Over the last several years, Carlos Welch has made a name for himself for being a poker player with a knack for being frugal. Early Friday morning, Welch defeated 2020 bracelet winner Joon Kim to win his first career World Series of Poker bracelet and a six-figure score that could give Welch the opportunity to spend a little.
Welch, a regular on the Thinking Poker podcast who has chronicled the ways he saves money, including living in his Toyota Prius for a good amount of time, outlasted 781 other entries to win 2021 WSOP Online Event #8 ($888 NLHE Crazy Eights) for $124,369.
Welch started the final table with the third smallest stack but picked up one of the first two eliminations to give him a fighting chance.
It took nearly 12 minutes to go from eight-handed to seven. Action folded to ‘PESOPESO‘ on the button and they raised to 168,600. Joey Katzen moved all in from the small blind for 1,043,777 and ‘PESOPESO’ called and turned over 
. Katzen showed 
and then watched the 
flop give ‘PESOPESO’ a vice grip on the hand. The 
turn left Katzen drawing dead and as the 
completed the board he was eliminated in eighth place.
Welch picked up his first final table victim eight minutes later. Isaac Fermin moved all in from the cutoff for 968,536 with 
and Welch called from the big blind with 
. The 
flop gave Welch a set and left Fermin drawing to a jack for Broadway. The turn was the 
and the river was the 
to eliminate Fermin in seventh.
A preflop all in battle between pocket pairs didn’t quite go the way that Dan Wach was hoping. Dylan Smith opened to 400,000 for middle position with 
before Wach moved all in from the cutoff for 1,130,620 with 
. Smith called and then drilled a set on the 
flop. The turn and 
river both missed Wach’s only two outs and gave Smith a full house to send Wach to the rail in sixth place.
John Del Rossi opened to 612,500 from UTG and action folded around to ‘PESOPESO’ who moved all in for 1,591,665 from the small blind. Del Rossi called and showed 
but found out he was dominated by the of ‘PESOPESO’. The 
runout didn’t change Del Rossi’s fortunes and he was out in fifth.
A battle of the blinds 15 minutes later led to the next elimination. ‘PESOPESO’ moved all in from the small blind for 1,462,057 with and Joon Kim called from the big blind with 
. The board ran out 
to send ‘PESOPESO’ out in fourth place.
At this point, Welch was third in chips, but over the next 10 minutes, the three remaining players each took a turn holding the chip lead. After taking over the lead by winning a 5.6 million chip pot against Welch, Kim put that stack to work to get to heads up. Kim opened to 320,000 on the button with 
before Smith moved all in from the small blind for 1,784,706 with 
. Kim snap called and watched as the [aj]
runout offered Smith no lifeline and he was eliminated in third.
Kim started heads up with a 2-1 chip lead but Welch doubled up early with 
against Kim’s . Kim never recovered. On the final hand of the tournament, Welch opened to 4,400,000 from the button with and Kim called off his last 1,938,800 with . The 
flop felt like a safe one for Kim to at least find a chop, but the turn gave Welch second pair and left Kim drawing dead. The river was academic as Welch eliminated Kim in second place to capture his first WSOP bracelet and $124,369.
A total of 126 players made it into the money including Matthew Stout (115th – $1,251), Andrew Lichtenberger (110th – $1,251), Ryan Laplante (84th – $1,376), Jonathan Borenstein (67th – $1,626), Craig Varnell (54th – $2,127), Bryan Piccioli (24th – $3,503), Frank Marasco (20th – $3,503), Dan Zack (15th – $5,318), and Michael Lech (11th – $6,694).
2021 WSOP Online Event #8 Final Table Payouts
- Carlos ‘CarlosWelch’ Welch – $124,369
- Joon ‘jykpoker’ Kim – $76,886
- Dylan ‘thesmith’ Smith – $53,802
- ‘PESOPESO’ – $38,224
- John ‘thirteen’ Del Rossi – $27,526
- Dan ‘fatdan44’ Wach – $20,144
- Isaac ‘going2ship’ Fermin – $14,952
- Joey ‘JoeBeagles’ Katzen – $11,261
