WSOP 2021: Osman Ihlamur Bags Day 1A Chip Lead in Event #83: $1,500 The Closer, India’s Kalyan Chakravarthy & Sriharsha Doddapaneni Make ITM Finishes

The first of the two starting flights of the 2021 WSOP Event #83: $1500 The Closer NLHE clocked in 802 entries, adding $1.07 Million to the prize pool with one starting flight still to go. The top 121 players collected payouts. After the stipulated 22 levels of play, only 25 players made it through, with Turkey’s Osman Ihlamur (1,765,000) bagging the end-of-day chip lead. Dimitar Danchev (1,635,000), Wesley Belding (1,620,000), Kenny Hallaert (1,250,000) and Chris Moorman (1,250,000) round out the top five names on the day-end chip counts.

The Closer holds special significance for Indians as it’s this same event that got the country its first solo bracelet in 2019. To refresh everyone’s memory, Abhinav Iyer had raced past 2,800 entrants the last time this event was held in 2019 to win India its first solo WSOP bracelet for a whopping $565,346 (₹3.87 Crores, according to the conversion rates in 2019). The poker pro from Chennai posted the deepest run from India in the 2021 WSOP Main Event – finishing 60^th for $1,13,800 (~₹84.64 Lakhs) and returned earlier today to defend his title in The Closer. Unfortunately, he made an early exit in the event and can be expected to fire a second bullet on Saturday.

At least three other Indian players were reported in the event, with Kalyan Chakravarthy posting the best finish in 47^th place for $3,891 (~₹2.89 Lakhs) – his second cash of the series. Chakravarthy was eliminated by Osman Ihlamur, who bet the turn on the board . Chakravarthy moved all-in with . Ihlamur called with and took down the pot after the completed the rundown.

Sriharsha Doddapaneni scored his third cash at the ongoing series with a 70^th place finish for $3,217 (~₹2.39 Lakhs).

The only other confirmed Indian was MPL Poker ambassador Dhaval Mudgal who fell out before the money bubble.

The 2021 WSOP is on its last legs with just three days to go before the last event of the series, Event #88: $5,000 8-Handed NLHE, is scheduled to crown a champion! Hence, like most many Indian players have flown back from Las Vegas. However, the remaining Indians will likely play Day 1B.

Rainer Kempe (705,000), Joao Simao (630,000), Jameel Harris (685,000), Ofer Wexler (585,000), Stephen Song (545,000), David Lappin Kilmartin (480,000), Edvin Setaghian (455,000), and Bin Liu (200,000) also made the cut for Day 2.

The 25 remaining players will resume play on Sunday, November 21, at noon (local time) and join the survivors of the last flight, Day 1B that starts on Saturday, November 20, at 11 PM (local time).

Top 10 Chip Counts at the End of Day 1A

1. Osman Ihlamur – 1,765,000
2. Dimitar Danchev – 1,635,000
3. Wesley Belding – 1,620,000
4. Kenny Hallaert – 1,250,000
5. Chris Moorman – 1,250,000
6. Gergely Kulcsar – 1,200,000
7. Martins Adeniya – 1,190,000
8. Ben Palmer – 920,000
9. Ken Weinstein – 875,000
10. Ioannis Angelou Konstas – 805,000

Content & Images Courtesy: PokerNews, WSOP & PokerGO

Keep following PokerGuru for all the latest updates from WSOP 2021!