Welcome to the Day 3 finale of Event #49: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw at the 2021 World Series of Poker. The final eight players return today to battle for the WSOP gold bracelet and a top prize of $297,051. Play will continue at 3 p.m. with the final table broadcast live at PokerGO at 5:00 p.m.
Benny Glaser leads an experienced field that survived a record-setting 122 entrants to qualify for the Day 3 finale. Glaser is looking for his fourth gold bracelet and he is joined in the final eight by fellow bracelet winners Johannes Becker, Farzad Bonyadi, Daniel Negreanu, and Julien Martini.
Ben Diebold, Jake Schwartz, and Dustin Dirksen are seeking their first WSOP title. Schwartz looks to continue his torrid pace at the 2021 WSOP where he has cashed in 10 tournaments and qualified for five final tables in the first half of the series.
Final Table Seating
Seat
Name
Country
Chip Count
1
Benny Glaser
United Kingdom
2,101,000
2
Farzad Bonyadi
United States
1,106,000
3
Johannes Becker
Germany
1,381,000
4
Daniel Negreanu
Canada
517,000
5
Dustin Dirksen
United States
953,000
6
Julien Martini
France
270,000
7
Jake Schwartz
United States
468,000
8
Ben Diebold
United States
522,000
Remaining Payouts
Place
Prize
1
$297,051
2
$183,591
3
$132,685
4
$97,199
5
$72,185
6
$54,359
7
$41,515
8
$32,162
Play will continue in Level 18 with blinds at 8,000/16,000 and a 24,000 ante. Levels will be 60-minutes long with a short break after each and a dinner break to be determined later in the evening, if necessary.
Be sure to keep it here all day long as the PokerNews live reporting team brings you all the action as it happens from the 2021 WSOP.
Ben Diebold raised to 32,000 from middle position and Benny Glaser called from the button. Farzad Bonyadi came along from the small blind and Johannes Becker three-bet to 200,000 from the big blind.
Diebold shoved for 477,000. Glaser and Bonyadi folded while Becker called.
Becker stood pat and Diebold went into the tank. After a few minutes, he stood pat.
Ben Diebold:
Johannes Becker:
Diebold did not break the ten-seven and Becker's rough-nine held on to eliminate him in seventh place for $41,515.
Johannes Becker raised to 40,000 from early position and Jake Schwartz shoved for 325,000. Becker was the lone caller.
Schwartz drew one and Becker stood pat.
Jake Schwartz: /
Johannes Becker:
Becker had the jack-low and Schwartz was live but he peeled a . The pair was enough to eliminate Schwartz from the tournament in fifth place for $72,185.
Johannes Becker raised to 60,000 from under-the-gun and Dustin Dirksen shoved for his last 320,000 from the small blind. Farzad Bonyadi cold-called from the big blind and Becker folded.
Bonyadi stood pat and Dirksen drew one.
Dustin Dirksen: /
Farzad Bonyadi:
Dirksen peeled an and was eliminated in fourth place.
Benny Glaser raised to 80,000 on the button and was three-bet to 265,000 by Farzad Bonyadi in the small blind. Glaser then four-bet to 1.81 million. Bonyadi called all in for his last 1.5 million.
Bonyadi stood pat and Glaser drew one.
Bonyadi revealed . Glaser's hand was unable to be seen on stream, but the dealer pitched him an and Bonyadi scooped the pot for a massive double up.
Farzad Bonyadi raised to 80,000 and Benny Glaser three-bet to 270,000. Bonyadi called.
Bonyadi drew one and Glaser stood pat.
Glaser checked after the draw and Bonyadi fired 690,000, enough to put Glaser at risk. Glaser went into the tank for more than three minutes before finally calling.
Bonyadi turned over and Glaser's jack-low was no good. Glaser was eliminated in third place for $132,685.
In what would be the last hand of the tournament, Johannes Becker raised to 80,000 on the button and was three-bet to 275,000 by Bonyadi. Becker shoved for 1.6 million and Bonyadi called to put Becker at risk.
Johannes Becker: /
Farzad Bonyadi:
Becker peeled a jack and Becker was eliminated in second place.
Farzad Bonyadi emerged victorious in Event #49: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship to take home his fourth gold bracelet and the $297,051 first-place place prize. Bonyadi overcame a 122-player field, which actually eclipsed the 91-player field from the same event in 2019 – a first thus far for the 2021 World Series of Poker.
Bonyadi, an Iranian-born poker professional based in California, has amassed more than $4 million in live tournament earnings according to The Hendon Mob. Today’s victory ends a 16-year gap between bracelets for Bonyadi, who won his last WSOP gold bracelet back in 2005 in a $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em event for nearly $600,000. Bonyadi now sits alongside four-time bracelet winners Joe Cada, Brian Hastings, Mike Matusow and Huck Seed, to name a few.
"It's good to have the fourth one," Bonyadi said. "This was my first tournament this year. I'm happy."
Bonyadi overcame a star-studded final table that included bracelet winners Benny Glaser, Julien Martini, Johannes Becker, and Poker Hall of Famer Daniel Negreanu. A feat made all the more impressive given that Bonyadi said he hasn't played any poker in two years.
"I think I played a good game, I really do. I bluffed when I had to. I caught good cards too, but I think I played a good game. It feels good to know you're not that rusty."
Bonyadi said the game has changed over the course of his 20-plus year poker career, but that he enjoys it.
"We used to play this game 20 years ago and there was no drawing to the ten or jack. Like any other game, the young blood is changing this game too. I kinda like it. I used to play the same way 20 years ago. You can say I'm an action player. I'm definitely not tight. Maybe they think I'm old and that I can't play [aggressively]. I'm very satisfied with the way I played."
Negreanu entered the final table with a middling stack, but the six-time bracelet winner was the first to bust after getting all-in pre-draw against Dustin Dirksen and drawing to a pair of fours.Ben Diebold and Martini were also unable to build any momentum with their short stacks and busted shortly thereafter.
It was the fifth final table of the series for Jake Schwartz, who nursed a short stack for some time until falling to Becker in fifth place. Schwartz is currently a strong contender for WSOPPlayer of The Year honors – having jumped to second place just below Phil Hellmuth following today’s result.
Four-handed play lasted for two entire levels without a player gaining any serious momentum until Dustin Dirksen shoved pre-draw and ran into the pat jack of Farzad Bonyadi. Dirksen drew to an ace-low and was eliminated. Bonyadi would continue to build on that momentum by doubling through Glaser with a pat ten in a massive pot and then eliminating him shortly after.
Heads-up play began with Bonyadi enjoying a nearly 2:1 chip advantage over Becker. Bonyadi held onto that advantage and managed to whittle Becker’s stack down over a series of small pots until Becker shoved over a three-bet by Bonyadi, who held a pat nine and called. Becker drew to a jack — ending the tournament and sealing Bonyadi's victory.