Christian Rudolph is the WPT Online Series Main Event Champion

The 2021 WPT Online Series Main Event has crowned its champion and Christian Rudolph is that winner. Rudolph sat down at the final table in the middle of the pack before navigating his way to the top of the pile. He banked a cool $487,442 after a heads-up deal with Brazilian star Fabiano Kovalski.

WPT #20 Main Event Final Table Results

Place | Player | Country | Prize
1 | Christian Rudolph | Austria | $487,442*
2 | Fabiano Kovalski | Brazil | $401,792*
3 | Daniel Dvoress | Canada | $249,324
4 | Marc Lange | Austria | $163,003
5 | Luciano Hollanda | Brazil | $111,782
6 | Yuri Dzivielevski | Brazil | $86,398
7 | Sebastian Henao | Mexico | $68,180
8 | Rainer Kempe | Austria | $54,088
9 | Stoyan Obreshkov | Bulgaria | $42,711

*reflects a heads-up deal that left $30,000 for the champion

The nine finalists returned to their seats at 19:05 BST on June 2 each having locked up no less than $42,711 for their efforts. However, with $526,561 awaiting the first place finisher, none of them wanted to get their hands on the small sum.

Someone had to, as is the nature of tournament poker, and Stoyan Obreshkov was that someone. Obreshkov was down to less than a single big blind after posting the 350,000 big blind. Yuri Dzivielevski opened to 875,000 under the gun with , and Obreshkov called off his meagre 294,490 stack with . An ace on the flop of the board was more than enough to eliminate Obreshkov.

Eighth place was decided during the same blind level in a hand that essentially played itself. Rainer Kempe opened the betting with a raise to 735,000 from the cutoff with . Daniel Dvoress woke up in the big blind with the powerhouse hand that was . Dvoress made it 2,170,000 to go. Kempe responded with a four-bet jam worth 9,357,569 in total. Obviously, Dvoress called. Kempe was drawing extremely thin because Marc Lange folded a queen. No help arrived for Kempe on the board, and he crashed out of the Main Event.

Sebastian Henao was the next casualty; he busted during the 250,000/500,000/625,000a level. His exit hand saw the action folded to Kovalski in the small blind and he open-shoved with . Henao called off his 3,428,536 chips with and looked set for a much-needed double-up. That was until Kovalski turned a heart flush on the board.

One of the first hands after a scheduled break resulted in the untimely demise of Dzivielevski. The dangerous Dvoress opened 1,320,000 from under the gun at the 300,000/600,000/75,000a level. Everyone folded to Dzivielevski on the button and he opted to call. Lange tossed in the calling chips from the big blind. A flop was checked around to Dzivielevski, who bet 1,554,300. The Brazilian’s bet folded out Lange, but Dvoress check-raised to 4,860,000, which Dzivielevski called.

The landed on the turn, and Dvoress tested the waters with a 10,440,000 bet, which was snap-called. Dvoress pushed all-in for the rest of Dzivielevski’s 14,711,460 chips with the pot weighing in at 35,310,000 before the shove. Dzivielevski called and showed , which was crushed by the of Dvoress.

A short-stacked Luciano Hollanda was the next player to bust; the Brazilian crashed out in fifth and won $111,782, the first six-figure prize of the evening. It was that man Dvoress who did the damage, finding under the gun and raising to 1,540,000 at the 350,000/700,000/87,500 level. Everyone folded to Hollanda in the small blind, and he ripped it in for 12,657,495 with , which Dvoress instantly called. Hollanda flopped a king but found no other outs as the five community cards ran .

The blinds increased and left Lange with a shade over 10 big blinds. Lange saw Kovalski min-raise to 2,000,000 under the gun, and decided to three-bet to 7,000,000, leaving himself only 3,819,542 behind, with . Unfortunately for Lange, Kovalski had raised with , and set Lange all-in; he called. By the river the board read , busting Lange in fourth place.

Dvoress was the overall chip leader with three players remaining yet he was the next player heading to the cashier’s desk. Everyone pointed towards a Dvoress victory, especially has his stack eclipsed 112,000,000 at one stage, but it was not meant to be.

He lost a large pot when his was no good against the of Kovalski on a board, before losing even more chips to Kovalski to leave himself nursing a 25 big blind stack. The talented Canadian rebuilt his stack to reclaim the lead once again before seeing his stack dwindle into the danger zone.

Dvoress’ exit happened during the 1,250,000/2,500,000/315,000a level. Kovalski raised all-in with and Dvoress called off his 15,287,532 with the dominated . Both players paired their non-ace hole card, but that was not good enough for Dvoress, who had to make dow tih third place courtesy of a board.

Rudolph held a 150,176,370 to 62,823,630 chip lead going into heads-up but he could not shake off Kovalski. Rudolph fell behind at one stage before reclaiming the all-important chip lead. With the blinds and antes now eating each players’ stack, they struck a deal that left $30,000 for the eventual champion.

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Rudolph was confirmed as the champion soon after the deal. Kovalski limped on the button with , Rudolph pumped it up to 7,500,000 with , and Kovalski called. A flop brought something to the table for both players, and the chips were destined to go into the middle. That is what happened after a flurry of betting. Kovalski had a myriad of outs but the turn nor the river were any of them.

Kovalski busted in second place and collected $401,792, leaving Rudolph to add the WPT Online Series Main Event to his long list of poker achievements, this victory coming with $487,442 in prize money.