The 2021 Poker Masters series isn't going as most anticipated, certainly not after Chris Brewer took down Event #8: $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em for $427,500. Brock Wilson, who finished fourth in the same tournament, is leading the chase for the Purple Jacket, not Stephen Chidwick, not Alex Foxen, not David Peters, not any of the players you probably expected.
Daniel Negreanu, who held the overall series lead heading into the first $25,000 buy-in tournament, now has some work to do. He's still stuck on 281 points, which leaves him 39 behind Brewer and 77 behind Wilson, who won Event #4: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em for $189,800, and now has three cashes during the series.
2021 Poker Masters Event #8 Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Points | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Chris Brewer | United States | 257 | $427,500 |
| 2nd | Darren Elias | United States | 171 | $285,000 |
| 3rd | Ap Louis Garza | United States | 120 | $199,500 |
| 4th | Brock Wilson | United States | 86 | $142,500 |
| 5th | John Riordan | United States | 68 | $114,000 |
Track Star Defeats WPT Crusher
With three players remaining out of the original 57 in Event #8 of the high roller series, Darren Elias appeared to be on a crash course to add a Poker Masters title to his resume. The only four-time World Poker Tour champion had approximately 60% of all chips in play.
Brewer would consolidate a bit by busting Garza. With the blinds at 50,000/100,000 and both players at or below 1 million, they got it all-in pre-flop.
The hands:
Chris Brewer 8♥️
The board ran out q♠️
Both players watch as the community cards came out j♠️6♠️4♦️a♥️q♥️, putting an end to the eighth event of the 2021 Poker Masters series.
The Next Big Poker Superstar?
Brewer isn't a household name among casual poker fans, but he might be soon. The former University of Oregon track athlete entered the year with just over $300,000 in live tournament cashes. With his $427,500 score on Wednesday, he now has nearly $2.9 million, most of which has come in 2021.
Brewer has 18 cashes on the PokerGO Tour this year, including three high roller titles. He also took down a $10,000 no-limit hold'em tournament at Aria in January for $113,400 and a $50k during the August Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open series in Hollywood, Florida for $420,670.
There are a number of new young high rollers, including Brock Wilson, making a name for themselves this year. But Brewer just might be the best of them all, at least up to this point.
The 12-event Poker Masters series continued on Wednesday at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas with Day 1 of Event #9: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha. At the time of publishing, seven of 43 players remained. Brewer was eliminated in 15th place, well shy of the money.
PokerGO founder Cary Katz was eliminated on the bubble in eighth place. You can watch the final table of the PLO event on Thursday starting at 1 p.m. PT on the PokerGO app.
