The first two 2021 WSOP events are in the books as Jeremy Ausmus takes down the COVID Relief charity event and Jimmy Barnett wins the Casino Employees event, as each bring home the first gold bracelets of the 2-month long series.
Barnett, a Casears Palace dealer, outlasted 419 entries over 2 days to claim the $39,013 first-place prize and a gold bracelet in the $500 buy-in Casino Employees No Limit Hold'em event. The tournament traditionally marks the beginning of the WSOP, giving the many hard-working dealers and casino personnel a chance to win a WSOP gold bracelet.
Jeremy Ausmus won his second career gold bracelet after finishing atop of the $1,000 COVID-19 Charity Relief event, a tournament he almost didn't play due to long registration lines.
But his patience paid off as Ausmus beat a field of 260 entries over 2 days to win a $48,681 first-place prize, which put him over $8.7 million in career earnings. His second WSOP bracelet follows a victory in the €1,650 Pot Limit Omaha event during the 2013 WSOP Europe.
With two winners crowned, two more getting underway on Friday and two more starting on Saturday, it's safe to safe the 2021 WSOP is well underway.
The biggest event currently running without question is the $25k buy-in HORSE, which finished Day 2 on Friday with just nine players remaining. Benny Glasser holds the chip lead against a well-stacked field that includes 2nd in chips Jesse Klein, Phil Hellmuth — going for his 16th bracelet — and David Benyamine. Ben Yu and Matt Glantz are among the other notables with smaller chip stacks still alive.
The first of three flights were held for the $500 Reunion event on Friday with Dave Alfa holding the chip lead among the 2,649 entries that joined the tournament. By the end of the day, just 129 players remained.
Day 1B and Day 1C will be held on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, before the three flights combine on Monday to play towards a piece of the guaranteed $5 million prize pool.
The other event getting underway on Friday was the start of the $1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better. The event attracted 607 entries during the day with 230 players remaining at the end of play late Friday. Christopher Stephen holds the chip lead coming into Day 2, but WSOP bracelet winners Dan Heimiller and Robert Mizrachi are hot on his tail. Day 2 will get started at 2 PM PT on Saturday.
Saturday sees the start of the $25,000 High Roller No Limit Hold'em 8-Handed, beginning at 3 PM local time. The second flight of the Reunion kicks off at 10 AM.
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