371
18 $1,000 North American Open 756 $692,000 James “Danfriel” Gilbert $137,570
19 $888 PLO Crazy Eights Eight-Handed 507 $405,600 Martin “bathroomline” Zamani $92,598
20 $3,200 NLHE High Roller 311 $948,840 Sang “youngkoi” Lee $241,768
21 $600 PLO Six-Handed 1,551 $297,540 Bradley “DrStrange7” Ruben $61,148
22 $600 NLHE Knockout 612 $342,720 “LastBullet” $46,796
23 $500 NLHE Turbo 694 $312,300 Ryan “hagzzz021” Hagerty $67,207
24 $400 NLHE MonsterStack 1,176 $423,360 Byung “bhy101” Yoo $77,475
25 $7,777 High Roller 151 $1,113,927 David “dpeters17” Peters $283,940
26 $500 NLHE Big Encore 1,118 $503,100 Eric “8Bracelets” Van Auken $93,627
27 $1,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship 398 $367,050 David “lox10” Goldberg $86,440
28 $3,200 High Roller Championship 265 $805,600 Daniel “RiverRats” Lazarus $205,347
29 $800 NLHE Turbo 8-Max Turbo Deepstack 623 $448,560 Chris “Robotbob47” Moorman $102,406
30 $600 NLHE Six-Max Championship 783 $422,820 Mitchell “franzia” Halverson $84,057
31 $500 NLHE Summer Saver 917 $412,650 Brad “1badcajun” Zusman $79,683
32 $1,000 NLHE Championship 821 $738,900 Drew “dudeguydrew” O’Connell $146,893
33 $500 Grand Finale 2,024 $159,100 Dan “feeltheflow” Sindela $1,000,000
Event #8: $888 Crazy Eights (July 8)
Many may know Carlos Welch as a strategy writer and co-host of the Thinking Poker Daily podcast. He offers players a plethora of concepts and ideas when not at the tables himself.
That mindset for the game also paid off last Thursday in the WSOP Online. He topped a field of 782 to score a $124,369 payday and championship bracelet.
That’s a long way from his life known as “The Homeless Poker Player.” He hit the road in his car known as the “Nit Mobile” going from event to event. Welch actually played the event from a hotel room in the Rio.
@WSOP, can you please mail my bracelet to my room in the Masquerade Tower, and can I get a late checkout?
Thanks. #Oneforthegoodguys #TPE #LPP #TPP #TPD pic.twitter.com/FVjhcCP95s
— Carlos Welch (@HipHop101Trivia) July 9, 2021
Topping the event wouldn’t be easy. He battled heads-up against Joon “jykpoker” Kim, who won a bracelet in last summer’s WSOP Online.
“It felt pretty good to win on a big stage like a live stream,” Welch told USPoker. “Even though it made me a little less focused, it was fun playing in a bracelet event and talking with friends in the chat. I got 31st out of almost 1,000 runners in the next bracelet event I played, so I imagine the things I’m doing and teaching have some merit.”
Event #9: $400 NLHE Six-Max (July 9)
This smaller buy-in event attracted 788 entries for a $438,120 prize pool. Philip “wingsuiter” Beck came out on top for $81,534 and this is just his fifth WSOP cash.
Apparently Beck is a big fan of Team partypoker pro Jaime Staples. He sent the Twitch streamer a word of thanks after the win.
Closest I have every gotten! Congrats man #wsop pic.twitter.com/6SJWwu9gH4
— Jaime Staples (@jaimestaples) July 11, 2021
Justin “pocketprofit” Wong finished runner-up for $50,384. Others cashing included: Michael “thegrinder44” Mizrachi (149th, $701); Craig “imgrinding” Varnell (101st, $701); Daniel “DNegs” Negreanu (64th, $1,008); and Anthony “heheh” Zinno (18th, $2,892).
Event #10: $2,000 NLHE (July 10)
The stakes were again raised for this event with 1,517 entries and a prize pool of $455,100. Michael “njnj17” Leib took the top spot for a $81,645 payout and first gold bracelet. He has less than $15,000 in live tournament winnings, so this is quite a nice addition to his poker record.
Robert “LuckyLuch11” Aronowitz finished runner-up for $50,562. A couple big names also made the final table. Dan “oiltrader513” Shak finished fourth for $25,850.
2018 WSOP Main Event third-place finisher Michael Dyer took fifth for $13,926. This marked his fourth cash of the series.
Other players cashing included: Shannon “aulophobia” Shorr (12th, $4,733); Carlos “carloswelch” Welch (31st, $1,957); Tony “Panoramic” Dunst (42nd, $1,638); YK “LuckySpewy1” Kwon (58th, $1,183); and Anthony “heheh” Zinno (98th – $728).
Shorr now has a couple deep runs in the series. Last Friday, he also offered up a bit on his final table preparation after some nice runs recently in the live arena as well.
B4 day 2's of tournaments I research opponents and draw visual of table and stacks. Always especially painful to return to desk on days where tourney doesn't pan out, see notepad and wonder what could have been! ::Immediately crumbles paper::
— Shannon Shorr (@ShannonShorr) July 10, 2021
Event #11: $400 NLHE Ultra Deepstack
Vijay “Eclypzed” Para won a WSOP Online Circuit ring in January and now add to that collection. This event brought in 1,417 entries for a $510,120 prize pool. The New Jersey grinder came out on top for $86,210 and his first championship bracelet.
Belgium’s Felix “madenspauwke” Vandeput took runner-up for $53,155. Las Vegas poker pro Anthony “Nowb3Athat” Spinella won the first WSOP online bracelet in 2015 and came close again. He took sixth place for $15,202. Anthony Zinno also had another nice run, finishing eighth for $8,672.
This event marked Zinno’s eighth cash of the series as he hopes to score his third bracelet. Others in the money included: Dan “pepperprince” Zack (23rd, $2,601); Jesse “MrJesseJames” Sylvia (32nd, $2,091); Landon “ActionDealer” Tice (56th, $1,275); and Matt “RubberFist” Stout (81st, $969); and 2017 WSOP Main Event winner Scott “ItsNVRgoDown” Blumstein (93rd, $765).
Major names yet to bank a win
While plenty of major names have been getting close, winners have remained mostly unknown to many poker fans. With 22 events remaining there are plenty still looking to snag a bracelet.
The action will then shift to GGPoker, which should also attract plenty of pros with a bracelet on the brain as well. It should make for an interesting two months leading into the fall and the live WSOP in Las Vegas.
A look ahead
Plenty of action remains including a mix of buy-in levels. Through Thursday, players will find buy-ins ranging from $500 to $5,300.
That Super High Roller event plays out Thursday and should be an event to watch. Plenty of big names will be out in force with that price point building a hefty prize pool. Here’s a look at what to look for over the next few days.
- $500 NLHE Turbo Deepstack – July 12
- $1,000 NLHE Freezeout – July 13
- $500 NLHE – July 14
- $5,300 Super High Roller Freezeout – July 15