Paulo Joanello defeated a field of 1,501 total entries to win the 2021 World Series of Poker $1,500 buy-in Fifty Stack no-limit hold’em event, earning the top prize of $321,917 and his first WSOP gold bracelet. The Brazilian player celebrated the victory in front of a rail full of supporters.
WSOP social media ‘czar’ Kevin Mathers captured the moment of victory and shared it on Twitter.
The moment Paulo Joanello won the #wsop FIFTY Stack #vamoooooo pic.twitter.com/RkmOCIblJc
— Kevin Mathers (@Kevmath) November 18, 2021
The final day of this two-day tournament began with 114 players remaining. Plenty of big names made deep runs inside the top fifty in this event, including bracelet winner Jim Collopy (49th – $6,101), 2020 WSOP main event champion Damian Salas (44th – $7,100), bracelet winner Haixia Zhang (41st – $7,100), bracelet winner and start-of-day leader Ryan Depaulo (37th – $7,100), two-time bracelet winner Brett Schaffer (34th – $8,363), and bracelet winner John Gorsuch (10th – $22,632).
Two-time bracelet winner and high-stakes tournament regular Elio Fox finished seventh for $47,145. The 2011 WSOP Europe main event champion ran 10-9 suited into the pocket tens of Joanello to bring his latest deep run at the series to an end.
Recent 2021 WSOP main event 29th-place ($198,550) finisher Roongsak Griffeth backed up his strong showing in the big dance with a final-table finish in this event. He placed fifth for $81,228 just days after hitting the rail in the main event.
Toby Price scored back-to-back knockouts, sending both Griffith and Ron Moisescu (4th – $108,349) to the rail to take the lead into three-handed action. Joanello was the shortest stack at this point, but managed two double-ups before overtaking the lead. He extended that advantage when his AJ outran the AK of Martin Bicanik to send him home in third place ($146,061).
With that Joanello took more than a 2:1 lead into heads-up play with Price. The two traded the lead back and forth, but Joanello was ahead when the final hand of the tournament was dealt. Joanello raised to 3,300,000 on the button with KK and Price defended his big blind with Q2. The flop came down Q96 and Price checked. Joanello bet 3,200,000, only to have Price check-raise all-in with his top pair. Joanello quickly called with his overpair. The turn brought the 6, leaving Price in even worse shape with one card to come. The river was the 9, securing the pot and the title for Joanello. Price earned $198,970 as the runner-up finsiher.
Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:
Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points |
1 | Paulo Joanello | $321,917 | 1080 |
2 | Toby Price | $198,970 | 900 |
3 | Martin Bicanik | $146,061 | 720 |
4 | Ron Moisescu | $108,349 | 540 |
5 | Roongsak Griffeth | $81,228 | 450 |
6 | Axel Hallay | $61,550 | 360 |
7 | Elio Fox | $47,145 | 270 |
8 | David Morel | $36,508 | 180 |
9 | Scott Hall | $28,585 | 90 |
Winner photo credit: WSOP / Rachel Kay Miller.