The 2021 World Series of Poker Online continued on Sunday with Event #18: $1,000 NLH North American Open. The tournament attracted a total of 524 players and 232 rebuys were recorded, resulting in a field of 756 entries and a prize pool of $692,000.
The online tournament lasted for almost 11 hours, and James Gilbert emerged victorious in the end, winning $137,570 as his prize. On top of that, Gilbert, who uses the online moniker “Danfriel,” won his first gold bracelet, the highest accolade in the poker sphere.
Gilbert faced Landon Tice in the heads-up. He has more than $2.1 million in live tournament cash, according to his official Hendon Mob page. His highest single cash was $434,598 which he managed to win in the 2015 WPT Borgata Poker Open, where he ended in second place. His second-biggest cash was $326,565 in the 2018 WPT Seminole Rock N Roll Poker Open. Once again, that reward was for finishing a runner-up rather than winning a tournament.
This wasn’t the first time that Gilbert was close to winning a bracelet (even though he actually won it this time). Back in 2017, he took part in a WSOP event #50: $1,500 NLH, where he earned $139,180 after finishing third. Just a week after that, he ended up in the ninth position in the 2017 WSOP Event #68: $3,000 NLH, earning $48,745 for his effort.
Event #18 Overview
A total of 126 players made it to the money list in this real money poker tournament. Some of them who earned cash but failed to make it to the final table are Justin Lapka, Ryan Riess, Ian Steinman, Mike Shin, Jonathan Dokler, Chance Kornuth, Raman Afanasenka, and Kristen Bicknell.
The final table consisted of nine players, and the first one to hit the rail was Daniel Dagostino, who uses the nickname “st0neydanza.” He managed to earn a total of $9,550 for his effort. Dagostino was followed by a player nicknamed “DLAZ14” in the eighth place for $12,456, and William “swaggyb” Corvino left the game after that as a seventh-placed player, earning $16,539 for his effort.
The sixth position was reserved for a player nicknamed “tennispro75,” who earned $22,282, and Tony “Panoramic” Dunst followed them in the fifth for $30,448.
Felix Vandeput, nicknamed “madenspauwke,” ended in the fourth position and earned a total of $42,281. The last player to hit the rail before Gilbert and Ticed started their face-to-face battle was Brett Shaffer, who earned $59,512 for his effort.
At the start of the heads-up duel, Gilbert already had a 4:1 chip lead as he scored several eliminations in the final table. Tice decided not to give him an easy victory, but Gilbert’s lead was too big for Tice to turn the tables. During the last hand, Tice shoved with king-eight, only to stumble upon king-ten in Gilbert’s hand. Therefore, Tice had to settle for the consolation prize of $85,047.