Brian Rast Wins Fifth Bracelet; Sets Sights on Poker Hall of Fame
Only a few dozen players returned for their chance at World Series of Poker gold and the top prize of $474,102 on Day 2 of Event #51: $3,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold��em. By day��s end, it was Brian Rast who conquered the field and claimed victory for his fifth WSOP gold bracelet at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino.
Rast has more than $22 million in tournament earnings and has claimed two WSOP Poker Player's Championships. Yet the win today wasn��t an afterthought for the five-time bracelet winner Rast, who rekindled his competitive spirit with this trip to the WSOP.
Event #51: $3,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brian Rast | United States | $474,102 |
| 2 | John Gallaher | United States | $293,009 |
| 3 | Tuan Phan | United States | $210,913 |
| 4 | Nick Yunis | Chile | $141,478 |
| 5 | Jun Obara | Japan | $100,827 |
| 6 | Francisco Benitez | Uruguay | $73,107 |
��Honestly, it��s mixed emotions, the biggest one is relief,�� said Rast. ��Things have been changing in my life. Since COVID, it��s the least I��ve played poker since I started. So coming back to this WSOP it��s like, I really haven��t played much for almost a year and a half. This was like a challenge. This WSOP is more like playing for the competitive spirit of it and it was cool because I��ve played poker for a lot of money and this is a decent chunk for only putting up $3k. But that said, The thing that really got me fired up about this is the competitiveness of doing it.��
Rast, 39, said he does think about his legacy in poker and all of his accomplishments.
��I turn 40 in a couple of weeks and it was on my mind to make the Poker Hall of Fame. I think I have a pretty good claim. I��ve played the biggest cash games in the world for over a decade and I��ve done a lot in tournaments as well. I just don��t think there are too many people. I wanted to come back here this year to the WSOP and show myself that I can still play great poker and be around and enjoy it and hopefully add more.��
There wasn��t a huge rowdy rail on the final table today, but Rast was particularly grateful to have his wife in attendance to see the victory.
��My rail was small but it was the most important because it was my wife,�� he said. ��My wife doesn��t actually come out for much poker stuff. So it��s like, she never comes and sweats the cash games or anything. But if I make a final table, and she��s in town, she comes. So it��s like OK, the pressure is on. The wife doesn��t make it easy, we have to really perform here to get some attention from the missus. Like it��s funny, the hardest person to like earn her respect in that sense, is my wife.��
It took four hours of play to whittle the field down to the unofficial final table of seven. Some of the notables to fall before that point were John Racener (16th - $24,160), Christian Harder (22nd - $19,187), two-time bracelet winner Georgios Sotiropoulos (24th - $19,187), and one-time winner Manig Loeser (33rd - $12,826).
Matas Cimbolas fell just short of the official six-handed final table. He found himself short-stacked and all in with jack-nine suited against the ace-eight of Nick Yunis. Cimbolas could not improve and he exited in seventh ($53,946).
As the field started to dwindle and Rast continued to grow his stack, he said that he really started zoning on making victory a reality.
��When we were a little bit out, I started to build up a chip lead and I was like Ok, I��m going for the win. There were some spots where I was shoving and I really don��t think it was a bad play. I was trying to put max pressure on people and I mean I had a good run of cards too and it worked out.��
Final Table Action
All eyes were on Brian Rast. The four-time bracelet winner entered with a commanding chip lead of one-third of the chips in play. First to go was Francisco Benitez. Short on chips, Benitez jammed with ace-queen and Rast called with seven-six suited. Rast connected with a pair of sevens and Benitez exited in sixth ($73,107).
Next to go was Jun Obara. The day one chip leader shoved the flop with a flush draw but ran into the flopped pair of jacks of Yunis. Obara could not improve and had to settle for fifth ($100,827). Yunis followed him out the door in fourth ($141,478) when his ace-five suited was in preflop against the ace-four of Rast. Rast paired his four and action moved to three-handed.
Tuan Phan finished in third ($210,913) after he was down under five big blinds. Phan shoved queen-jack from the small blind and Rast called with five-four from the big blind. Rast made a straight on the river and heads up play began.
Rast entered heads up play with a 5-1 chip advantage against John Gallaher and things would end quickly as he ran his queen-ten right into the king-ten of Rast. Rast held and Gallaher had to settle for second ($293,009).
Rast joins some rare air as a five-time WSOP bracelet winner. Rast is also the second player ever to win five bracelets or more without ever finishing runner-up in a WSOP event. Daniel Alaei is the only other one, who also has five. A few others on that list include Stu Ungar, Scotty Nguyen, Michael Mizrachi, and Jason Mercier. Congratulations to Brian for winning Event #41: $3,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold��em.
In this Series
- 1 Caesars Palace Dealer Jimmy Barnett Crowned Casino Employees Champion
- 2 Jesse Klein Tilts Hellmuth on Way to 2021 WSOP $25K H.O.R.S.E. Win for $552,182
- 3 Jeremy Ausmus Wins First Gold Bracelet of the 2021 World Series of Poker
- 4 Long Ma Tops Near 13,000-Player Field to Win The Reunion and First WSOP Bracelet
- 5 Connor Drinan Wins Second Bracelet in Event #5: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better
- 6 Tyler Cornell Gets Signature Victory in 2021 WSOP Event #6: $25,000 High Roller ($833,289)
- 7 Jaswinder "Jesse" Lally Wins 2021 WSOP Event #7: $1,500 Dealers Choice 6-Handed ($97,915)
- 8 Aces in the Final Hand as Zhi Wu Wins Event #8: $600 Deepstack ($281,604)
- 9 Ari Engel Wins Second WSOP Bracelet in $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 Championship; Hellmuth Fifth
- 10 Michael Perrone Wins 2021 WSOP Event #10: $1,000 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold��em ($152,173)
- 11 Jason Koon Wins Maiden WSOP Bracelet in Event #11: $25K Heads-Up Championship ($243,981)
- 12 Yuval Bronshtein Wins Second WSOP Bracelet in Event #12: $1,500 Limit Hold'em
- 13 Harvey Mathews Wins Event #13: $3,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em ($371,914)
- 14 Lebron Captures Gold; Wins 2021 WSOP Event #14: $1,500 7-Card Stud
- 15 Bradley Jansen Wins First WSOP Gold Bracelet in Event #15: $1,500 6-Handed No-Limit Hold'em ($313,403)
- 16 John Monnette Wins Fourth WSOP Bracelet in Event #16: $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship ($245,680)
- 17 Daniel Lazrus Wins 2021 WSOP Millionaire Maker for 2nd Bracelet ($1,000,000)
- 18 Vladimir Peck Wins 2021 WSOP Event #18: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball ($134,390)
- 19 Phil Hellmuth Denied 16th Bracelet as Anthony Zinno Wins His 3rd in the $10K Stud Championship
- 20 DJ Alexander Captures 1st WSOP Bracelet in Event #20: GGPoker Flip & Go ($180,665)
- 21 Dylan Linde Wins His First WSOP Bracelet in Event #21: $1,500 Mixed Omaha Hi-Lo ($170,269)
- 22 Lara Eisenberg wins 2021 World Series of Poker Ladies NLHE Championship
- 23 Ryan Leng Wins Event #23: $1,500 Eight Game Mix 6-Handed for $137,969
- 24 Michael Prendergast Wins Maiden Bracelet in Event #24: $600 Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack ($127,428)
- 25 Scott Ball Celebrates First WSOP Bracelet in Event #25: $5,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold'em
- 26 Czech Pro Dalibor Dula Becomes First European Bracelet Winner at the 2021 WSOP
- 27 Anthony Zinno Wins Fourth Gold Bracelet in Event #27 $1,500 H.O.R.S.E.
- 28 Dylan Weisman Wins WSOP Event #28: $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha for First Bracelet ($166,461)
- 29 Chance Kornuth Wins Third WSOP Bracelet in Event #29: $10,000 Short Deck ($194,670)
- 30 Michael Noori Captures First WSOP Bracelet and $610,437 in the Monster Stack
- 31 Phil Hellmuth Wins Record 16th World Series of Poker (WSOP) Gold Bracelet
- 32 Jim Collopy Wins 2021 WSOP Event #32: $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. for Second Gold Bracelet ($172,823)
- 33 Ran Koller Wins WSOP Event #33: $800 Eight-Handed No Limit Hold'em Deep Stack ($269,478)
- 34 David "Bakes" Baker Wins Third WSOP Title in Event #34: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw
- 35 Anthony Koutsos Wins First WSOP Bracelet In Event #35: $500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold��em ($167,272)
- 36 Adam Friedman Defeats Phil Hellmuth to Win WSOP $10k Dealer's Choice for Third Straight Year
- 37 Karolis Sereika Wins First WSOP Bracelet in Event #37: $1,500 Super Turbo ($195,310)
- 38 Michael Addamo Wins Third WSOP Gold Bracelet in Event #38: $50K High Roller ($1,132,968)
- 39 Josh Arieh Wins Third Bracelet in Event #39: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha ($204,766)
- 40 Kevin Gerhart Wins Third Career Bracelet in Event #40: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship
- 41 "Hobby Player" Carlos Chang Wins First Bracelet in $2,500 NLHE Freezeout
- 42 Bradley Ruben Dazzles in the $1,500 Razz; Wins Third WSOP Bracelet
- 43 Dreams to Win a WSOP Bracelet Come True for Anthony Denove in the $1K Double Stack
- 44 Ryan Hansen Wins First WSOP Bracelet in Event #44: $3,000 6-Handed Limit Hold'em ($109,692)
- 45 Tommy Le Wins WSOP $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship For Second Time
- 46 Chad Norton Wins A Bracelet in His First-Ever WSOP Event!
- 47 France's Alexandre Reard Wins 2021 WSOP Event #47: $5,000 Freezeout NLH ($428,694)
- 48 Poker Philanthropist Gershon Distenfeld Wins WSOP Bracelet, Pledges All Winnings to Charity ($204K)
- 49 Farzad Bonyadi Wins Fourth Bracelet in $10K 2-7 NL Single Draw, Ends Sixteen-Year Drought
- 50 Premonition Becomes Reality as Darrin Wright Wins First WSOP Bracelet
- 51 Brian Rast Wins Fifth Bracelet; Sets Sights on Poker Hall of Fame
- 52 Robert McMillan Wins 2021 WSOP Event #52: $1,000 Seniors Championship ($561,060)
- 53 Shaun Deeb Wins 5th Bracelet in WSOP Event #53: $25,000 PLO ($1,251,860)
- 54 Nicholas Julia Wins Event #54: $2,500 Nine-Game Mix 6-Handed ($168,608)
- 55 Anatolii Zyrin Defeats Massive Field in Colossus to Claim Second WSOP Bracelet ($314,705)
- 56 Ben Yu Wins Fourth Bracelet in Event #56: $10,000 6-Handed NLH Championship ($721,453)
- 57 Brian Yoon Wins Fourth Bracelet in Event #57: $10,000 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Championship ($839,350)
- 58 Jean-Luc Adam Wins First Bracelet and $255,623 in Event #58: $1,000 Super Seniors No-Limit Hold'em
- 59 Team Ruter Crowned Event #59: $1,000 Tag Team Champions ($113,366)
- 60 Dan "Jungleman" Cates Takes Down $50,000 Poker Players Championship for First WSOP Bracelet
- 61 Cole Ferraro Comes From Behind to Win WSOP Event #61: $600 Deepstack Championship ($252,491)
- 62 Kevin Gerhart Earns Fourth WSOP Bracelet in Event #62: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better ($186,789)
- 63 Eric Zhang Wins 2021 WSOP Event #63: $500 Salute to Warriors ($102,465)
- 64 From Online Crusher to WSOP Gold: Eelis Parssinen Wins Event #64: $5,000 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em/Pot-Limit Omaha
- 65 "It Feels Amazing": Georgios Sotiropoulos Wins Mini Main Event for 3rd WSOP Bracelet
- 66 Josh Arieh Wins Fourth Bracelet in Event #66: $10,000 Pot-Limit Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship
- 67 Koray Aldemir Wins 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event for $8,000,000
- 68 Scott Ball Wins Second WSOP Bracelet in Event #68 $1,111 Little One for One Drop
- 69 Jermaine Reid Reschedules Flight Before Winning WSOP Event #69: $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better ($113,459)
- 70 David Moses Wins Maiden Bracelet in 2021 WSOP Event #70: $888 Crazy Eights ($888,888)
- 71 Mourad Amokrane Dominates the Final Table On His Way to Winning Event #71: $1,500 Bounty Pot-Limit Omaha
- 72 Motoyoshi Okamura Wins Event #72: $1,500 Mixed No-Limit Hold��em/Pot-Limit Omaha for $209,716
- 73 Brian Hastings Becomes 29th Player in WSOP History to Claim Five Gold Bracelets
- 74 Denis Strebkov Wins His Second WSOP Gold Bracelet in Event #74: $2,500 Big Bet Mix
- 75 Chad Himmelspach Comes Back From a Single Blind to Win WSOP Event #75: $1,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em ($270,877)
- 76 Romain Lewis Captures 1st Bracelet in 2021 WSOP Event #76: $10K Super Turbo Bounty
- 77 Paulo Joanello Makes Dream Come True After Winning First WSOP Bracelet in Event #77 $1,500 Fifty Stack ($321,917)
- 78 Benny Glaser Wins Event #78: $10,000 Razz Championship for 4th Gold Bracelet ($274,693)
- 79 Ole Schemion Breaks WSOP Duck; Wins Event #79: $1,979 Hall Of Fame Bounty No-Limit Hold��em For $172,499
- 80 Robert Cowen Wins 2021 WSOP Event #80: $3,000 6-Handed PLO ($280,916)
- 81 Jason Wheeler Wins First Bracelet in 2021 WSOP Event #81: $800 NLH Deepstack ($202,274)
- 82 Adrian Mateos Wins $250K Super High Roller for Fourth WSOP Gold Bracelet ($3,265,262)
- 83 Leo Margets Wins First Bracelet and $376,850 in Event #83: $1,500 The Closer
- 84 Ausmus Denies Hellmuth and Negreanu; Wins Third WSOP Bracelet in $50K PLO High Roller ($1,188,918)
- 85 Mikita Badziakouski Claims First Gold Bracelet in Event #85: $50,000 High Roller ($1,462,043)
- 86 Michael McCauley Wins Event #86: $1,000 Super Turbo No-Limit Hold'em ($161,384)
- 87 Michael Addamo Wins $100,000 High Roller for His Fourth WSOP Bracelet
- 88 Boris Kolev Wins Maiden Bracelet and $511,184 in Event #88: $5,000 8-Handed No-Limit Hold'em
