Georgios Sotiropoulos from Greece is one of the latest bracelet winners at the ongoing WSOP 2021. He captured his third WSOP bracelet Friday afternoon at the Rio after taking down Event #65: $1,000 Mini Main Event where he outlasted a starting field of 3,821 entries to take home $432,575, which was the second-largest score of his career behind only a runner-up finish in €5,300 no-limit hold ’em event in 2013 at a European Poker Tour stop in Prague worth the equivalent of $957,180. With his latest victory, Sotiropoulos now has more than $3.4 million in career tournament earnings.
“It’s an amazing achievement,” Sotiropoulos told WSOP live reporters about his third bracelet win. “I really love the World Series of Poker, Las Vegas, the tournaments, the people here. Everything excites me. Makes me come again and again, playing more and winning more. Feeling grateful.”
The final table was reached on Day 2 after the elimination of Peter Cross in tenth for $35,308. Jordan Meltzer then eliminated Erkut Yilmaz in ninth when the latter moved all-in with A-5 and ran into Meltzer’s Q-Q. Yilmaz couldn’t get a three-outer and was the final table’s first elimination.
A short-stacked James Morgan moved all in for his last 5.5 big blinds with 5-5 and was looked up by Miyashita’s K-7. Miyashita flopped the top pair to win the pot eliminate Morgan in eighth place.
Sotiropoulos started the FT on a shorter stack but doubled up early and then eliminated David Tuthill in seventh. Tuthill ran his K-Q into Sotiropoulos’ K-10. The latter got a King on the river to win it.
Up next, Matthew Jewett was eliminated by James Patterson just before the end of the night, which ended with Sotiropoulos holding the chip lead. The eventual winner bagged up more than 2.5 times Meltzer, who advanced to Day 3 second in chips. Day 2 belonged to Sotiropoulos, but the first half of the final day was dominated by Miyashita, who eliminated the first three players and started the heads-up almost even in chips with Sotiropoulos. He eliminated James Rubinski on the second hand of the final day with ace-queen. He then flopped a set of eights to bust James Patterson in fourth place before busting Jordan Meltzer in third with Big Slick that made top pair on the river.
Miyashita began the heads-up for the title with a small lead, but Sotiropoulos picked off a bluff to regain the lead. It finally all ended in less than two hours. In a limped pot, Sotiropoulos check-called a bet on a flop of Qc 10d 7d. On the turn Qd, Sotiropoulos check-raised and Miyashita moved all in. Sotiropoulos quickly called with his 3d 2d and was ahead against Miyashita’s Qs 8c. The river 5c completed the board. Miyashita hit trip queens, but Sotiropoulos had made a flush to win the title.
Team India
Former bracelet winner Kartik Ved was the only Indian player to make it to Day 2 and he featured prominently among the chip leaders with a stack of 1,300,000. Ved eventually fell out in 77th place for $5,305 (INR 3.93 Lac), picking up his first cash at the ongoing World Series of Poker (WSOP) 2021.
Final Table Payouts (USD)
- Georgios Sotiropoulos – $432,575
- Wataru Miyashita – $267,328
- Jordan Meltzer – $202,695
- James Patterson – $154,720
- James Rubinski – $118,898
- Matthew Jewett – $91,991
- David Tuthill – $71,661
- James Morgan – $56,208
- Erkut Yilmaz – $44,394
- Peter Cross – $35,308