One of the biggest prize pools so far of the 2021 World Series of Poker Online took place Tuesday night into Wednesday morning as Event #20 ($3,200 NLHE High Roller) was won by Sang Lee after a thrilling final table went to the wire with some of the best poker players around duking it out for their first bracelet. Lee took the title to win his maiden WSOP bracelet after defeating Daniel Buzgon heads up in an epic duel for the gold.
The eight-handed final table began with Lee in a great position to dominate proceedings, sitting on 1.7 million chips, some distance ahead of his nearest challenger, David Coleman on 1.4 million and both Jeremy Ausmus (the only previous bracelet winner at the final table) and Zachary Grech, each of whom had 1.1 million.
There were some seriously short stacks down the other end of the leaderboard, due to short-handed play on two tables bringing action to the eight-handed final and it was John Riordan who busted first.
Riordan came into the final with just ten big blinds to his name and they all disappeared early. Moving all in from the hijack position, Riordan was in bad shape with 
after being called by Grech with 
. The flop of 
kept Riordan in need of a king, but the turn of 
added in some straight draws. Although Riordan was open-ended, his tournament was finished on the 
river, seeing him depart in eighth place for $21,341.
Christopher Basile, the #1-ranked player in the United States, entered the final table in the middle of the pack, but just prior to the last eight players having been reached, he’d been exerting some control over his table. His elimination of ‘madmaz’ in seventh place for $28,549 went some way to re-establishing his superiority as Basile’s 
was good enough to hold against the 
of ‘madmaz’ through the 
board.
Former WSOP Main Event final tablist Ausmus busted in sixth place for $38,129. Basile again did the damage, this time winning with 
against the exact same bust-out hand that had done for ‘madmaz’, . The flop of 
kept Ausmus in need of an ace and the turn and 
river could not help him survive.
Despite entering the final table in a prominent position, Grech crashed out in fifth place, earning $51,502. Grech moved all in pre-flop for just eight big blinds with the premium hand of 
, but Lee’s 
was way out in front and remained there through the 
board as Grech missed a Broadway draw on the river by one card.
It was Basile who busted in fourth place as he ran out of luck but won $71,989 in the process. Basile was all in and at risk with 
against Daniel Buzgon’s 
, but although he rode out the 
flop, the turn spelled doom and the could not preserve his tournament life.
With the podium places locked up, Coleman departed in third place, his needing to hit against the 
belonging to Buzgon. Sadly for Coleman, his quest to win a WSOP bracelet went no further as the board of 
didn’t give him the outs he wanted to hit.
Buzgon had all the momentum, but Lee still retained plenty of chips and turned around a heads-up deficit to win. The first pivotal hand happened when Lee shoved pre-flop with and managed to hold against Buzgon’s 
. Then, having moved back into a commanding lead, Lee closed it out when Buzgon moved all-in before the flop with and was called by Lee with . The 
put Buzgon into the lead, but while the turn card of was a safe one, the on the river gave Lee the victory and condemned Buzgon to a runner-up finish worth $149,385.
With 221 entries and 911 rebuys, the 20th event of the 2021 WSOP Online created a prize pool worth $948,480. There were some high-profile eliminations before the money, including a brutal hand for Daniel Negreanu, who crashed out with pocket aces being ousted by quad kings.
Phil Hellmuth couldn’t win his last flip with against Julian Sanguedolce’s pocket sevens, while there was a clash between engaged players in every sense of the word as Kristen Bicknell was eliminated by her partner Alex Foxen. Foxen’s pocket aces survived against Bicknell’s pocket fives, but the GPI Player of the Year failed to make the money himself.
Just 36 players finished in the money, and those players who made a profit but failed to threaten the business end of the event included Manig Loeser, who scraped past the bubble to bust in 36th for $6,639. By the final table, he was joined on the rail by Ryan Leng (34th for $6,639), Gionni Demers (26th for $7,587), Anthony Zinno (20th for $7,587), Jeff Gross (16th for $8,915), Matt Stout (15th for $10,718) and Joseph Cheong (11th for $13,183), who missed out on sitting down at the final table by just a couple of orbits after doing the exact same thing in Event #19, which was won by Martin Zamani for his first WSOP bracelet.
WSOP Online Series $3,200 High Roller Final Table Results:
- Sang ‘youngkoi’ Lee $241,767
- Daniel ‘juice’ Buzgon $149,385
- David ‘dehhhhh’ Coleman $102,720
- Christopher ‘basile28’ Basile $71,989
- Zachary ‘kings702’ Grech $51,502
- Jeremy ‘chipchecka’ Ausmus $38,128
- ‘madmaz’ $28,549
- John ‘macallan25’ Riordan $21,340
