Brian Rast Wins Fifth Bracelet Event #51: $3,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold��em ($474,102)
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.
��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 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.��
2021 WSOP Event #51 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 |
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.