The World Series of Poker Online events on GGPoker continue to be a showcase for Brazilian poker players. On Friday, Renan Carlos Bruschi, currently ranked #6 in the PocketFives Rankings, took down Event #14 ($500 The Big 500) to become the fifth player from Brazil to win a WSOP bracelet this year.
When the final table began on Friday afternoon, Bruschi held the chip lead over the other eight players and the next closest stack to his belonged to a fellow countryman, Rafael Furlanetto. Just 15 minutes after play began, Furlanetto added to his stack by winning a classic flip.
Furlanetto raised to 320,000 from UTG+1 with 
before Andrejs Zukovs moved all in from his direct left for 3,964,752 with 
. The 
flop gave Furlanetto bottom set and left Zukovs hoping for runner-runner help. The 
turn left him drawing dead to the 
river and Zukovs was out in ninth place.
Bruschi took his turn in the executioner role just a few minutes later. David Wang raised to 320,000 from UTG+1 and Arthur Conan bumped it up 832,000 on the button. Bruschi responded by raised to 2,208,000, Wang moved all in for 4,260,251 and Conan folded. Bruschi called and tabled 
while Wang showed 
. The board ran out 
to eliminate Wang in eighth place.
Furlanetto was involved in the next elimination but ultimately wasn’t the benefactor. From UTG Eugenio Pernia moved all in for his last 1,866,806 with 
and Nikola Minkov attempted to isolate by moving all in for 3,811,082 with 
. Furlanetto then re-shoved from the button for 19,314,503 with 
. The 
flop changed nothing and neither did the 
turn. The river missed both Pernia and Furlanetto and gave Minkov a full house to bust Pernia in seventh.
Minkov found another victim just over 10 minutes later. Nick Maimone raised to 770,000 from the button with before Minkov jammed from the big blind for 7,993,970 with and Maimone put the rest of his 7,136,510 stack at risk. The 
flop gave Maimone some extra outs. However, he bricked the turn and river and was out in sixth place.
While everything had gone swimmingly for Minkov to that point, it all came to a disastrous end in a cooler against Bruschi just 10 minutes later. Bruschi raised to 700,000 from UTG with 
and Minkov moved all in for 10,054,100 with . The 
flop gave Minkov some hope but as the turn and 
river completed the board, the Bulgarian grinder was eliminated in fifth.
Watching that hand unfold with curiosity was Conan. Down to less than seven big blinds when Minkov went out, a one hand later Conan raised to 800,000 on the button with and Furlanetto jammed for 35,286,534 from big blind with 
. The flop came to keep Conan safe, but the turn gave Furlanetto a pair. The 
river improved his hand to two pair and eliminated Conan in fourth place with just a pair of aces.
While Brazilian poker fans were no doubt hoping for a heads-up duel between Bruschi and Furlanetto, Leonid Bilkour had other ideas. Having started the final table with the shortest stack, Bilkour navigated his way to holding the chip lead with three players remaining. After more than 20 minutes of battle, the two Brazilians clashed in a pot that propelled Bruschi to the chip lead and Furlanetto to the exit.
From the small blind, Bruschi raised to 1,500,000 with 
and Furlanetto moved all in for 12,514,699 with and Bruschi called. The board ran out 
to eliminate Furlanetto in third place and send Bruschi to heads up with 62% of the chips in play.
Over the eight minutes that followed, Bilokur battled back to take the lead over Bruschi, the PocketFives Player of the Month for July. That lead was short-lived as Bilokur watched the best hand in poker spell his demise. Bilokur raised to 1,800,000 and Bruschi called. The 
flop got Bruschi to check and Bilokur bet 1,837,500. Bruschi called and then bet 4,000,5000 on the turn. Bilokur called and watched the 
river complete the board. Bruschi fired 11,869,500 into the middle. Bilokur called all in for his last 11,704,565 and showed but Bruschi tabled for a rivered straight. Bilokur was eliminated in second place.
The win allowed Bruschi to join Joao Simao, Thiago Crema, Eduardo Pires, and Lucio Lima as Brazilians winning WSOP gold in 2021 and gave him the opportunity to improve upon his runner-up finish in Event #2 ($2,500 Limit Hold’em Championship).
Final Table Payouts
- Renan Carlos Bruschi – $150,327
- Leonid Bilokur – $112,728
- Rafael Furlanetto – $83,534
- Arthur Conan – $63,391
- Nikola Minkov – $47,537
- Nicholas Maimone – $35,648
- Eugenio Pernia – $26,732
- David Wang – $20,046
- Andrejs Zukovs – $15,032
