2021 APAT WSOP Fantasy League

[MintTrav]

Event 26: $1,000 Freezeout No Limit Hold'em

Winner	Dalibor Dula
Runners	1358
Paid	202
Final Table	9

Player	Position	Points
Maurice Hawkins	9	2

Selector	Points
John 2	2

My greatest moment. Maurice Hawkins is the Phil Hellmuth of the WSOP Circuit, with the record number of rings and an unlikeable personality. He has 14 rings and zero bracelets. It is quite strange that he has only made four WSOP final tables, with a highest finish of 6th, contrasting dramatically with his Circuit record.

i was delighted to see that Levi Klump had his first WSOP cash in 8th. What a fantastic name. Here's hoping he has lots more. Even better was German player Axel Reese in 12th - just one letter away from the best name ever.

[MintTrav]

Event 27: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E.

Winner	Anthony Zinno
Runners	594
Paid	89
Final Table	9

Player	Position	Points
Anthony Zinno	1	25
Randy Ohel	2	18
Max Pescatori	8	4
Joseph McKeehen	13	1
Christopher Vitch	22	1
John Monnette	39	1
Brian Hastings	48	1
Shaun Deeb	49	1
Allen Kessler	71	1

Selector	Points
Gareth	27
Jo 1	27
Jo 2	27
Stephen 1	27
John 1	26
Stephen 2	25
Carl 1	21
Aneurin	4
Barrie 2	2
Del	2
Derek	2
Karen	2
Richard	2
Simon L	2
Barrie 1	1
Carl 2	1
Chris	1
David	1
Jon	1
Michael	1
Rob	1
Simon A	1
Stu	1
Tom	1

Two bracelets in five days!
Although there were almost 600 entrants, several of the top mixed-game players were there near the end. Zinno was heads-up against Randy Ohel and Pescatori also reached the final table, while Brock Parker, Joe McKeehen and Roland Israelashvili just missed it. Ari Engel was also chasing his second bracelet of the year, but fell in 10th place.

[MintTrav]

Event 28: $1,000 Pot Limit Omaha 8-Handed

Winner	Dylan Weisman
Runners	1069
Paid	159
Final Table	8

Player	Position	Points
Joseph Cheong	35	1
Ryan Hughes	75	1
Adam Hendrix	85	1
Daniel Zack	123	1
Adam Owen	135	1
Daniel Negreanu	140	1
Ryan Laplante	158	1

Selector	Points
Simon L	3
Carl 1	2
Carl 2	2
Chris	2
Derek	2
Gareth	2
Jo 1	2
Jo 2	2
John 1	2
Jon	2
Rob	2
Stephen 2	2
Aneurin	1
Barrie 1	1
Barrie 2	1
David	1
Del	1
John 2	1
Karen	1
Luca 1	1
Luca 2	1
Nic	1
Richard	1
Stephen 1	1
Stu	1
Tom	1

Good new for Upswing Poker, as the PLO coach wins a PLO bracelet.

Simon cuts into the points deficit.

[MintTrav]

Event 29: $10,000 Short Deck No Limit Hold'em

Winner	Chance Kornuth
Runners	66
Paid	10
Final Table	6

Player	Position	Points
Chance Kornuth	1	25
Joao Vieira	5	10
Stephen Chidwick	8	1

Selector	Points
Carl 2	26
Rob	10
Aneurin	1
Barrie 1	1
David	1
Gareth	1
Jon	1
Luca 2	1
Richard	1
Simon A	1
Stephen 1	1
Stephen 2	1
Tom	1

Another poker coach wins. Chance is the founder of "Chip Leader Coaching", which includes Nick Petrangelo among its coaches. Kornuth was 4th in this event last time but went three better to clinch it.

Nice picking by Carl.

The best thing about this tournament was that Hellmuth wasn't involved, so Chance was able to enjoy his moment without Phil stealing his limelight.

[MintTrav]

Event 30: $1,500 Monster Stack No Limit Hold'em

Winner	Michael Noori
Runners	3520
Paid	528
Final Table	10

Player	Position	Points
Shannon Shorr	478	1

Selector	Points
Stu	1

Well done to the winner, but what an incredible performance by Ryan Leng to come second in a three and a half thousand field just four days after winning the 8-Game (when he was the one to stop Connor Drinan getting the double). This was another Amateur Night, with very few big names down the field.

[MintTrav]

PLAYER SCORES AFTER 30 EVENTS

Player	Points	Wins	Final Tables	Cashes
Anthony Zinno	52	2	2	4
Connor Drinan	43	1	2	2
Phil Hellmuth Jr	31	0	3	4
Daniel Zack	28	0	2	6
John Monnette	27	1	1	3
Jason Koon	26	1	1	2
Chance Kornuth	26	1	1	2
Joao Vieira	26	0	2	3
Robert Mizrachi	22	0	2	3
Randy Ohel	20	0	1	3
Benny Glaser	19	0	1	2
John Racener	17	0	2	3
David Benyamine	16	0	1	2
Shaun Deeb	14	0	1	5
Chad Eveslage	14	0	1	3
David Peters	12	0	1	1
Benjamin Yu	11	0	1	6
Ryan Hughes	11	0	1	4
Mikita Badziakouski	10	0	1	1
Stephen Chidwick	9	0	1	2
Adam Hendrix	6	0	1	3
Max Pescatori	6	0	1	3
Ryan Laplante	5	0	0	5
Daniel Negreanu	5	0	0	5
Daniel Buzgon	4	0	0	4
Vanessa Kade	4	0	0	4
Matt Glantz	3	0	1	2
Maurice Hawkins	3	0	1	2
Shannon Shorr	3	0	0	3
Joseph Cheong	3	0	0	3
Sean Perry	3	0	0	3
Cary Katz	3	0	0	3
Paul Volpe	2	0	0	2
Faraz Jaka	2	0	0	2
Mike Gorodinsky	2	0	0	2
Niall Farrell	2	0	0	2
Christopher Vitch	2	0	0	2
Allen Kessler	2	0	0	2
Brian Hastings	2	0	0	2
Jeff Gross	2	0	0	2
Eli Elezra	2	0	0	2
Adam Owen	2	0	0	2
Joseph McKeehen	2	0	0	2
Ap Louis Garza	2	0	0	2
Yuri Martins Dzivielevski	2	0	0	2
Julien Martini	2	0	0	2
David "Bakes" Baker	1	0	0	1
Sam Razavi	1	0	0	1
Bertrand Grospellier	1	0	0	1
Brandon Shack-Harris	1	0	0	1
Calvin Anderson	1	0	0	1
Harry Lodge	1	0	0	1
Marco Johnson	1	0	0	1
Yueqi Zhu	1	0	0	1
Chris Moorman	1	0	0	1
Christopher Brewer	1	0	0	1
Erik Seidel	1	0	0	1
Ismael Bojang	1	0	0	1
Michael Mizrachi	1	0	0	1
Nick Petrangelo	1	0	0	1

After 30 events, it was Zinno in charge. Could anyone catch him? Who knows?

[MintTrav]

SELECTOR SCORES AFTER 30 EVENTS

Selector	Points
Jo 2	180
Stephen 1	171
Jo 1	144
Gareth	143
John 1	108
Stephen 2	101
Stu	92
Jon	91
Rob	91
David	84
Barrie 2	90
Carl 1	90
Richard	76
Aneurin	75
Tom	71
Carl 2	67
Simon L	66
Del	66
Michael	66
Chris	63
Derek	61
Karen	53
Simon A	53
Barrie 1	50
Luca 2	49
John 2	46
Nic	40
Luca 1	25

[MintTrav]

Michael Noori's victory party for the Monster Stack look like they've all been photoshopped in - especially the man with the enormous head.

[MintTrav]

Event 31: $1,500 No Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw

Winner	Phil Hellmuth
Runners	272
Paid	41
Final Table	8

Player	Position	Points
Phil Hellmuth Jr	1	25
Christopher Vitch	3	15
Dario Sammartino	6	8
Ismael Bojang	13	1
Almedin Imsirovic	14	1
Brandon Shack-Harris	23	1
John Monnette	26	1
Daniel Zack	29	1
Ryan Hughes	38	1
John Racener	40	1

Selector	Points
Jo 2	43
Luca 2	33
Jo 1	27
Barrie 2	26
Del	26
Derek	26
John 2	26
Richard	26
Simon L	26
Stephen 1	26
Stu	26
Aneurin	25
Chris	25
David	25
Jon	25
Karen	25
Michael	25
Nic	25
Rob	25
Stephen 2	25
Tom	25
Carl 1	17
Gareth	16
Luca 1	9
Carl 2	3
John 1	2
Simon A	1

It was the one we were waiting for. What a night for Phil - and for everyone. Getting to yet another final table was remarkable - he is reaching the final of everything he plays. Though this was a $1,500, it was pro-heavy and virtually all of the final table had a big history, with others like Reiss, Bojang and Imsirovic just missing it. Once it reached the final four, it seemed any of them could win., with Hellmuth, Vitch and Porter all being big-hitters in mixed, while Schwartz has made a bunch of finals before and was more than holding his own, leading for most of the final session. Porter and Vitch went almost together and suddenly Phil was heads-up for another one. It took over two hours more of back and forth until he took it for the 16th time. Phil was already the only player to win bracelets in four different decades - now it's five.

Loads of points all round, and even more for Jo. Every year she includes Vitch and Shack-Harris in her teams (the only one who ever picks Vitch) and they usually bring her a nice bonus against the field. Dario gave Luca some much-needed points and everyone had Hellmuth. Well, almost everyone.

[MintTrav]

Hellmuth, Schwartz and Porter enjoying the game.

[MintTrav]

Event 32: $3,000 H.O.R.S.E.

Winner	Jim Collopy
Runners	282
Paid	43
Final Table	8

Player	Position	Points
Eli Elezra	4	12
Daniel Negreanu	8	4
Brandon Shack-Harris	13	1
Allen Kessler	32	1
Yueqi Zhu	41	1

Selector	Points
Barrie 2	16
Barrie 1	5
Carl 2	5
Jo 1	5
Jo 2	5
Simon L	5
Aneurin	4
Chris	4
David	4
Del	4
Derek	4
Gareth	4
Jon	4
Karen	4
Luca 1	4
Luca 2	4
Nic	4
Richard	4
Rob	4
Stephen 1	4
Stephen 2	4
Stu	4
Tom	4
Carl 1	2
John 2	1

It's been a bad year for Negreanu so far, but he finally got some traction here. Same goes for Elezra, though I assume he plays a smaller schedule. A lot of people were pleased to see Maria Ho reach the final table.

An ominous result for everyone as Barrie tops the list. He has started late and run it in previously, so it's always a concern when he starts scoring.

Tiffany Michelle tweeted about 'wifey' Ho making the FT. There have been rumours for more than a decade that these two are a couple, which they have done nothing to discourage. Who care whether it's true or not - that's tonight's fantasy sorted!

[MintTrav]

Event 33: $800 No Limit Hold'em Deepstack

Winner	Ran Koller
Runners	2778
Paid	417
Final Table	8

Player	Position	Points
Ismael Bojang	54	1
Harry Lodge	67	1
Ryan Laplante	114	1
Joao Vieira	348	1

Selector	Points
Carl 1	1
Carl 2	1
Chris	1
Jon	1
Michael	1
Rob	1
Simon A	1
Simon L	1

This would have been a completely forgettable tournament except for one thing. The final table consisted entirely of anonymous nonentities, none of whom had ever bothered a final previously. It would have been a total snore if Heads-Up didn't turn out to be a battle of Rans. Two Israelis reached the final, Ran Koller and Ran Ilani, and everyone not connected with the other players was hoping to see a Ran v Ran finale. There were times when it looked like Florian or Oleg might spoil things, so there was relief all round when Florian was eliminated in third and we had our Ran on Ran. Ran had been chip-leader throughout the final, whereas Ran had been bumping along the bottom. In the end, Ran ran really well to overcome Ran, whereas it has to be said that Ran ran not so well. And so it was Ran 1 and Ran 2 from 2,778 runners.

[MintTrav]

Event 34: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw

Winner	David "Bakes" Baker
Runners	285
Paid	43
Final Table	6

Player	Position	Points
David "Bakes" Baker	1	25
Adam Owen	8	1

Selector	Points
Rob	25
Carl 2	1
Jo 1	1
Simon L	1
Stephen 2	1

Bakes finally got another bracelet. He won a couple a decade ago and then had a second place but had quite a lull until he reached heads-up twice more in 2018 and 2019, so this win is overdue. Nice pick by Rob.

[MintTrav]

Event 35: $500 Freezeout No Limit Hold'em

Winner	Anthony Koutsos
Runners	2931
Paid	440
Final Table	9

Player	Position	Points
Daniel Buzgon	17	1
Shaun Deeb	42	1
Allen Kessler	344	1

Selector	Points
Carl 1	2
Simon L	2
Aneurin	1
Barrie 1	1
Barrie 2	1
Chris	1
David	1
Del	1
Derek	1
Gareth	1
Jo 1	1
Jo 2	1
John 1	1
Jon	1
Karen	1
Michael	1
Richard	1
Rob	1
Simon A	1
Stephen 1	1
Stu	1
Tom	1

Another tournament where nothing happened. The top five finishers had two WSOP cashes between them, and they were by the same player. Not final tables - cashes.  If you're going to set up $500 tournaments, you needn't  expect the pro's to play them.

[MintTrav]

Event 36: $10,000 Dealers Choice 6-Handed Championship

Winner	Adam Friedman
Runners	93
Paid	14
Final Table	8

Player	Position	Points
Phil Hellmuth Jr	2	18
Mike Matusow	5	10
Matt Glantz	7	6
Mike Gorodinsky	8	4
Daniel Negreanu	9	1
Joao Vieira	10	1
Scott Seiver	12	1

Selector	Points
Nic	35
Chris	29
Karen	29
Michael	28
Luca 2	24
Jon	20
Rob	20
Aneurin	19
Barrie 2	19
David	19
Del	19
Derek	19
Jo 1	19
Jo 2	19
Richard	19
Simon L	19
Stephen 1	19
Stephen 2	19
Stu	19
Tom	19
John 2	18
Gareth	5
Luca 1	2
Barrie 1	1
Carl 2	1

This tournament was always going to be one of the highlights of the Series, but the way it played out made it the single most memorable so far. We expect to find some of the world's top players in this, but it was memorable to see three of the most iconic players - Hellmuth, Negreanu and Matusow - get to the end and play on the same table. The final table was unreal. As well as Phil & Mike, there was Jake Schwartz, who was heads-up with Hellmuth a few days earlier, former Player of the Year Mike Gorodinsky, and Adam Friedman, who won this event in both 2018 and 2019 and was going for three-in-a-row. It also included Ruth Fuchs, but I'm not going to do my "Who doesn't?" joke this year as people have seen it before. Friedman and Hellmuth ending up heads-up was the icing on the cliche, with history-making guaranteed either way. Nic was the only one to include Glantz and topped the list, with four of the top nine on his team.

This event saw the power of the grass-roots players being exercised for once. PokerGo was given broadcast rights by the WSOP and set a schedule of final tables it would show, which didn't go down well as it skipped some key tournaments contested by the stars in favour of NLHEs between random nobodies. There was widespread resentment that it missed Hellmuth's win, and when he reached the final of this in good shape, along with a starry final two tables, the protests became loud. The audience begged for even some video without commentary and, after first refusing, PokerGo provided just that, though it did manage to organise some limited commentary by Esther Taylor and others. The audience was initially grateful for the change of heart, and then began criticising the coverage.