Aleksejs "APonakov" Ponakovs was a huge winner on Sunday on WSOP.com. The Estonian online poker star shipped the 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Online Bracelet Event #8: $7,777 No-Limit Hold'em Lucky 7's for $432,491 and his first gold bracelet.
Ponakovs beat out 230 entrants, which included 183 unique and 47 rebuys, to take down the bracelet. He outlasted a number of high-profile players, including Dario Sammartino, who finished runner-up in the 2019 WSOP Main Event. The near-world champion busted in 30th place for $11,877.
The field was stacked with big-name pros. Adrian Mateos, one of the top high rollers, took 25th place for $13,574. Darren Elias, the World Poker Tour's all-time wins leader, finished in 23rd place for the same payout as Mateos. Jason Koon, the new GGPoker ambassador who won his first bracelet this fall, was eliminated in 20th place for $13,574. The great Ali Imsirovic also ran deep, but was eliminated shy of the final table in 17th place, which paid $15,949.
No One Can Stop Ponakovs
With all those great live tournament and cash game players competing and running deep, in the end, the last player standing was an online poker crusher in Ponakovs. He beat out a brutal final table that included 2021 gold bracelet winner Dylan Linde.
Linde came up a bit short of his second WSOP title of the series, but he still received a nice payout of $92,131 for finishing in fifth place. Rainer Kempe, one of the top German poker stars, also reached the final table, but was inevitably eliminated in sixth place for $68,207.
Ponakovs ended up heads-up for the bracelet against Jaroslaw "johnnyloveit" Jaskiewicz, who lives in Canada. He'd win the heads-up match and ship the bracelet for $432,491. Jaskiewicz took home $267,232 as a consolation prize but was inches close to his first bracelet.
WSOP Online Event #8: $7,777 No-Limit Hold'em Lucky 7's Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aleksejs "APonakov" Ponakovs | Estonia | $432,491 |
| 2 | Jaroslaw "johnnyloveit" Jaskiewicz | Canada | $267,232 |
| 3 | Qinghai "011pokerdr" Pan | United States | $183,754 |
| 4 | William "SlaweelRyam" Romaine | United States | $128,780 |
| 5 | Dylan "sobchak67" Linde | United States | $92,131 |
| 6 | Rainer "vict0r4gal1" Kempe | Germany | $68,207 |
| 7 | Sergio "zcedrick" Aido Espina | United Kingdom | $51,071 |
| 8 | Christopher "WATnlos" Robin Frank | Australia | $38,176 |
| 9 | Arian "4632647" Stolt | United States | $29,692 |
The Lucky 7's High Roller wasn't the only online bracelet event on Sunday. Yuliyan "Dr.Feelg00da" Kolev shipped online bracelet Event #9: $777 No-Limit Hold'em Lucky 7's for $146,162 on the same day.
2021 WSOP Online Bracelet Winners
| Date | Tournament | Players | Rebuys | Entries | Prize Pool | Winner | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday, October 3 | Event #1: $5,300 NLH Freezeout | 156 | 0 | 156 | $780,000 | Martin "BathroomLine" Zamani | $210,600 |
| Sunday, October 3 | Event #2: $500 NLH BIG 500 | 742 | 325 | 1067 | $480,150 | Mark "NJ_AcesmarkA" Herm | $89,336 |
| Sunday, October 10 | Event #3: $400 NLH Ultra Deepstack | 1,023 | 334 | 1,357 | $488,520 | Pete "PeteChen" Chen | $82,560 |
| Sunday, October 17 | Event #4: $888 PLO Crazy 8's 8-Max | 295 | 227 | 522 | $417,600 | Ryan "Santasbzack2" Stoker | $95,338 |
| Sunday, October 24 | Event #5: $1,000 Championship | 555 | 299 | 854 | $768,600 | Kazuki 'hyahhoo3' Ikeuchi | $152,797.68 |
| Sunday, October 31 | Event #6: $666 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Max | 720 | 309 | 1,029 | $617,400 | John "Relevancy" Ripnick | $114,898.14 |
| Sunday, November 7 | Event #7: $3,200 NLH High Roller 8-Max | 319 | 115 | 434 | $1,319,360 | Jacob "incel4life" Neff | $318,889 |
| Sunday, November 14 | Event #8: $7,777 NLH High Roller | 183 | 47 | 230 | $1,696,710 | Aleksejs "APonakov" Ponakovs | $432,491 |
| Sunday, November 14 | Event #9: $777 Lucky 7's NLH | 732 | 390 | 1,122 | $785,400 | Yuliyan "Dr.Feelg00da" Kolev | $146,162.94 |
