Douglas Chase
The 2021 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas has crowned a new mixed game champion as Nicholas Julia prevailed in a field of 319 entries in Event #54: $2,500 Nine-Game Mix 6-Handed. He overcame Kristan Lord in heads-up to claim the biggest slice of the $709,775 prize pool and boosted his bankroll with the top prize of $168,608. Runner-up Lord earned a consolation prize of $104,210 and missed out on a maiden WSOP gold bracelet of his own.
Among the returning 17 players were several former WSOP bracelet winners and three of them made it to the seven-handed unofficial final table. As a matter of fact, two were knocked out in the same hand in what became one of the pivotal hands on the final day. Eventual champion Julia sent Kenny Hsiung and Robert Mizrachi to the rail to form the official final table.
Justin Liberto missed out on a second bracelet and finished in third place while other notables on the final day included actor James Woods, Mike Matusow, Bradley Ruben, Marco Johnson, 2005 WSOP Main Event champion Joe Hachem, and John Racener.
Final Table Result Event #54: $2,500 Nine-Game Mix 6-Handed
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nicholas Julia | United States | $168,608 |
| 2 | Kristan Lord | United States | $104,210 |
| 3 | Justin Liberto | United States | $69,341 |
| 4 | Aditya Prasetyo | United States | $47,164 |
| 5 | Robert McLaughlin | United States | $32,808 |
| 6 | Robert Mizrachi | United States | $23,352 |
Final Table Action
When the unofficial final table of this six-handed event began, nobody could have seen how the first two eliminations were to have come. In what may turn out to be one of the most unique hands of the entire WSOP, let alone at a WSOP final table, both Kenny Hsiung (7th Place; $17,017) and Robert Mizrachi (6th Place; $23,352) were eliminated.
The action was picked up with three players involved on a flop of {4-Hearts}{7-Diamonds}{5-Clubs} and Hsiung who led out with a bet of about half of his remaining chips. Next, Mizrachi raised all-in for the rest of his stack. Julia, re-raised all-in, and Hsiung snap-called.
All of the hands were turned face-up and it was an incredible analytical sight as Hsuing held {4-Diamonds}{4-Clubs} for a flopped bottom set, Mizrachi and his {7-Spades}{7-Clubs} for a flopped top set, and Julia was in the lead with the {8-Clubs}{6-Clubs} and a flopped nut straight.
The dealer dealt out the turn card {10-Clubs} and nothing changed. The river card was a {a-Spades} and that sealed the deal for the winner Julia.
It was not until two levels later that the next player was eliminated. Robert McLaughlin (5th Place; $32,808) found himself on the unfortunate end of a blind versus blind confrontation holding pocket nines versus the pocket kings held by his opponent, Kristan Lord. The kings held and McLaughlin exited the tournament.
Next to go was Aditya Prasetyo (4th Place; $47,164). Prasetyo got caught up in the whirlwind of a run by Nicholas Julia, whose nines full of kings on sixth street in Stud Hi-Lo put an end to Prasetyo’s tournament run.
Justin Liberto (3rd Place; $69,341) had been up and down in chips and was attempting to run a short-stack back up in a hand of Limit 2-7 triple draw versus Lord but the eventual runner-up got the best of him. It was the eight-six low held by Lord that pipped Liberto’s eight-seven.
Kristan Lord (2nd Place; $104,210) and Nicholas Julia (1st Place; $168,608) began heads-up play with Julia ahead with more than two to one in chips. Although he came quite close, in the end, the night belonged to Julia.
He played well and he ran even better. Nicholas Julia entered the day as the chip leader and he left it the same way with his incredible performance, which netted him a coveted WSOP gold bracelet and $168,608 in first-place prize.
When asked how he felt after winning his first WSOP gold bracelet, Nicholas Julia responded with, “Great! Amazing! Everybody’s sweating; the wife, Suzanne. All these guys from Arizona. You know, everyone? I literally have a hundred people texting me we’re having a great time!”.
As far as key hands that got him here, most would expect the double-elimination at the final table to be the answer, but Julia got into a hand early in Day 2 versus Greg Mueller that resulted in him claiming the chip leader position and never looking back from that point forward.
When questioned about whether or not he plays poker for a living, he laughed out loud before explaining how he plays for fun and has no plans to play any more WSOP tournaments in this series. He is taking his one o’clock flight back home to Arizona on Saturday and plans on celebrating his win by spending time with his wife and kids.
- 1 Caesars Palace Dealer Jimmy Barnett Crowned Casino Employees Champion
- 2 Jesse Klein Tilts Hellmuth on Way to 2021 WSOP $25K H.O.R.S.E. Win for $552,182
- 3 Jeremy Ausmus Wins First Gold Bracelet of the 2021 World Series of Poker
- 4 Long Ma Tops Near 13,000-Player Field to Win The Reunion and First WSOP Bracelet
- 5 Connor Drinan Wins Second Bracelet in Event #5: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better
- 6 Tyler Cornell Gets Signature Victory in 2021 WSOP Event #6: $25,000 High Roller ($833,289)
- 7 Jaswinder “Jesse” Lally Wins 2021 WSOP Event #7: $1,500 Dealers Choice 6-Handed ($97,915)
- 8 Aces in the Final Hand as Zhi Wu Wins Event #8: $600 Deepstack ($281,604)
- 9 Ari Engel Wins Second WSOP Bracelet in $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 Championship; Hellmuth Fifth
- 10 Michael Perrone Wins 2021 WSOP Event #10: $1,000 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold’em ($152,173)
- 11 Jason Koon Wins Maiden WSOP Bracelet in Event #11: $25K Heads-Up Championship ($243,981)
- 12 Yuval Bronshtein Wins Second WSOP Bracelet in Event #12: $1,500 Limit Hold’em
- 13 Harvey Mathews Wins Event #13: $3,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em ($371,914)
- 14 Lebron Captures Gold; Wins 2021 WSOP Event #14: $1,500 7-Card Stud
- 15 Bradley Jansen Wins First WSOP Gold Bracelet in Event #15: $1,500 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em ($313,403)
- 16 John Monnette Wins Fourth WSOP Bracelet in Event #16: $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship ($245,680)
- 17 Vladimir Peck Wins 2021 WSOP Event #18: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball ($134,390)
- 18 DJ Alexander Captures 1st WSOP Bracelet in Event #20: GGPoker Flip & Go ($180,665)
- 19 Phil Hellmuth Denied 16th Bracelet as Anthony Zinno Wins His 3rd in the $10K Stud Championship
- 20 Dylan Linde Wins His First WSOP Bracelet in Event #21: $1,500 Mixed Omaha Hi-Lo ($170,269)
- 21 Michael Prendergast Wins Maiden Bracelet in Event #24: $600 Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack ($127,428)
- 22 Ryan Leng Wins Event #23: $1,500 Eight Game Mix 6-Handed for $137,969
- 23 Daniel Lazrus Wins 2021 WSOP Millionaire Maker for 2nd Bracelet ($1,000,000)
- 24 Lara Eisenberg wins 2021 World Series of Poker Ladies NLHE Championship
- 25 Czech Pro Dalibor Dula Becomes First European Bracelet Winner at the 2021 WSOP
- 26 Anthony Zinno Wins Fourth Gold Bracelet in Event #27 $1,500 H.O.R.S.E.
- 27 Scott Ball Celebrates First WSOP Bracelet in Event #25: $5,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em
- 28 Dylan Weisman Wins WSOP Event #28: $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha for First Bracelet ($166,461)
- 29 Chance Kornuth Wins Third WSOP Bracelet in Event #29: $10,000 Short Deck ($194,670)
- 30 Phil Hellmuth Wins Record 16th World Series of Poker (WSOP) Gold Bracelet
- 31 Jim Collopy Wins 2021 WSOP Event #32: $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. for Second Gold Bracelet ($172,823)
- 32 Michael Noori Captures First WSOP Bracelet and $610,437 in the Monster Stack
- 33 Ran Koller Wins WSOP Event #33: $800 Eight-Handed No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack ($269,478)
- 34 David “Bakes” Baker Wins Third WSOP Title in Event #34: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw
- 35 Anthony Koutsos Wins First WSOP Bracelet In Event #35: $500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em ($167,272)
- 36 Adam Friedman Defeats Phil Hellmuth to Win WSOP $10k Dealer’s Choice for Third Straight Year
- 37 Karolis Sereika Wins First WSOP Bracelet in Event #37: $1,500 Super Turbo ($195,310)
- 38 Michael Addamo Wins Third WSOP Gold Bracelet in Event #38: $50K High Roller ($1,132,968)
- 39 Josh Arieh Wins Third Bracelet in Event #39: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha ($204,766)
- 40 Kevin Gerhart Wins Third Career Bracelet in Event #40: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship
- 41 Bradley Ruben Dazzles in the $1,500 Razz; Wins Third WSOP Bracelet
- 42 “Hobby Player” Carlos Chang Wins First Bracelet in $2,500 NLHE Freezeout
- 43 Ryan Hansen Wins First WSOP Bracelet in Event #44: $3,000 6-Handed Limit Hold’em ($109,692)
- 44 Chad Norton Wins A Bracelet in His First-Ever WSOP Event!
- 45 Kazuki ‘hyahhoo3’ Ikeuchi Wins WSOP Online Event #5: $1,000 NLH ($152,797)
- 46 France’s Alexandre Reard Wins 2021 WSOP Event #47: $5,000 Freezeout NLH ($428,694)
- 47 Tommy Le Wins WSOP $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship For Second Time
- 48 Brian Rast Wins Fifth Bracelet; Sets Sights on Poker Hall of Fame
- 49 Premonition Becomes Reality as Darrin Wright Wins First WSOP Bracelet
- 50 Dreams to Win a WSOP Bracelet Come True for Anthony Denove in the $1K Double Stack
- 51 Farzad Bonyadi Wins Fourth Bracelet in $10K 2-7 NL Single Draw, Ends Sixteen-Year Drought
- 52 Poker Philanthropist Gershon Distenfeld Wins WSOP Bracelet, Pledges All Winnings to Charity ($204K)
- 53 Nicholas Julia Wins Event #54: $2,500 Nine-Game Mix 6-Handed ($168,608)
- 54 Shaun Deeb Wins 5th Bracelet in WSOP Event #53: $25,000 PLO ($1,251,860)