One of the quickest bracelets of the WSOP 2021 was awarded on Tuesday in Event #76: $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty, a fast-paced event that featured $3,000 bounties on every player and drew an impressive 307 entries to generate a massive $2,862,775 in the prize pool. It was the most significant event from India’s perspective, with India’s poker superstar Aditya Agarwal entering its final table with a massive chip lead and being in the prime position till the HU to win India’s first bracelet at the ongoing series. While Agarwal dominated much of the final table and was looking in good shape, his dream run unfortunatley ended in second place for $286,705, his career-best score. He lost the title to French pro Romain Lewis who came out on on top to win $463,885 and his first WSOP bracelet.
Agarwal is a WSOP veteran who entered this bounty event with more than a half-million in WSOP earnings. His runner-up finish in the event happens to be his best live tournament score to date and it took his WSOP earnings to more than $869k. His total live earnings now stand at $1,424,770.
Agarwal is one of the most experienced Indian players and he showed off his elite skills and experience by outlasting some big names to enter the unofficial final table as a chip leader. He continued his momentum and extended his lead even further by eliminating the first three players from the final table, namely John Hemme (10th), Rainer Kempe (9th), and Haribhai Gopaul (7th) to enter the final day as a massive chip leader among the seven players remaining in contention.
Agarwal began the final day of this bounty event with the massive chip lead. However, he lost some chips to Israel’s Uri Reichenstein but bounced back into the chip lead during level 31 where Barth Melius moved all-in on the button for 3.96 Million and Agarwal called, tabling A-9 against the K-J of Melius. Agarwal flopped an ace which was enough to win the pot and bust Melius in fifth place.
Agarwal continued his momentum and scored another knockout of the day, bringing the field down to three. This time, he busted Reichenstein who had shoved his A-4 that lost to Agarwal’s Q-J on a board of 8 Q 8 10 3. Reichenstein failed to hit an Ace on the board and was busted in fourth.
The turning point was a race during the heads-up where Lewis called off his stack with pocket fives and held against Agarwal’s 7c 6c to jump into a 6:1 lead. A few hands later, it was all over with Lewis finishing Agarwal off. On the final hand, Agarwal holding As 3c called a shove from Lewis who held 10h 9h. The board ran out 2h Qd 8c 10d 7c, giving Lewis a ten pair on the turn to win the title.
A total of two Indians cashed in this event, with former bracelet winner Abhinav Iyer (14th place for $18,501 – INR 13.75 Lac) being the other Indian challenger to finish ITM among the 47 players.
Agarwal was not the only Indian to miss the bracelet. Former bracelet winner, Kartik Ved also busted Event #75: Freezeout No-Limit Holdem, finishing in 22nd position for $8,136. Even though Team India`s dream run in Event #75 and #76 is now over, several bracelet events still remain.
Final Table Payouts (USD)
- Romain Lewis – $463,885
- Aditya Agarwal – $286,705
- Stephen Chidwick – $200,598
- Uri Reichenstein – $142,840
- Barth Melius – $103,547
- Dario Sammartino – $76,442
- Yevgeniy Timoshenko – $57,489
- Haribhai Gopaul – $44,060
- Rainer Kempe – $34,424