WSOP 2021: Jason Wheeler Wins Event #81: $800 NLHE Deepstack For Career-First Bracelet; Shashank Jain, Siddharth Karia & Raghav Bansal Cash

Chicago-based Jason Wheeler (cover image) already had a WSOP circuit ring to his name when he entered the 2021 WSOP Event #81: $800 NLHE Deepstack. He was among the 1,921 players who entered the event and part of the whittled-down field of 121 advancing to Day 2. In an impressive turnaround, Wheeler went from sporting the shortest stack on the unofficial 10-handed final table to commanding all the chips in play! He adeptly played his way into the heads-up against Columbia’s Julian Velasquez, beating the latter to claim his career-first WSOP bracelet. Along with the bragging rights of becoming a WSOP champion, Wheeler added $202,274 to his poker bankroll.

Talking about his win, Wheeler recounted the time when he had come close to winning a bracelet, “My first time I got heads-up for a bracelet was in 2009, and at the time I didn’t truly appreciate what it was at the time because it was my first series you know. It was so long ago it takes so long to be back heads-up for a Bracelet. I played almost every event that was on the series. I have been working hard, and it feels good to be validated and play well.”

Several Indian players were in the fray. While Muskan Sethi was eliminated on Day 1 and finished 157^th for $1,600 (~₹1.19 Lakhs), three Indian pros, namely, Shashank Jain, Young Gun Siddharth Karia, and Raghav Bansal advanced to Day 2.

Jain and Karia had posted ITM finishes in Event #70: $888 Crazy Eights, while Jain and Bansal posted scores in Event #67: $10K Main Event World Championship. All of them had started out with below-average stacks and fell out relatively early in the day.

Siddharth Karia started Day 2 with 14 BBs and posted the deepest run for the team, finishing 82nd $2,292 (~₹1.70 Lakhs) – his second cash at the ongoing edition and his eighth WSOP score overall.

Siddharth Karia’s WSOP 2021 Winnings: $5,054 | WSOP Lifetime Winnings: $30,304

Shashank Jain had entered Day 2 with a 16 BB stack, and he picked up the 88th place finish worth $2,292 (~₹1.70 Lakhs) to collect his third cash at the series.

Shashank Jain’s WSOP 2021 Winnings: $20,212| WSOP Lifetime Winnings: $78,061

Raghav Bansal started the shortest among the Indians with 9 BBs on Day 2 and placed 97th for $2,060 (~₹1.53 Lakhs).

Raghav Bansal’s WSOP 2021 Winnings: $12,357 | WSOP Lifetime Winnings: $340,705

A 1,921-entry field helped collect a $1.35 Million prize pool, and the top 289 places earned at least $1,280.

Indo-American Nikhil Gera (16th for $7,948), former WSOP champion Jim Collopy (31st for $5,467), PokerStars Ambassador Ramon Colillas (35th for $5,467), Day 1 chip leader Will Givens (39th for $4,605), former WSOP bracelet winners Mike Ruter (45th for $4,605), Justin Lapka (54th for $3,920), Dan Heimiller (57th for $3,373), Carlos Chang (92nd for $2,060), Sung Joo Hyun (119th for $1,872), Scott Bohlman (126th for $1,872), Ian Steinman (136th for $1,721) and Chance Kornuth (210th for $1,400) also cashed the event.

Jason Wheeler had started out as the shortest stack on the unofficial final table but doubled up early to stay alive.

The nine-handed final table got rolling following the elimination of Maxwell Sabel (10th for $15,035).

Final Table Recap

Forty minutes into the final table, Robert Hill was eliminated in ninth place at the hands of Julian Velasquez.

Over the next hour, John O’ Neal, Ralph Massey, and Shelok Wong were eliminated in places eighth to sixth, respectively.

Antoine Goutard had become short-stacked after losing a monster pot to Wheeler. He couldn’t improve and fell in fifth place to Diogo Veiga after his pocket tens failed to match up to the latter`s pocket queens.

The three-handed play began following the elimination of Garry Gates in fourth place.

The event quickly down to the heads-up play after Wheeler sent Diogo Viega packing to third place.

Wheeler held an over 2:1 chip lead over Julian Velasquez at the start of the heads-up. Velasquez scooped a big pot early, but his lead was short-lived as Wheeler bounced back after winning a massive pot to double up. It was all over within 30 minutes, and the final hand saw Velasquez moving all-in preflop. Wheeler made the call.

Julian Velasquez

Jason Wheeler

Wheeler was already ahead, and the flop changed nothing. The on the turn gave Wheeler a set, and with the completing the board, it was Wheeler emerging triumphant to claim his first-ever WSOP bracelet!

Final Table Results (USD)

1. Jason Wheeler – $202,274
2. Julian Velasquez – $126,252
3. Diogo Veiga – $93,627
4. Garry Gates – $70,077
5. Antoine Goutard – $52,943
6. SheLok Wong – $40,376
7. Ralph Massey – $31,087
8. John O’Neal – $24,165
9. Robert Hill – $18,968

Content & Images Courtesy: WSOP & PokerNews

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