Mitchell Halverson had earned seven cashes in the 2021 World Series of Poker Online events heading into Thursday’s $600 No Limit Hold’em Six Max Championship. His biggest cash over those seven events was for $2,878 when he finished 32nd in the $888 No Limit Hold’em Crazy Eights events. Halverson scored a much more significant strike Thursday, winning the tournament to secure an $84,057 score and his first WSOP gold bracelet.
The $600 buy-in tournament drew in a total of 523 unique players and 260 rebuys, generating a total prize pool of $422,820. There were still some big names left in the mix with only three tables left to go including Bryan Piccioli (who was eliminated in 18th place for $2,875), Kristen Bicknell (15th – $3,594), Jesse Sylvia (11th – $4,524), Tony Dunst (9th – $5,835) and Ryan Laplante (8th, $7,611). But it was Halverson left standing tall when the dust settled on this event after over 10 hours of play.
Drew O’Connell made it to the final table with just over one big blind remaining in his stack. As the other three remaining players in the tournament were moved to the final table, O’Connell was already in the process of moving all-in three-handed on the button for his final 118,170 chips. Joshua Faris called in the small blind and Nipun Java called in the big blind. Faris and Java both checked down through the river as the board ran out 
. O’Connell’s 
fell short of Faris’s 
and O’Connell was quickly knocked out in sixth place.
The final table’s next elimination came just four hands later. Action folded around to James Gilbert in the small blind who moved all-in for his last 495,671 chips with 
. Gilbert’s attempted blind steal did not work out as Faris woke up with the 
and made the call. Both players paired the board when the flop came 
, but Gilbert would need help to survive. None came as the 
fell on the turn and the 
came on the river to eliminate Gilbert in fifth.
Four-handed play lasted for nine minutes, although five of those were spent on break. Anthony Spinella folded under the gun and Halverson min-raised to 200,000 on the button with 
. Faris folded in the small blind before Java moved all-in from the big blind for 2,402,264 chips with 
. Halverson made the call to send the players to a flop of 
. Java was looking for an ace or backdoor clubs until the fell on the turn to give Halverson a set and end the hand on the spot. A meaningless on the river sealed Java’s fourth-place finish.
Just over five minutes after Java’s elimination, all three of the remaining players had over 20 big blinds and it looked as though the fast-paced final table had settled down. Halverson folded on the button and the action moved to Faris who limped in on the small blind. Spinella checked his option and the two players went to a flop of 
. Fireworks went off as Faris checked, Spinella bet 142,500, Faris raised to 450,000, and Spinella moved all-in to 2,473,170. Faris quickly called with the 
, which was ahead of Spinella’s 
. The on the turn and 
on the river brought no help to Spinella, who was eliminated in third place.
Faris entered heads up play with 9,650,309 chips to Halverson’s 6,009,691. That lead only lasted for one hand as the two players got their chips all-in on the first hand of heads up play with Halverson holding the and Faris holding 
. The flop fell 
to give Halverson a substantial lead in the hand, which he held on to when the on the turn and 
on the river completed the board.
The final hand of the tournament came about 10 minutes later. Halverson limped in to 120,000 and Faris raised to 442,500, prompting a call from Halverson. The flop came 
and both players checked. Faris bet 337,500 after the 
fell on the turn and Halverson made the call. The 
completed the board on the river and Faris put in a bet of 675,000. Halverson went into his time bank before moving all-in. Faris snap-called off his remaining 2,241,236 chips with 
, but his top pair was no good against Halverson’s . The slow-played two pair earned Halverson the biggest cash of his career.
Event #30 Final Table Payouts
- Mitchell ‘franzia’ Halverson – $84,057
- Joshua “Kenjiboi7” Faris – $51,965
- Anthony ‘Nowb3Athat’ Spinella – $36,363
- Nipun ‘javatini’ Java – $25,834
- James ‘Danfriel’ Gilbert – $18,604
- Drew ‘dudeguydrew’ O’Connell – $13,615