The latest World Series of Poker bracelet was won by a dominant Tyler Denson on Wednesday morning as an exciting, but one-sided, final table played out in Event #6 ($2,000 NLHE Deepstack) of the 2021 WSOP Online.
Going into the final table, the chip stacks were tight at the top of the leaderboard as Denson, Jeffrey ‘PlusEv905’ Schwartz, and Demetrios ‘GOGGINS’ Petrou were jostling for position, each of those three players above two million chips but shy of three million, with Denson holding a slim lead over the field.
One player who had the opposite of a large chip stack, however, was Michael ‘helionic’ Dyer as he went into final table play with less than a big blind to his name. That all went into the middle from UTG with 
and was called by both David ‘ImDeboGodz’ Dibernadi and Kenneth ‘ACE710’ Neri. Dibernadi bet on the flop and Neri got out of the way, Dibernadi’s 
more than enough to take down the pot and skittle Dyer after the 
turn and 
river.
Next to depart was Neri, who was all-in UTG with 
, but called by Denson with 
and doomed by the board of 
for a result worth $14,545.
Denson had joined Steven ‘Girlcanplay2’ Kelly in going past three million chips and he was to eliminate the next player too. Dibernardi moved on Denson’s pre-flop bet to 160,000 by going all-in for 1.3 million chips with 
. Denson made the call with the dominated 
and remained behind on the 
flop, but the on the turn put the chip leader ahead. It also opened up the possibility of a flush and gutshot straight to save Dibernardi, but the 
on the river was not what he needed to see and Dibernardi departed, Denson’s stature at the table growing with every hand.
Schwartz became the next player to fall victim to Denson’s dominance of the final table, all-in for just over seven big blinds with 
pre-flop and called by Denson with the 
. The board of 
gave Denson a full house on the turn and Schwartz was drawing dead before the river card dropped, cashing for $26,320 for his sixth-place finish.
With five players left, it was looking increasingly likely that Denson was on a collision course with Kelly for the WSOP bracelet and that scenario moved a step closer when Al ‘bigal16’ Riccobono moved all-in pre-flop for seven big blinds with 
and was called by Kelly’s isolation all-in with 
. The king-high flop of 
did nothing to help Riccobono’s situation, with the 
turn and 
completing the board in Denson’s favor and sending play four-handed.
Two short-stacks and two big stacks were battling it out, and Petrou knew that as one of the shorties, he’d need to make a move soon. His limp from the small blind then tank-call for his last remaining seven big blinds when Denson shoved from the big blind with was the right one. Petrou had and was way ahead, as he remained across the flop and turn, but the river card of sent Petrou to the rail and further bolstered the belief that it was Denson’s bracelet to lose.
Ben ‘WhyIsGamora’ Yu had clung on for dear life with two big blinds and moved them into the middle with ace-high to double through Denson. That only extended his tournament life, however, as he was soon committed for his tournament life again with , called by Denson again with . The flop of 
put Denson ahead and through the 
turn and , it stayed that way to send Tyler Denson into the heads-up with a lead of 8.3 million chips to Steven Kelly’s 3.9m.
Heads-up lasted only a short while, with Denson continuing to dominate the proceedings and using his chip stack to whittle away his opponent’s pile. By the final hand, Kelly had just under two million chips, with Denson sitting on more than 10 million.
Denson moved all-in with from the button and Kelly made the call with . The flop of 
immediately put Denson into the lead and the turn of kept it that way. As Denson typed “…” into the chat box and hit send, a landed on the river to give the Floridian player his first WSOP bracelet and first cash on the WSOP since a live result back in 2015 in North Carolina.
It was a landmark victory for Denson in what was another popular event in this summer’s WSOP Online Series. With 312 unique players, the event created a massive $769,600 prize pool, with 104 re-buys along the way.
While players like Chris Moorman (294th), Phil Hellmuth (83rd), and Daniel Negreanu (77th) all missed the money, it took 12 hours to find a winner in the event, Denson earning a career-high score of $175,699 by becoming the champion. Taking home his maiden WSOP bracelet in what was his biggest result since finishing 245th in the 2013 WSOP Main Event for just over $37,000.
WSOP Online Series Event #6 $2,000 NLHE Deepstack Final Table Results:
- Tyler Denson $175,699
- Steven Kelly $108,822
- Ben Yu $73,958
- Demetrios Petrou $51,409
- Al Riccobono $36,479
- Jeffrey Schwartz $26,320
- David Dibernardi $19,393
- Kenneth Neri $14,545
- Michael Dyer $11,159
