Dylan Linde Wins His First WSOP Bracelet in Event #21: $1,500 Mixed Omaha Hi-Lo ($170,269)

Dylan Linde defeated Hernan Salazar heads-up to win Event #21: $1,500 Mixed Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better at the 2021 World Series of Poker. The popular three-game format attracted 641 entries and generated a prize pool of $855,735. Linde takes home the $170,269 top prize and his first WSOP gold bracelet after 85 cashes at the WSOP.

Six-time WSOP champion Daniel Negreanu found a bag on Day 2 but never got the momentum he needed on Day 3 to make a run at his seventh WSOP title. Negreanu ran into trouble in a pot with Salazar early in Day 3 and never recovered to make his run. Other notable Day 3 finishers include Ryan Laplante (27th - $5,627), Ari Engel (23rd - $5,627), Kosei Ichinose (19th - $6,846), and Patrick Tardif (16th - $6,846).

This is Linde’s first gold bracelet in 85 cashes at the WSOP. He is a mixed game specialist and author of the book Mastering Mixed Games: Winning Strategies of Draw, Stud, and Flop Games.

Final Table Results

Winner’s Reaction

“It feels fantastic,” Linde said in a post-win interview with PokerNews. “Finally winning a bracelet feels good but doing it in mixed games is great.”

Linde has a well-rounded background in no-limit hold’em, and he finds that the fundamental concepts can be applied to poker games of all varieties. His no-limit background played no small part in adjusting to short-handed play near the end of the tournament.

“I’ve played a lot of mixed games over time, but I’ve never really played that much heads-up or short-handed. I was a little worried about my performance so it felt good to not only play and win but to feel confident with my play while doing so.”

Linde credits his experience and his preparation for his success on the felt.

“A lot of the studying I’ve done in no-limit helped me a lot with the way that I played with respect to ICM. I used pot control with certain opponents that had me covered and tried to play pots with opponents that I could pressure.”

Linde has an intense schedule planned for the rest of the WSOP and finally breaking through to win his first bracelet won’t slow down his desire to play in tournaments and build his legacy.

“I’m an addict of tournaments for life. They’ve got me forever and I’ll just try to win more.”

Final Table Recap

Final table action kicked off eight-handed after Robert Redman was eliminated in ninth place by a set of queens from David Matsumoto. Salazar was active early and playing in a lot of pots as he stretched the early final table chip lead. The first elimination came after well over an hour when Michael Lim flopped a full house but ran into Salazar’s four queens.

Salazar went into the dinner break with twice as many chips as his nearest competitor, Matsumoto, who also made moves shortly after dinner break when he took out Lance Sobelman in seventh place, also with four queens.

The action picked up after Sobelman’s elimination and Ryan Roeder was not far behind in sixth place after Salazar made a wheel when an ace fell on the river. Scott Abrams, the chip leader from each of the first two days of the tournament, eliminated Damjan Radanov in fifth place with a flush.

Linde’s turning point came in the final four when he forced Salazar to fold on the river to win a pot of over 2 million. He then eliminated Matsumoto in fourth place and he was the chip leader going into three-handed play.

Salazar clashed with Abrams early in three-handed play, leaving the Day 2 chip leader on fumes. Linde soon eliminated the Henderson, Nevada-based mixed games specialist in third place with a flush. The impressive run for Abrams ended with an eighth career top-ten WSOP finish, all of which have come in mixed game varieties.

Linde entered heads-up play with a lead over Salazar and extended it further when Salazar shoved and Linde took three-quarters of the pot. Salazar fought back and made several attempts to double through, but Linde finished the job when he scooped the final pot with a flush for the high half and an ace-three for the low half.