The 2021 WSOP Event #26: $1,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em event saw Dalibor Dula earn his first WSOP bracelet.
Dula is a Bohemian. Literally, in that he hails from the Czech Republic. Though being a long-haired, beardy, itinerant poker player probably would qualify him for the name if his hailing were done from just about anywhere.
Dula, as a Czechian, is only the second player from outside North America to win a bracelet this year. The first was Israeli-born Yuval Bronshtein. True to the spirit of the term "World Series" it is mostly only American players competing until the borders reopen on November 8.
"It hasn't set in for me yet," he said right after his win. "I think in a week or so I will feel happy, right now I just feel shocked."
Dula beat a field of 1,358 entries, including his own. With that many buy-ins, the post-rake prize pool came out to $1,208,620. A full $199,227 of that was up top for the first-place finisher along with the bracelet.
High speed action
There were only two days scheduled for the tourney. As a result, the WSOP planned to get through 22 levels of 30 minutes each. After an excruciatingly long Day 1, players like Chino Rheem, Barry Greenstein, and Maria Ho fell by the wayside. As did Phil Hellmuth who appears to have dodged all possible consequences in the wake of his recent blow-up.
Day 2 saw just 38 players return. Among them, only Pete Chen had a previous bracelet. Chen went out in 20th place for $6,074.
Dula's heads-up opponent Cole Ferraro had just come off a 58th place finish in the Millionaire Maker and was hoping to go all the way this time.
The heads-up match was a real back-and-forth affair. First Dula took the lead, then Ferraro. Eventually, time began to run out, and the blinds began to dictate play.
At 500,000/1,000,000 with a 1,000,000 ante, Ferraro had around 10 million to Dula's 17 million. The chips went in preflop at the first sign of paint on both sides.
Ferraro turned over J♣8♣. Dula turned over K♦️3♦️. The dealer burned and turned over A♠4♦️6♠Q♣A♣. Dula's king played as a kicker to the pair of aces on the board, and Ferraro headed to the rail.
2021 WSOP Event #26: $1,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em complete final table results
| Position | Player Name | Payout |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Dalibor Dula | $199,227 |
| 2nd | Cole Ferraro | $123,142 |
| 3rd | Edward Welch | $89,875 |
| 4th | Guowei Zhang | $66,335 |
| 5th | Maxx Coleman | $49,519 |
| 6th | Anthony Askey | $37,393 |
| 7th | Nicolo Audannio | $28,565 |
| 8th | Levi Klump | $22,080 |
| 9th | Maurice Hawkins | $17,270 |
Featured image source: PokerGO by Antonio Abrego
