The Saturday night right before July 4 is usually one filled with parties, barbecues, and one-day-early fireworks. But over a six-hour span on Saturday, Atlanta’s Donnell Dais worked his way through the 950-entry field in Event #3 ($500 NLHE Turbo Deepstack) of the 2021 World Series of Poker Online to claim his first career bracelet and earn $90,801.
The turbo structure guaranteed the final table would be a fast one and it took just under an hour to go from nine players to champion. Working with just over five big blinds, 2020 WSOP Online bracelet winner Joon Kim raised to 1,400,000 from UTG and action folded to Mike Azzaro in the small blind. Azzaro moved all in for 3,780,784 and Kim called. Azzaro held 
while Kim showed 
. The board ran out 
to send Kim to the rail in ninth place.
Not even six minutes later, Azzaro busted another player. Azzaro raised to 640,000 from the cutoff and Yonghui Jiang moved all in for his last 307,072. Both blinds folded and Azzaro tabled 
while Jiang had 
. The flop moved Azzaro in front and Jiang wasn’t able to reverse his fortunes as the 
and 
completed the board and was eliminated in eighth.
After hanging on for dear life through that elimination, ‘itilthard‘ was only able to stick around for another minute before seeing their short stack sent to another player. Patrick Megna raised to 1,130,000 from UTG and ‘itilthard’ jammed their last 853,766 from the small blind and turned over but found themselves dominated by Megna’s 
. Megna then improved on the 
flop and ‘itilthard’ was eliminated as the 
turn and 
river completed the board. The seventh place finish for ‘itilthard’ came just 24 hours after he finished 23rd in Event #2 ($600 NLHE Deepstack).
Andrew Neeme couldn’t hang on much longer. John Duci raised to 1,200,000 and Neeme moved all in for his last 1,222,016. The blinds folded and Duci called. Neeme turned over 
while Duci had . The 
flop gave both players a flush draw while Duci also picked up a gutshot wheel draw. That draw came in on the 
turn and Neeme was out in sixth place as the completed the board.
Dais finally got involved in the elimination game just a few minutes later. Dais limped from UTG, and Simon Lam moved all in for 2,737,052 from the big blind. Dais called and showed while Lam was in rough shape with 
. Both players made top pair on the 
flop, but Dais was in control with the king kicker. Lam found no help on the turn or 
river and was eliminated in fifth.
Action went on for a relatively long seven minutes without an elimination before Megna met his fate. Duci raised to 2,000,000 from the small blind and Megna moved all in for 4,718,346 from the big blind. Duci showed 
and Megna was racing with 
. The flop came to keep Megna in front. The turn gave Duci 20 outs and the river was one of them to eliminate Megna in fourth place.
Over the next 12 minutes, the chip lead moved around the table and despite picking up Megna’s chips, Duci was the next player to bust. Down to less than two big blinds, Duci moved all in for 1,167,364 from the small blind and Dais called the additional 567,364 from the big blind. Duci was ahead with 
to the of Dais. The 
flop gave Duci top two pair. The turn gave Duci some hope but the river gave Dais a full house and eliminated Duci in third place.
Dais and Azzaro battled heads up for 13 minutes before Dais put the bow on his victory. Azzaro raised to 2,000,000 and Dais moved all in for 22,670,136 and Azzaro called. Dais flipped over and Azzaro had . The 
flop paired both players with Dais taking the lead. Azzaro failed to improve on the turn and river and was out as the runner-up and Dais laid claim to his first career bracelet.
The event took just a little more than six hours to play with the final table coming in at just under one hour of play. A number of top players made it into the money before the final table including Jamie Kerstetter (82nd – $1,112), Shannon Shorr (62nd – $1,368), Phil Hellmuth (58th – $1,368), Ryan Depaulo (55th – $1,368), Christian Harder (33rd – $2,052), Bryan Piccioli (24th – $2,480), and former WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Madsen (20th – $2,480). One day after finishing ninth in Event #2, Alexandre Besse came oh-so-close to making another final table, busting in 12th place for $4,660).
2021 WSOP Online Event #3 Final Table Payouts
- Donnell Dais – $90,801
- Mike Azzaro – $55,703
- John Duci – $38,518
- Patrick Megna – $27,061
- Simon Lam – $19,323
- Andrew Neeme – $14,022
- itilthard – $10,388
- Yonghui Jiang – $7,823
- Joon Kim – $5,985
