WPT Online Series: Ventura; Ustimov and Astedt Among Side Event Winners

The 2021 World Poker Tour Online Series is nearing the conclusion on June 2nd and until then, a busy schedule awaits. Among the most recent Side Event winners were several notables such as Diego Ventura, Viktor Ustimov, and Niklas Astedt.

In the meanwhile, Event #24 WPT500 has wrapped up four of its nine starting days and the festival is also gearing up for Day 1B of the $3,200 WPT online Main Event this upcoming Sunday.

Here is a look at the Side Event results.

Event #21 $1,575 Mix-Max ($500k GTD)

With a price tag of $1,575 and three starting days, the most expensive tier of Event #21 drew a total of 333 entries. That was just $3,500 short of the guarantee and the top 49 finishers across the flights reached the final day to secure a cash prize of at least $1,766.10.

Among those that bowed out early on were Joakim Andersson, Jerry Ödeen, Andras Nemeth, partypoker ambassador Kristen Bicknell, Alex Foxen, and Connor Drinan to name all but a few notables. Boris Kolev came close to reaching the final table but fell in 10^th place, followed by Ognyan Dimov and Lars Kamphues.

Notables on the official seven-handed final table included Rodrigo Selouan, Chance Kornuth, and Hannes Speiser. A South-American heads-up battle for the title unfolded between Argentina’s Augusto Hagen and Peru’s Diego Ventura, in which the latter prevailed. Hagen cashed for a combined $57,865 while Ventura earned the biggest slice worth $87,540.

Chance Kornuth finished 4th

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Event #21 $162 Mini Mix-Max ($200k GTD)

The same event also featured a $162 tier which attracted a total of 1,539 entries to breeze past the $200k guarantee. Only 231 players ensured a portion of the cash pool worth $160.85. Recent WPT500 Knockout champion Caio Pessagno ran deep once more and finished in 37^th place for $826.75 in bounties and $413.25 in cash. Other notables that bowed out prior to the final table were Tom Hall, Jasper Wetemans, Fabio Sperling, and Patrice Brandt.

Down to the final seven players, three Austrians were still in contention along with 2021 partypoker MILLIONS Online Mini Main Event champion Justin Ouimette. The Canadian earned just $145.31 in bounties but received $6,134.82 in cash for his 4^th place finish. Sandro Djuric fell short of victory and earned a combined $18,511 while Russian High Roller regular Viktor Ustimov claimed $24,440 when all was done and dusted.

Viktor Ustimov

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Event #21 $16.50 Micro Mix-Max ($50k GTD)

For a bargain buy-in of $16.50, players had a shot at $50,000 in prize money for the low-tier Micro Mix-Max Event #21. The tournament attracted a total field of 3,219 entries and narrowly missed out on covering the guarantee, resulting in an overlay of $1,715 to provide more value for its participants.

The top 476 finishers across three starting days earned at least $17.83 to go with their accumulated PKO bounty prizes. Numerous players from Brazil finished inside of the top 100 and two of them made the final seven including Marcos Padilha (5^th place for $1,472) and Pedro Henrique (3^rd place for $2,009. Dmitrii Agafonov had to settle for $3,619 while Canada’s Noah Wozney was crowned as the winner and claimed $5,136 in bounty and cash prizes.

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Event #22: $1,575 Omaha ($200k GTD)

Four-card aficionados entered the fray in Event #22 $1,575 Omaha which came with a guaranteed prize pool of $200k. Thanks to 134 entries in total, that was surpassed by $1,000, and the top 20 made the cut to take home at least $3,526.31 for their efforts. Some of those that cashed but failed to reach the seven-handed final table were Alex Foxen, Connor Drinan, Sami Kelopuro, Jerry Wong, and Joshua Hosel. British PLO specialist Gavin Cochrane succumbed in 8th and cashed for $5,976.21.

Among the final seven were the two Hungarian PLO crushers Benjamin Juhasz and Andras Nemeth, who had to settle for a fourth and third place respectively. Brazil’s Dante Goya Fernandes cut a deal with Niklas Astedt and padded his bankroll with $38,369 while online legend Astedt took it down for $41,325.15.

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Event #22: $162 Mini Omaha ($40k GTD) and $16.50 Micro Omaha ($10k GTD)

Both lower tiers for the Omaha Event surpassed their respective guarantees. In the $162 edition, a field of 301 entries emerged and 45 players shared a portion of the $45,150. German poker pro Maxi Lehmanski made his second PLO final table of the same day and finished as the runner-up after a heads-up deal with Klemens Roiter. Lehmanski cashed for $7,061.74 while Roiter took home $7.244.32.

In the $16.50 Micro Omaha, 713 entries generated a prize pool of $10,695. Only the top 106  earned at least $32.49 and three players from Sweden reached the top 10. Fabian Roberntz won the tournament for $1,475.24 after defeating Georgi Mitev ($1,102.57) in heads-up.

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Event #30: Turbo Knockouts

Three tiers were available for the one-day Event #30 Turbo Knockouts. The most expensive one featured a buy-in of $1,050 and reeled in 97 entries to come up short of the $100k guarantee by just three entries. Seventeen players earned at least $1,105 in cash to go with their accumulated bounties. Notable finalists included Matas Cikinas and Billy Irvine.

Fellow Brit Darren Mcallister finished in second for a combined $10,932. Austria-based Florian Löhnert cashed for $20,973 with more than half of that coming from PKO bounties.

The Mini SuperStack Turbo Knockout lasted for just over six hours and a field of 597 entries boosted the prize pool to $59,700. 90 players scored a cash prize of at least $108.15 and Leandro Falcon of Argentina walked away with $8,465.

In the bargain Micro SuperStack Turbo Knockout, 1,276 runners paid the $11 entry fee. The tournament lasted for just over six and a half hours. Four Brazilians finished in the top 10 and Alex Vitor Junior walked away as the champion for $756.28 in bounties and $816.26 in cash.
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WPT 6-Max Hyper Knockout ($25k GTD)

Just three hours and three minutes were needed to determine a champion in this Hyper Knockout tournament with a buy-in of $265. The six-max format drew 104 entries and a prize pool of $26,000. Among the finalists were the Lithuanians Gytis Lazauninkas (fifth place for $1,269) and Gediminas Uselis (third place for $2,979). The UK’s Charlie Combes walked away with the top prize of $6,285 in bounties and cash.

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Event #31 7-Max Knockouts

On Thursday, May 27, another edition of the 7-Max Knockouts took place. The trio of tournaments with buy-ins of $530, $55, and $5.50 surpassed their respective guarantees.

Enrico Camosci and Andrew Hedley enjoyed deep runs in the $530 tier and fell on the final two tables out of a field of 211 entries. Julian Selinger finished in fourth place for $1,992.19 in bounties and $3,767.80 in cash. Latvia’s Aleksejs Meless reached yet another final table during the ongoing week and made it to second place for a combined $10,599. Canada’s Matthew Stumpf emerged victoriously for $11,398.37 in bounties and $8,238.78 in cash.

The $55 Mini 7-Max Knockout featured a guarantee of $40k, which was easily surpassed thanks to 1,092 entries. That boosted the prize pool to $54,600 and the biggest slice of it was awarded on the seven-handed final table. Dilges Harman from Germany walked away as the champion and padded his bankroll with $3,296.32 in bounties as well as $3,527.70 in cash.

Last but not least, the Micro 7-Max Knockout finished with 1,299 runners and paid out $6,495 in bounty and cash prizes. Brazil’s Mauro De Oliveira Neto earned more PKO bounty prizes than the second to fifth place finishers and cashed for $790.

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Event #32: Omaha Knockouts

A trio of Pot-Limit Omaha Knockout Events took place on the same day as well and played down to a champion in the one-day tournaments.

The $1,050 buy-in hit the $50k guarantee on the nose thanks to 5 entries and the top nine shared the cash portion. Benjamin Juhasz bubbled in 10th place and had to settle for $500 in bounties. Notable finishers in the money included Erik Lemarquand, Dan Colpoys, and Boris Angelov. Christos Argyriadis secured $4,734.37 in bounties and $6,121.47 in cash but it was Jonas Gjelstad who took it down for $12,861 in combined prizes.

In the $109 Mini Omaha Knockout, 191 entries resulted in a $19,100 prize pool. Germany made up for nearly half of the final tablists and Christoph Wandel prevailed in heads-up against the UK’s Nigel Burgejones. Wandel accumulated $1,743.77 in bounties, which surpassed the $1,587.23 cash portion.

The $11 Micro Omaha Knockout had a guarantee of $5k but fell short of that with 438 entries, which gave all participants additional value. Dutchman Mats Laan earned more PKO bounty prizes than all other finalists combined for $509.13 while also claiming $396 in cash.

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WPT 6-Max Turbo

Last but not least, Thursday also featured a $215 Turbo 6-Max Event which came with a $25k guarantee. The tournament drew a total of 129 entries and a $25,800 prize pool. Only 24 players cashed for at least $409.37 and former WSOP Main Event finalist Aram Zobian ended up as the bubble boy.

Notables in the money included Leonard Maue, Stefan Lehner, Dalton Hobold, Ben Dobson, William Blais, Mikhail Zamyatin, Timothy Ulmer, and Christopher Pütz. Christian Bauer lost the heads-up duel against Anderson Dalmas and received $4,543.13, his opponent from Brazil scored for $4,548.45 after an ICM deal.

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Event #24 WPT500 ($1m GTD)

The second WPT500 of the series is underway and has concluded four of nine starting days. So far, 565 entries put the event on track to cover the $1 million guarantee, and 84 players locked up a portion of the prize pool already.

Day 1a drew 148 entries of which 22 players advanced. Notables such as Chris Klodnicki, Hannes Speiser, David Coleman, Joseph Cheong, Sylvain Loosli, Barry Hutter, and Andre Marques all bagged and tagged.

The second flight was the biggest so far with 167 entries, and it wrapped up with 25 survivors. Nick Maimone, Connor Drinan, Aram Zobian, and Justin Ouimette fell just short of making Day 2. Alex Foxen, Kelvin Kerber, Jans Arends, Richard Pearson, and Daniel Smiljkovic all fared better.

Day 1c brought in another 114 entries and 17 players locked up the berth for Day 2, Alik Zazian bubbled. Arnaud Enselme, Enrico Camosci, Warley Borges, and Pedro Neves made it through, among others.

Last but not least, Day 1d concluded with 20 survivors out of 136 entries. Side Event winner Aleksejs Meless was among those to advance, as were Espen Uhlen Jorstad, Andrew Hedley, Mikhail Zamyatin, Aaron Been, and Andrei Konopelko. Aram Zobian finished as the second-biggest stack of the flight with 6,019,257 while Ian Modder secured 7,175,770 for a top 10 stack overall.

Only two players have surpassed 10 million in chips so far: The UK’s Srikant Vedutla leads with 11,054,721 ahead of Dutchman Jelle Moene (10,650,743). UK-based Belgian poker pro Thomas Boivin holds the fourth-biggest stack so far (8,210,068).

Top Five Counts After Four Day 1s:

Day 1a: 148 entries, 22 survivors
Day 1b: 167 entries, 25 survivors
Day 1c: 114 entries, 17 survivors
Day 1d: 136 entries, 20 survivors
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WPT Event #25 Super50 ($300k GTD)

With a buy-in of just $55 and a massive guarantee of $300k, Event #25 Super50 is certainly a highlight for all mid-stakes grinders. Four starting days have concluded, another seven await. They all drew just under or just over 500 entries and 298 players qualified for Day 2 on Monday, May 31, 2021, so far.

Side Event champion Leandro Falcon from Argentina is off to a good start with the ninth-biggest stack across all four flights, as he advanced with 8,440,841. Octavian Dima has emerged as a solid chip leader with some 15.5 million, more than 4 million ahead of his nearest follower Michel Verboven.

Top Five Counts After Four Day 1s:

Day 1a: 532 entries, 80 survivors
Day 1b: 482 entries, 72 survivors
Day 1c: 490 entries, 74 survivors
Day 1d: 500 entries, 75 survivors
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WPT Event #26 Super5 ($50k GTD)

The low-tier $5.50 Super5 features a massive guarantee of $50k and fourteen starting days in total, of which four have been completed. Day 1a turned out to be the most popular so far with 672 entries and the total field size so far is set at 2,441. Four players out of the 359 qualifiers so far have surpassed 10 million in chips with Anders Sandberg leading the pack.

Day 1a: 672 entries, 101 survivors
Day 1b: 632 entries, 95 survivors
Day 1c: 580 entries, 87 survivors
Day 1d: 557 entries, 84 survivors
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The Weekend Schedule

A busy weekend awaits poker enthusiasts from all over the world and it is headlined by the second starting day of the $3,200 WPT Online Main Event. That one is slated to take place on Sunday, May 30, 2021, and players can earn their ticket at a fraction of the buy-in. A massive $320 Main Event Mega Sat is scheduled earlier on Sunday and will feature at least 50 guaranteed seats.