Event #4: $500 The Reunion No-Limit Hold'em
Day 3 Completed
2021 World Series of Poker
Event #4: $500 The Reunion No-Limit Hold'em
Day: 3
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 3
2021 World Series of Poker
Buy-in
$500
Prize Pool
$5,449,500
Entries
12,973
Level
42
Blinds
2,500,000 / 5,000,000
Ante
5,000,000
Entries
5
Players Left
1
Level 42
: 2,500,000/5,000,000, 5,000,000 ante
The poker community was waiting with bated breath for the opening week of the 2021 World Series of Poker, and Event #4: $500 The Reunion No-Limit Hold’em did not disappoint.
It drew a massive field of 12,973 to create a prizepool of $5,448,660. And after three days of play, including an epic 17-hour Day 2, it all ended after a lightning quick final day that lasted barely over an hour and saw Long Ma crowned champion.
He took home his first WSOP Bracelet and a whopping grand prize of $513,604, an incredible 1,000% return from his buy-in amount.
The Reunion - Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Long Ma | United States | $513,604 |
| 2 | Giuliano Lentini | United States | $317,352 |
| 3 | Max Tavepholjalern | United States | $241,766 |
| 4 | Alex Vazquez | United States | $185,281 |
| 5 | Michael Eddy | United States | $142,847 |
| 6 | Anthony Cass | United States | $110,794 |
| 7 | Jugal Daterao | United States | $86,462 |
| 8 | Derrick Stoebe | United States | $67,886 |
| 9 | Adrian Buckley | United States | $53,625 |
WSOP 2021: Who are the Defending Champions of the Championship Events
Winner's Reaction
Ma, who currently calls Dallas, TX home at 35 years old, has been playing poker for about twelve years.
“When I first started, I lost a lot of money on gambling. But then I won a tournament with 400 people and I started doing a bit better. But recently not too good.” He then mentioned that he had not cashed for two months before this huge breakthrough, which certainly breaks Ma out of his funk.
“I only play tournaments," added Ma. "It is really hard to be a professional with only tournaments.”
Ma’s two largest poker scores previous to this gargantuan win came in Daily Deepstack events during the 2018 WSOP in which he won over $60,000 in the span of three days.
When asked whether this win would mean seeing more of him in more tournaments for the rest of the WSOP he replied “Possibly. I still need to work!” referencing his main job as an operation and program manager for an electronic company.
Path to Bracelet
But the electronic company manager would take the poker world by storm, entering the final day with a massive chip lead. He would remain in control throughout, taking a hammer to his opponents and never giving any inclination that he was going to squander his chip lead.
Afterwards, he discussed his mindset during the final day. “With a big stack I needed to know from the first few hands whether they would be aggressive with me or slow down and from that I pretty much knew the table and could control my stack and play.”
One of the more prominent hands came after three-betting eventual runner-up Giuliano Lentini on the river after Lentini had raised him. Lentini folded, and Ma showed the bluff. From that point on, Ma took an even firmer control of the table and cruised to the bracelet.
“Almost 13,000 players. Lots of good players, some lucky players and maybe me the luckiest one” he said with a smile.
Related: Fan Nominations Open for 2021 Poker Hall of Fame Class
Final Day Action
The final day would start with only five players remaining. Michael Eddy starterd as a super short stack and busted within the first few hands of the day to finish in fifth place.
Alex Vazquez came in fourth after his stack went south quickly and never recovered, vanquished by Ma. Max Tavepholjalern positioned himself decently in the counts during the day but crashed out in third place, also a victim of Ma.
The second-place finisher was the aforementioned Lentini, who started the day well and upped his chip count by over 50% in the first part of the day. However, the key three-bet river hand against Ma would be his undoing, and he would never recover.
Entering heads-up play Ma had a 5:1 chip advantage and it would take exactly one hand of heads up for proceedings to end when Lentini jammed queen-jack from the small blind and could not chase down the ace-high of Ma.
Level 42
: 2,500,000/5,000,000, 5,000,000 ante
In the very first hand of heads-up play, Giuliano Lentini open-shoved from the small blind. Long Ma snap-called.
Giuliano Lentini: 
Long Ma: 
The board ran out 
. Long Ma won the hand with ace high.
Ma astonishingly eliminated Micheal Eddy, Alex Vazquez, Max Tavepholjalern, and finally Giuliano Lentini to officially make him a World Series of Poker champion.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
648,750,000
128,750,000
|
128,750,000 |
|
||
|
Busted | |
Level 42
: 2,500,000/5,000,000, 5,000,000 ante
Long Ma raised on the button to 20,000,000. The action folded to Max Tavepholjalern in the big blind who put in a three-bet to 76,000,000.
Ma put Tavepholjalern all-in and he didn't take very long to call.
Max Tavepholjalern: 
Long Ma: 
The board ran out 
. Ma's pocket fours held and he got his third knockout of the day.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
520,000,000
125,000,000
|
125,000,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
121,000,000
-24,000,000
|
-24,000,000 |
|
Busted | |
Level 42
: 2,500,000/5,000,000, 5,000,000 ante
Action was picked up as the board read 
on the river with a pot of about 45,000 already in the middle.
Long Ma from the small blind put out a tiny 6,000,000 bet. Giuliano Lentini raised to 22,000,000. Ma snap three-bet by spiking a stack of chips in the middle for 111,000,000. Lentini shook his head, immediately displeased with his decision to raise.
He tanked for over a minute before folding the 
face up.
"You folded??" said Ma in surprise as he tabled the bluff with the 
and took in the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
395,000,000
65,000,000
|
65,000,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
145,000,000
-80,000,000
|
-80,000,000 |
|
|
135,000,000
20,700,000
|
20,700,000 |
Level 42
: 2,500,000/5,000,000, 5,000,000 ante
The action folded to Alex Vazquez in the small blind and he limped. Long Ma checked and they went heads-up to the flop.
The flop came 
. Vazquez led out for a bet of 5,000,000 and Ma made the call.
The turn was the 
and Vazquez moved all-in for 51,000,000. Ma tanked for several minutes and made the call.
Alex Vasquez: 
Long Ma: 
The river card was the 
. Vasquez could not improve and Ma got another knockout with a pair of jacks.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
330,000,000
45,000,000
|
45,000,000 |
|
|
||
|
Busted | |
Level 42
: 2,500,000/5,000,000, 5,000,000 ante
From the button Alex Vazquez raised to 10,000,000 and Giuliano Lentini defended the big blind.
The flop came 
. Lentini check-called a bet of 12,000,000 from Vazquez.
The turn was the 
. Both players checked. The river came the . This time Lentini led for 23,000 and was quickly called by Vazquez.
Lentini tabled the which was the winner as Vazquez flashed the 
to show that he was out-kicked.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
225,000,000
91,100,000
|
91,100,000 |
|
|
90,000,000
-24,600,000
|
-24,600,000 |
Level 42
: 2,500,000/5,000,000, 5,000,000 ante
In the second hand of the level, Long Ma opened the action to 12,000,000. Michael Eddy moved all-in for 25,100,000. It folded back to Ma and he made the call.
Michael Eddy: 
Long Ma:
The board ran out 
. Ma turned a pair of aces locking up the first knockout of the final five players. Eddy was sent to the payout line and Ma increased his already substantial chip lead.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
285,000,000
24,900,000
|
24,900,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
Busted | |
Level 42
: 2,500,000/5,000,000, 5,000,000 ante
Level 42
: 2,500,000/5,000,000, 5,000,000 ante
The final five players begin their quest for the bracelet now as the dealer has just started to deal the first hand of the evening.