Caio Pessagno Clinches WPT500 Knockout Title ($102,704)
Caio Pessagno is the 2021 WPT Online Series WPT500 Knockout champion! The talented Brazilian came out on top of a 2,054-strong field to claim a prize worth $102,704 with bounties included.
The final table was full of drama from start to finish, much to the delight of the army of viewers on the partypoker Twitch channel.
WPT #08 WPT500 Knockout Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize | Bounties | Total prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Caio Pessagno | Brazil | $62,240 | $40,464 | $102,704 |
| 2 | Manfred Hermann | Austria | $62,135 | $25,480 | $87,615 |
| 3 | Yulian Bogdanov | Bulgaria | $40,019 | $15,788 | $55,807 |
| 4 | Diogo Coelho | Malta | $26,321 | $11,073 | $37,394 |
| 5 | Sebastian Hoyos Villegas | Mexico | $17,816 | $4,091 | $21,908 |
| 6 | Michiel Brummelhuis | Netherlands | $13,540 | $6,121 | $19,662 |
| 7 | Charles La Boissonniere | Canada | $9,796 | $3,972 | $13,769 |
| 8 | Fabiano Kovalski | Brazil | $7,771 | $3,323 | $11,095 |
| 9 | Jerry Wong | Canada | $6,064 | $1,828 | $7,892 |
The final table kicked off at 7:05 p.m. BST on May 26 with nine players in the hunt for the title. Little did the finalists know at the restart that Lady Luck was not a fan of strong hands, the cruel mistress would crack some powerhouse holdings.
Jerry Wong was the first player to discover this. Charles La Boissonniere opened with a raise to 5,400,000 at the 1,250,000/2,500,000/315,000a level, chip leader Yulian Bogdanov three-bet to 15,125,000, only for Wong to four-bet jam for 33,011,309. Only Bogdanov called. It was the very strong 
for Wong, but the 
for Bogdanov. The kings held, and the final table lost its first player.
Kovalski Runs Kings Into Aces
Fabiano Kovalski suffered a similar fate in that he found a super-strong hand that looked almost certain to double his stack. Kovalski got his chips into the middle with only to run straight into the 
of Pessagno. The five community cards provided no drama, and Kovalski bowed out.
Aces were then cracked to reduce the player count further. La Boissonniere got his stack into the middle of the felt with with the board reading 
. Manfred Hermann held 
and spiked the flush-completing 
on the river.
The of Michiel Brummelhuis proved no match for the 
of Bogdanov soon after La Boissonniere's demise. Brummelhuis three-bet Bogdanov's preflop raise before open-shoving for 76,869,147 into a 63,480,000 pot on the 
flop. Bogdanov called with his two pair, which held as the turn and river bricked.
Kings No Good For Villegas
Amazingly, the run of big hands being useless continued when Mexico's Sebastian Hoyos Villegas found in the hole. Villegas was down a shade over ten big blinds when he looked down at kings. He jammed all-in from under the gun, and Bogdanov called from the big blind with 
. Bogdanov flopped two pair as the five community cards fell 
.
Fourth place went to Diogo Coelho who could not crack the nines of Hermann. Hermann raised 2.5 times the big blind with 
and called when Coelho ripped it in for 20 big blinds from the big blind with 
. Hermann flopped a set on the 
board.
Heads-up was set when Hermann's pair of nines held in a major coinflip. Pessagno opened the preflop betting with 
, Bogdanov three-bet with before calling off the rest of his stack when Hermann four-bet jammed with 
. Bogdanov had a plethora of outs on the turn of the 
board but none of them came in.
Pessagno went into the one-on-one battle with Hermann holding a 604,049,738 to 418,864,613 chip lead, and he never fell behind. The final hand saw Hermann raise to 17,600,000 with , and Pessagno call from the big blind with . Pessagno check-called a 11,160,000 continuation bet on the 
flop, and a 44,000,000 bet on the turn. Pessagno expertly checked again on the river, leading to Hermann committing all but five of his chips as a bluff. Those chips and the final pot of the evening went to Pessagno when he raised all-in.