Kelly Crushes And Becomes the WPTDeepStacks Main Event Champion

Timothy Kelly is the 2021 WPTDeepStacks Main Event champion, an accolade that came with a $171,804 payday and bags of kudos from his fellow players. Kelly went into the nine-handed final table with a colossal chip lead and used his chip advantage to full effect

WPTDeepStacks #03 Main Event Final Table Results

Place | Player | Country | Prize
1 | Timothy Kelly | Canada | $171,804
2 | Jerry Odeen | Sweden | $118,337
3 | Felix Stephensen | Canada | $81,358
4 | Joakim Andersson | Malta | $53,197
5 | Philipp Hofbauer | Austria | $36,487
6 | Thomas Hueber | Austria | $28,206
7 | Volodymyr Palamar | Ukraine | $22,262
8 | Michael Sklenicka | Czech Republic | $17,665
9 | Simon Brandstrom | Sweden | $13,953

Former WPT UK Main Event champion Simon Brandstrom was the final table’s first casualty; he bowed out during the 350,000/700,000/87,500a level. Kelly opened to 1,691,822 from middle position with before calling Brandstrom’s 12,989,953 shove made with on the button. The board sent Brandstrom to the showers.

Day 1 chip leader Michael Skelnicka saw his tournament end in eighth place. Kelly opened to 1,656,000 from late position with the lowly and Skelnicka called from the big blind with . The flop fell and both players checked. The turn saw Skelnicka check, Kelly bet 1,400,000, and Skelnicka check-raise all-in for 5,612,544. Kelly called. A river condemned Skelnicka to the rail.

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Palamar was the next Kelly victim. Palamar min-raised to 1,600,000 under the gun with , and Kelly three-bet to 2,400,000 from a couple of seats along with . Palamar opted to flat call. A flop saw the both players check. The turn saw Palamar check-call a 2,010,000 bet from the loose-playing Kelly. The writing was on the wall when the fell on the river, improving Palamar to a set but Kelly to a flush. Palamar initially checked, but then check-raised all-in for 14,167,700 after Kelly fired a 2,800,000 bet. Palamar snap-called, and the tournament was reduced to six players.

Six became five when Thomas Hueber of Austria crashed out. Heuber open-shoved for 7,482,789 during the 400,000/800,000/100,000a level with and 2014 WSOP Main Event runner-up Felix Stephensen called with in the big blind. A board reading resgned Hueber to a sixth-place finish worth $28,206.

Hueber’s fellow Austrian, Philipp Hofbauer, was the next to fall. Hofbauer finished fifth in the 2021 WPT World Online Championships Main Event, and had to make do with another fifth-place finish in this tournament. The Austrian came unstuck during the 700,000/1,400,000/175,000a level.

Hofbauer limped in from the small blind with and Kelly checked back from the big blind with . Kelly hit two pair on the flop and he went into trapping mode, calling Hofbauer’s 1,400,000 bet on the flop and a 2,520,000 bet on the turn. Hofbauer bet 4,200,000 on the river but Kelly did not believe his story, plus he held two pair, and he raised all-in. Hofbauer called off his last 5,168,536 chips, and it was game over.

Joakim Andersson’s tournament ended in fourth place, the Mata-based Swede unable to get out of second gear at the final table, partly due to his stack size but also because Kelly was going nuts and opening every pot under the sun. Anderson busted after min-raising to 2,800,000 with and calling all-in for a total of 25,418,312 when Kelly jammed from the big blind with . Andersson looked good for a timely double until Kelly flopped a set and turned a full house on the board.

Heads-up was set when Stephensen ran out of steam in third place. Stephensen saw Kelly push all-in from the small blind the hand immediately after Andersson busted. Stephensen called off his 29,994,323 stack with and discovered he was against . Unsurprisingly, Kelly emerged with the best hand as the five community cards fell .

That hand gave Kelly a 225,970,171 to 34,280,279 chip lead over Jerry Odeen. Not even a play of Odeen’s quality could overcome such a substantial gap and the fact Kelly was running hotter than the sun. The final hand saw Odeen limp with , Kelly shove with , and Odeen call off his 19,135,969 chips he had behind. Odeen caught an open-ended straight draw on the flop but couldn’t get there with the turn and river falling and to bring the WPTDeepStacks Main Event to a thrilling conclusion.