Sadirov Holds Commanding Lead; Greenwood, Dvoress and Vieira Chase Second Bracelet
The final table is set in the latest Championship Event of the 2021 GGPoker WSOP Online Bracelet Events. Out of a field of 144 entries, only seven players remain in contention for the gold bracelet in Event #18: $5,000 Short Deck Championship. Three former bracelet winners will aim to double their tally and claim the biggest slice of the $684,000 prize pool.
Russia's Radmir "KOPOBA" Sadirov holds a commanding lead over all other contenders, as he has nearly as many chips at his disposal as all his opponents have combined. Sadirov was responsible for the last two eliminations of the night and claimed a stack of 4,131,749 to his name, good enough for 258 antes.
Second-placed Yen-Liang "yao_poker" Yao (1,305,762) already has a second-place finish in Event #6: $200 FLIP & GO NO-Limit Hold'em to his name and also min-cashed in Event #15: $10,000 Heads Up NLHE Championship. Representing the flag of Ireland in the GGPoker client is Mukoro "AnonAnomaly" Gberevbie, who sits in third place with a stack of 699,655.
Four well-known poker pros follow within ten antes including Sam Greenwood, Daniel Dvoress, Joao Vieira, and Dario Sammartino. The former three already have one WSOP gold bracelet to their name while this feat has escaped Sammartino so far despite several close calls. The Vienna resident will return with the shortest stack of 31 antes but is just one double up away from jumping into third place overall.
Final Table Line-Up Event #18: $5,000 Short Deck Championship
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count | Antes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Radmir "KOPOBA" Sadirov | Russia | 4,131,749 | 258 |
| 2 | Yen-Liang "yao_poker" Yao | Taiwan | 1,305,762 | 82 |
| 3 | Mukoro "AnonAnomaly" Gberevbie | Ireland | 699,655 | 44 |
| 4 | Sam Greenwood | Canada | 688,200 | 43 |
| 5 | Daniel Dvoress | Canada | 663,992 | 41 |
| 6 | Joao Vieira | Portugal | 650,397 | 41 |
| 7 | Dario Sammartino | Italy | 500,225 | 31 |
It appears that the action will resume in level 27 with an ante of 16,000 and from now on, all levels will feature 20 hands each instead of a fixed duration. The final table recommences at 5.01 pm UTC on Wednesday, August 25.
The Action of the Day
More than 30 players were seated when the action kicked off and the vast majority opted to fire the three stacks of 20,000 chips as single bullets. Eventual chip leader Sadirov was among the early casualties but re-entered successfully to establish a prime spot for the seven-handed final table.
The GGPoker ambassadors Felipe Ramos, Daniel Negreanu, and Mikhail "Misha Inner" Shalamov were also in the mix but Negreanu was the only one to run deep. The six-time WSOP bracelet winner even jumped into the top spot after claiming the largest portion of a spectacular four-way preflop contest. Other multiple former winners such as Anson Tsang, Kahle Burns, and Yuri Dzivielevski fell on the wayside.
Especially the frantic final stages towards the end of the registration period brought turned the field upside down. Ultimately, the action slowed down eventually when the money bubble approached and Chun Lei "judd trump" Zhou was the last participant to leave empty-handed.
From there on, the eliminations came at a rapid pace and Negreanu reached the final two tables as one of the shorter stacks. He took a stand with a suited ace-jack but failed to come from behind and beat the ace-queen of "FortNitPro", which ended his run in 11th place. Shortly thereafter, Denys Chufarin was eliminated by Dario Sammartino before Sadirov assumed control.
The Russian benefited from an aces-versus-kings setup to eliminate Chi Zhang in 9th place. Sadirov also prevailed against another pair of kings to burst the final table bubble when ace-king got there to seal the fate of "FortNitPro".
Sadirov has more than three times as many chips as second-placed Yen-Liang "yao_poker" Yao and will be in the driver's seat for the final table. Stay tuned for the conclusion of this event, as the PokerNews team will provide all key hands en route to crowning another WSOP gold bracelet winner.