Vlad Darie Leads The Race for the WPTWOC Main Event Title

The 2021 WPT World Online Championships (WPTWOC) Main Event saw 11,179 players buy in for $5,300 and create a guarantee-busting $5,895,000 prize pool. Only nine of those starters remain in contention for the title, and none of those finalists have more chips than former WPT Vienna champion Vlad Darie.

Darie finished the evening with 64,535,476 chips, over 20 million more than David Peters (43,544,780) in second-place. Darie has more than $2.12 million in live poker tournament earnings and will boost his online winnings by an incredible $959,492 if he gets the job done at the final table on September 14.

The Austria-based Romanian will not have matters his own way despite his sizeable chip lead. In addition to Peters in the chasing pack, the final table is the home to such luminaries as Talal Shakerchi, Rok Gostisa, Bruno Volkmann, and our very own Team partypoker member Joao Simao.

Simao is the player bringing up the rear when play resumes at 19:05 BST on September 14. He sits down with only 9.6 big blinds at his disposal but is one double-up away from being right back in the thick of it.

Each of the nine finalists is guaranteed $76,713 for their efforts, with the top seven each securing a six-figure prize. With $959,492 up top, nobody will ant to lock in one of the smaller payouts.

While they fell short of the final table, we have to doff our cap to Nikolay Gorbunov and Yaroslav Bogeav. Both qualified for the Main Event via $0.01 centrolls before progressing to 99th ($13,203) and 39th ($23,498) respectively. An incredible effort we are sure you will agree.

You can watch all the action from the WPTWOC Main Event on our Twitch channel from 19:30 BST.

WPT #07 Main Event Final Table Chip Counts

Place | Player | Country | Chips
1 | Vlad Darie | Austria | 64,535,476
2 | David Peters | Canada | 43,544,780
3 | Talal Shakerchi | United Kingdom | 24,310,294
4 | Rodrigo Seiji Sirichuk | Brazil | 24,228,868
5 | Rok Gostisa | Slovenia | 21,060,354
6 | Manuel Fritz | Austria | 20,201,764
7 | Bruno Volkmann | Brazil | 18,587,467
8 | Philipp Hofbauer | Austria | 11,650,736
9 | Joao Simao | Brazil | 7,680,261

$5,300 Main Event Final Table Payouts

1st: $959,492

2nd: $660,482

3rd: $453,676

4th: $296,185

5th: $202,733

6th: $156,421

7th: $123,182

8th: $97,471

9th: $76,713

Fernandes Leads the $1,050 Mini Main Event

The only thing mini about the WPTWOC Mini Main Event was its name because 1,630 players bought in for $1,050 and created a $1,630,000 prize pool. All but nine of those who started with high hopes are now watching from the sidelines while the final table battles it out for the $257,423 top prize.

Brazil’s Dante Fernandes, winner of the 2021 MILLIONS Online Omaha High Roller, sits down at the star-studded final table holding a narrow lead. Fernandes has 67,394,606 chips with Barry Hutter in second place on 66,258,182.

Others to look out for on the final day’s action include Dutch grinder Joris Ruys (52,205,712), former EPT Copenhagen champion Anton Wigg (35,925,092), and Alexandros Theologis (23,619,668), the latter also finds himself in the top ten of the remaining 23 players in the $109 Micro Main Event! You may recall Theologis won the recent WPT500 Knockout event too!

The top three finishers at the final table win six-figure prizes, with everyone guaranteed at least $20,035 reasons to be happy.

WPT #07 Mini Main Event Final Table Chip Counts

Place | Player | Country | Chips
1 | Dante Fernandes | Brazil | 67,394,606
2 | Barry Hutter | Mexico | 66,258,182
3 | Joris Ruys | Netherlands | 52,205,712
4 | Anton Wigg | Austria | 35,925,092
5 | Andrej Tekel | Austria | 29,666,125
6 | David Farkas | Hungary | 24,726,098
7 | Alexandros Theologis | Austria | 23,619,668
8 | Joao Ferriera | Netherlands | 16,696,503
9 | Laszlo Molnar | Hungary | 7,169,602

$1,050 Mini Main Event Final Table Payouts

1st: $257,423

2nd: $176,101

3rd: $120,551

4th: $79,174

5th: $54,001

6th: $41,418

7th: $32,347

8th: $25,584

9th: $20,035

Koistinen Cruising in the $109 Micro Main Event

Finland’s Mikael Koistinen is cruising in the $109 Micro Main Event where only 23 of the 3,476 starters remain in contention for what is a $50,814 top prize.

Koistinen returns to the fray armed with 81,856,845 chips, far more than the 61,938,055 in Nikolay Tabardak’s possession.

All eyes will be on Alexandros Theologis who finds himself in sixth place at the restart and will be multi-tabling the $1,050 Mini Main Event, where he is seventh in chips. It would be an epic double if Theologis can win both events!

WPT #07 Micro Main Event Top Ten Chip Counts

Place | Player | Country | Chips
1 | Mikael Koistinen | Finland | 81,856,845
2 | Nikolay Tabardak | Russia | 61,938,055
3 | Philip Almond | United Kingdom | 51,255,770
4 | Kristian Karlsson | Sweden | 50,813,249
5 | Timothy Cavallin | Canada | 50,535,626
6 | Alexandros Theologis | Austria | 36,381,218
7 | Alfred Karlsson | Sweden | 35,042,158
8 | Gabriel Rauber Missel | Brazil | 33,429,450
9 | Giorgi Barabadze | Georgia | 29,109,862

$109 Micro Main Event Final Table Payouts

1st: $50,814

2nd: $34,402

3rd: $23,438

4th: $15,508

5th: $10,521

6th: $7,828

7th: $6,071

8th: $4,876

9th: $3,781