Benitez Leads Star-Studded Final Table Line-Up in Event #11: $10,000 Super MILLION$ High Roller
One of the highly anticipated high-stakes showdowns of the 2021 GGPoker WSOP Online Bracelet Events got underway earlier today and promised some of the biggest names in the world of poker. Event #11: $10,000 Super MILLION$ High Roller came with a guarantee of $5 million and that was easily surpassed thanks to 624 total entries, which created a prize pool of $6,052,800.
Not only did the money bubble burst during the long online poker session but the field was eventually whittled down the nine-handed final table. Uruguayan High Roller regular Francisco Benitez claimed the top spot during the final stages of the day and finished atop the leaderboard with a stack of 9,669,040. He is followed by Thomas Muehloecker (8,273,656) and Joachim Haraldstad (7,993,045).
Six players are within ten big blinds and that also includes eight-time WSOP bracelet winner Erik Seidel, who sits in seventh place with 6,801,823. Claiming one pot would push the old school poker pro ahead of Claas Segebrecht (7,341,830), Shyngis Satubayev (7,267,536), and Isaac Baron (6,968,298).
The two shortest stacks belong to Chin-Wei "davidchien88" Chien and Rui Ferreira, who will return with 34 and 16 big blinds respectively.
Final Table 2021 GGPoker WSOP Online Event #11: $10,000 Super MILLION$ High Roller
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Francisco Benitez | Uruguay | 9,669,040 | 60 |
| 2 | Thomas Muehloecker | Austria | 8,273,656 | 52 |
| 3 | Joachim Haraldstad | Norway | 7,993,045 | 50 |
| 4 | Claas Segebrecht | Germany | 7,341,830 | 46 |
| 5 | Shyngis Satubayev | Kazakhstan | 7,267,536 | 45 |
| 6 | Isaac Baron | United States | 6,968,298 | 44 |
| 7 | Erik Seidel | United States | 6,801,823 | 43 |
| 8 | Chin-Wei "davidchien88" Chien | Taiwan | 5,475,850 | 34 |
| 9 | Rui Ferreira | Portugal | 2,608,922 | 16 |
The for the final table will be rolled back to 80,000/160,000 with a running ante of 20,000 in order to ensure an average stack of at least 40 big blinds. Unlike all levels on Day 1 which lasted 15 minutes each, the final table will play a fixed number of hands for each blind level until a winner has been crowned. The final showdown will be broadcasted with cards-up coverage and commentary on the GGPoker Twitch channel on Tuesday, August 17, 2021.
The Action of the Day
When the first online cards were dealt, the tournament was already halfway to meeting the lofty goal. A steady influx of fresh entries and plenty of re-entries ensured that the $5 million guarantee was surpassed with plenty of time to spare during the registration period. Ultimately, a prize pool of more than $6 million emerged and the top 60 spots were poised to see a return on their investment.
Plenty of GGPoker ambassadors and streamers were in the mix such as Hristivoje "ALLinPav" Pavlovic, Kevin Martin,
Michiel "Easterdamnz" Van Elsacker, Fedor Holz, Anatoly Filatov, Felipe Ramos, and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier. Six-time WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu was also involved in the action from the get-go and built an above-average stack early on. However, his tournament came to an end soon after the registration had closed after a clash with Mark Radoja. Grospellier was the last ambassador in contention and lost a flip to come up shy of the payouts.
Hand-for-hand mode three spots away from the money bubble was seemingly the only time during which the tournament really slowed down but it didn't take long for it to burst. South Africa's Jean-Pierre "Kunkuwap" Van Der Spuy five-bet jammed more than 25 big blinds with ace-nine into the pocket kings of Michael Addamo even though Brazil's Eder "BlueMoon" Campana was down to 0.2 big blinds.
What followed was mayhem on all tables as the eliminations in the money kept pouring in at an incredibly rapid pace. Among those to fall during that frantic period were notables such as Davidi Kitai, Kenny Hallaert, Daniel Dvoress, Mikita Badziakouski, and Georgios Sotiropoulos to name all but a few. It didn't take long to reach the final three tables with WSOP bracelet winners Anson Tsang and Adrian Mateos among the next batch of casualties.
With other big names out of the way including Isaac Haxton, Matthias Eibinger, Aleksejs Ponakovs, Galen Hall, and David Coleman on the final three and two tables respectively, it looked as if Michael Addamo would once more dominate the action in one of his trademark tournaments. However, the Aussie went from big stack to 12th place finisher within a few orbits. Addamo eventually lost a flip with ace-queen suited against the pocket eights of Erik Seidel. From there on, it only took another ten minutes to reach the final table and conclude the action for the night.
The remaining nine contenders have $129,410 locked up for their efforts but the winner can look forward to a payday of $977,842. Stay tuned for the conclusion of this event on August 17, as the PokerNews live reporting team will be back to provide all the key hands until the latest WSOP gold bracelet winner has been crowned.