Tag: Koray Aldemir

CardsChat Presents: Big Winners of the WSOP (Nov. 12 – 18)

While the Main Event boiled down from 6,650 to the final nine, a dozen more bracelets were won. Brian Hastings continues to show the poker world that he’s an elite player by winning his fifth WSOP bracelet, while three players from France found their strides during the series’ final week.

But as the WSOP rolls to a close — the last live tournament of the series begins today — the real Big Winners are poker fans who got to watch these compelling people go for poker glory. All of us at CardsChat are already looking forward to the 2022 WSOP that begins in May.

We’re wondering how the new Main Event champion, Koray Aldemir, is going to fit all of that cash into his wallet. (Image: WSOP)

Koray Aldemir

$10K Main Event Championship
$8 million

It took 54 hands of heads-up play for the German-born pro (living in Austria) to defeat the amateur from Atlanta, Georgia, and claim the most-coveted title in poker, along with a hefty $8 million bankroll boost.

Scott Ball

$1,111 NLHE Little One for One Drop
$396,445

Winning his second bracelet of the Series, and his second overall, Ball bested a field of 3,797 entrants who anted up for a shot at poker glory and to help the One Drop foundation, which helps provide clean water to people around the world.

Jermaine Reid

$1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better
$113,459

Snatching his first bracelet, the Bronx resident outlasted 371 and beat a final table that included John Monnette, John Racener, and Carol Fuchs.

Davis Moses

$888 Crazy Eights No-Limit Hold’em, Eight-handed
$888,888

The man known as Ruetama claimed his first bracelet while playing the part of the Grinch to the 5,251 other players who tried for the $888,888 guaranteed first-place prize.

Mourad Amokrane

$1,500 PLO Eight-Handed
$132,844

Amokrane’s win makes him the second player to win a WSOP bracelet this year while also booking the biggest tournament score of his poker career.

Motoyoshi Okamura

$1,500 Mixed No-Limit Hold’em, PLO Eight-Handed
$209,716

The man from Japan won his first bracelet in this two-game mix tournament, outlasting 845 and a truly international final table with players representing Brazil, Chile, Israel, the Philippines, Germany, the US, and Canada.

Brain Hastings

$10K Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo
$352,958

Hastings reestablished his position as one of the game’s elite players, joining names like Allen Cunningham, Michael Mizrachi, and Shaun Deeb in the WSOP’s five-timer’s club by being the last man standing out of 144 entrants in this split pot event.

Denis Strebkov

$2,500 Mixed Big Bet Event
$117,898

Showing his skills in games ranging from Big O to No-Limit Hold’em, No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw, Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better, No-Limit 5-Card Draw High, Pot-Limit Omaha, and Pot-Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw, Strebkov bested a field of 212 players to claim the title and push his lifetime WSOP winnings to more than $500K.

Chad Himmelspach

$1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout
$270,877

Making his eighth WSOP cash — and fifth of this year’s series — count, Himmelspach won his first WSOP bracelet by being the last of 1,191 standing.

Romain Lewis

$10K Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout
$463,885

The Winamax-sponsored poker pro won his first bracelet — and the third for France this year — in the event that attracted 307.

Paulo Joanello

$1,500 No-Limit Hold’em
$321,917

The Brazilian with $13K in career tournament winnings before this event, won his first bracelet in the “Fifty Stack” tourney, where players start with 50K chips and play 30-minute blinds.

Aleksejs Ponakovs

$7,777 Online No-Limit Hold’em High Roller
$432,491

The online pro from Latvia pushed his WSOP winnings over the $1.5 million mark by winning his first bracelet in the online Lucky 7s event, which attracted 183.

Yuliyan Kolev

$777 Online No-Limit Hold’em
$146,163

The man from Sofia, Bulgaria won his first bracelet in the online event that saw 732 punters going for the Sunday online bracelet.

Photos by Melissa Haereiti, Alec Rome, Haley Hotchstetler, and Katerina Lukina, courtesy of the WSOP.

November 19, 2021
Koray Aldemir a Massive Chip Leader with Three Left in WSOP Main Event

With three players left in the WSOP Main Event, German professional Koray Aldemir holds a massive chip lead with 264.6 million. That’s 165 big blinds. Englishman Jack Oliver is second with 48 big blinds (77.3 million) and American George Holmes is third with 36 big blinds (57.4 million).

Koray Aldemir sweats the action from the rail at the WSOP Main Event (Image: WSOP/Melissa Haereiti)

While last night’s play was scheduled to stop with four players left, WSOP staff decided to play until just three remained. Soon after, a massive hand took place that could have resulted in a double knock-out.

Instead, it tripled Oliver into second place and put Joshua Remitio on the ropes and soon out in fourth place.

Oliver gets his diamond

With blinds at 800K-1.6M, and a 1.6M ante, Oliver sitting short with 20.5 million, pushed all-in with J♦ 9♦. Remitio pushed his remaining 27.2 million in with AJ off-suit, and Aldemir made the easy call with pocket queens.

Both Remitio’s and Oliver’s hands improved after T98 fell on the flop, but only one of them was a diamond. The 3♦ on the turn made Oliver’s rail start to stir, and 7♦ on the river made them explode in joy and disbelief.

The moment @jackabet triples up 4 handed at the WSOP Main Event FT. What a moment pic.twitter.com/f5WwiJC7li

— Euan McNicholas (@euan_m_) November 17, 2021

Remitio survived with the rivered straight, but his 13.4 million ended up in Oliver’s stack just one hand later after he moved all-in with J♥ 7♥, which lost to Oliver’s A2 when an ace hit the flop.

Before cashing for $2.3 million on Tuesday night, Remitio’s biggest tournament cash was for $650 in a $200 tournament at Talking Stick in 2019.

Ozgur Secilmis was eliminated in fifth after moving all-in with K♥ 5♥ from under the gun. Aldemir tanked for a bit before calling with pocket nines, which held. The Turkish player won $1.8 million.

Hye Park was eliminated in sixth by, you guessed it, Aldemir after he limped from the small blind with two black sevens, and then shoved his remaining 20.6 million after Aldemir raised with AQ. A queen on the turn doomed the Las Vegas-based high-stakes grinder and former Marine. He won $1.4 million.

He might be a wizard

Aldemir came into the final table as a significant chip leader with 140 million by seemingly summoning the cards he needs to win enormous pots. It happened again at the final table against Alejandro Lococo, who was second in chips with 69.5 million.

With black pocket 10s, Lococo raised and was re-raised by Aldemir with two red nines. A miracle flop of JJ9 came out, and Lococo called all-in on the river to vault Aldemir to more than 200 million.

Lococo, who is better known in Latin America as battle rapper Papo MC, won $1.225 million for seventh.

Two gone right off the bat

Both Jareth East (8.2 million) and Chase Bianchi (12.1 million) came to the final table short on chips. It was Bianchi, the only player at the final table with a bracelet, who was first to go.

In the fifth hand of the final table, Bianchi picked up KQ offsuit in the small blind and jammed all his chips after Oliver raised and Holmes called from the small blind. Holmes folded. Unfortunately for Bianchi, Oliver held AK. Bianchi earned $1 million for his incredible Main Event run.

East made an extra $100K by outlasting Bianchi by just one hand. He was eliminated on the sixth hand after shoving his last 6.3 million in chips with AJ. Holmes woke up to QQ. Although an ace hit on the flop, so did a lady, and that was hit for East.

Play is scheduled to continue at 1:30 p.m. PT on Wednesday.

November 17, 2021