Michael ‘stiltwalk’ Mercaldo is the most recent participant to earn their first World Series of Poker gold bracelet throughout the 2021 WSOP Online sequence. Mercaldo defeated a area of 888 complete entries within the $777 buy-in ‘Lucky 7’s’ no-limit maintain’em occasion, securing the {hardware} and the first-place prize of $123,574 for the win.
This was the biggest rating of Mercaldo’s profession. The Hoboken, New Jersey resident’s earlier prime payday got here when he completed second in a $550 buy-in occasion throughout the 2009 Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza III sequence for $46,455.
The prime 126 finishers made the cash on this occasion, with a lot of huge names making deep runs, together with six-time bracelet winner Daniel ‘DNegs’ Negreanu (66th – $1,616), bracelet winner Daniel ‘centrfieldr’ Lupo (56th – $1,803), Jamie ‘DanBilzerian’ Kerstetter (52nd – $2,113), WPT champion Ema ‘Momma_says’ Zajmovic (thirty fifth – $2,859), Jim ‘BOCARATONE’ Collopy (18th – $4,227), and Dylan ‘PokerNpizza’ Hortin (eleventh – $6,651).
The last desk started with WSOP bracelet winner and up to date WPT Borgata Winter Open second-place finisher James ‘biggs2424’ Anderson within the lead and Mercaldo in third chip place. Krista ‘Pollux’ Gifford was the primary to fall, together with her prime pair operating into the highest two pair of Anderson. Gifford earned $11,189 for her eighth-place finsih.
Jake ‘nattydaddy24’ Hernandez knocked out Paul ‘presicion’ Zappulla in seventh place ($14,856) to slim the sector to 6. Despite that win, a preflop cooler resulted in Hernandez being the subsequent participant to hit the rail. Hernandez obtained all-in preflop with pocket jacks, solely to run into the pocket kings of Anderson. A king-high flop solely made issues worse for Hernandez, who was drawing useless by the flip. He took dwelling $20,016 for his sixth-place displaying.
Ryan ‘Protential’ Laplante’s pursuit of his second WSOP gold bracelet got here up simply brief this time round. The 2016 WSOP pot-limit Omaha $565 buy-in occasion winner obtained all-in with QJ racing in opposition to the pocket nines of Justin ‘MadTitan’ Turner. Laplante’s hand didn’t discover any assist from the board and he was eradicated in fifth place ($27,350).
Angel ‘ChromeKing’ Lopez obtained all-in with pocket sixes in opposition to the Q-8 of Turner, who flopped an eight to take the lead. Lopez was unable to return from behind on the flip or river and was despatched to the digital rail with $37,980.
Despite incomes the previous two knockouts, Turner fell to the underside of the chip counts throughout three-handed motion. He ended up three-bet jamming OkJ from the small blind, solely to have Mercaldo name with AA. The pocket aces held up and Turner was knocked out in third place $53,458.
Mercaldo took a slight lead into heads-up play in opposition to Anderson. The decisive hand of the match started with Anderson elevating to 320,000 on the button with 97. Mercaldo known as from the large blind holding 108. The flop got here down J97, giving Mercaldo a straight and Anderson two pair. Mercaldo check-called a wager of 299,999. The flip introduced the A and Mercaldo checked once more. Anderson moved all-in for 1,928,471 and Mercaldo made the decision along with his jack-high straight. The river was the Ok, locking up the pot and the title for Mercaldo. Anderson was awarded $76,395 for his second-place end.
Here is a have a look at the payouts awarded on the last desk:
Place | Player | Earnings |
1 | Michael ‘stiltwalk’ Mercaldo | $123,574 |
2 | James ‘biggs2424’ Anderson | $76,395 |
3 | Justin ‘MadTitan’ Turner | $53,458 |
4 | Angel ‘ChromeKing’ Lopez | $37,980 |
5 | Ryan ‘Protential’ Laplante | $27,350 |
6 | Jake ‘nattydaddy24’ Hernandez | $20,016 |
7 | Paul ‘presicion’ Zappulla | $14,856 |
8 | Krista ‘Pollux’ Gifford | $11,189 |
Mercaldo picture by way of Parx poker weblog.