2021 WSOP Day 52: Jason Koon Leads $50K High Roller
Day 52 of the 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP) featured another full day of poker action at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in sunny Las Vegas with Nov. 18 featuring five bracelet events.
Two huge events awarded bracelets on Saturday. Adrian Mateos won his fourth piece of WSOP hardware in a huge way by winning $250,000 Super High Roller for $3,265,262. Later in the evening, Jeremy Ausmus denied Phil Hellmuth his 17th bracelet and Daniel Negreanu his seventh bracelet while winning the third of his own by coming out on top of the $50,000 PLO High Roller for $1,188,918.
Meanwhile, Jason Koon bagged the overnight chip lead after Day 1 in the $50,000 NLHE High Roller and Alex Kulev will advance to Day 2 of the $1,500 The Closer with the chip lead.
Read on to learn about what took place on Day 52 of the 2021 WSOP.
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Alex Kulev Bags Day 1b Chip Lead in Event #83: $1,500 The Closer
Day 1b in Event #83: $1,500 The Closer hit the Rio on Saturday with the second of the two opening flights attracting 1,101 entrants with 166 players making the money with a minimum payout being $2,400. After a long fourteen hours of play, only 38 players remained in Day 1b.
Day 1a had a total of 802 players to bring the total field up to 1,903 for a $1,469,835 prize pool. Day 2 will witness 63 players return with 25 players surviving on Day 1a.
Alex Kulev had an impressive run on Day 1b to not only end on top of the second flight's leaderboard with 2,685,000 in chips but will also enter Day 2 as the overall chip leader.
Meanwhile, Giorgiy Skhulukhiya (2,425,000), Marc Lange (1,320,000), Leo Margets (1,300,000) and Steven Steinmetz (1,300,000) all bagged top five chip stacks on Day 1b.
The Closer Day 1b Top 10 Chip Counts
| RANK | PLAYER | Country | CHIP COUNT | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex Kulev | Ireland | 2,685,000 | 90 |
| 2 | Giorgiy Skhulukhiya | Georgia | 2,425,000 | 81 |
| 3 | Marc Lange | United States | 1,320,000 | 44 |
| 4 | Steven Steinmetz | United States | 1,300,000 | 43 |
| 5 | Leo Margets | Spain | 1,300,000 | 43 |
| 6 | Ryan Riess | United States | 1,070,000 | 36 |
| 7 | Noah Bronstein | United States | 1,010,000 | 34 |
| 8 | Michael Wang | United States | 1,010,000 | 34 |
| 9 | Jonathan Borenstein | United States | 960,000 | 32 |
| 10 | Mitchell Halverson | United States | 930,000 | 31 |
Five-time bracelet winner Shaun Deeb, recent three-time WSOP bracelet winner Chance Kornuth, two-time bracelet winner Bertrand Grospellier, and bracelet winner David Jackson all battled on Day 2 only to come up empty-handed.
All remaining players who bagged will return for Day 2 on Sunday, Nov. 21 at 12 p.m. noon local time in the Amazon room with the dinner break to be determined Sunday starting at Level 23 with blinds at 15,000/30,000 and a big blind ante of 30,000. There will be 15-minute breaks every four levels and the tournament is scheduled to play down to a winner at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino.
Check out all of The Closer updates
Jason Koon Leads Stacked Field After Day 1 of $50,000 High Roller
After 12 fast-paced 40-minute levels that saw 101 entries fill Event #85: $50,000 High Roller, GGPoker Ambassador Jason Koon finished the day atop the chip counts with 2,405,000 chips.
Ole Schemion (1,760,000), Stephen Chidwick (1,700,000), and Shaun Deeb (1,650,000) are not far behind.
Also among the 35 players finding a bag for Sunday's Day 2 were 2021 World Series of Poker Player of the Year front-runner Josh Arieh, who bagged up 570,000 chips and Michael Addamo, who built a big chip lead early before finishing the day with a more than healthy 1,145,000.
$50,000 High Roller Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts
| RANK | PLAYER | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jason Koon | United States | 2,405,000 | 80 |
| 2 | Ole Schemion | Austria | 1,760,000 | 59 |
| 3 | Stephen Chidwick | United Kingdom | 1,700,000 | 57 |
| 4 | Shaun Deeb | United States | 1,650,000 | 55 |
| 5 | Ranganath Kanchi | United States | 1,565,000 | 52 |
| 6 | Dan Smith | United States | 1,450,000 | 48 |
| 7 | Mikita Badziakouski | Belarus | 1,325,000 | 44 |
| 8 | Michael Addamo | Australia | 1,145,000 | 38 |
| 9 | Darren Elias | United States | 1,144,000 | 38 |
| 10 | John Brooks | United States | 1,085,000 | 36 |
Plenty of stars fell by the wayside throughout the day including Fedor Holz, Scott Seiver, Adrian Mateos, and David Peters.
Day 2 will take place Sunday at 12 p.m. noon local time in the Amazon room, with the field playing down to a final table of five, which will be streamed Monday on PokerGO.
Registration will remain open until cards are in the air again, where it��s expected there will be several more last-minute entries, likely including Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, and Jeremy Ausmus, who were still finishing up the $50,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller final table as this event bagged up for the night.
The action will resume at Level 13 with blinds of 15,000 and 30,000 with a 30,000 big blind ante.
Check out all of the $50K High Roller updates
In this Series
- 1 2021 WSOP Day 1: Series Underway With Star-Studded $25k H.O.R.S.E.
- 2 2021 WSOP Day 2: Hellmuth In The Hunt For 16th Bracelet
- 3 2021 WSOP Day 3: Drinan On Course For His Second Bracelet
- 4 2021 WSOP Day 4: Cornell In Pole Position For First Bracelet
- 5 2021 WSOP Day 5: Negreanu, Matusow, Seidel, and Hellmuth Advance in the $10K LO8 Championship
- 6 2021 WSOP Day 6: Phil Hellmuth Chasing 16th Bracelet Deep in the $10K LO8 Championship
- 7 2021 WSOP Day 7: Hellmuth Four Players Away From Bracelet #16
- 8 2021 WSOP Day 8: Deeb Looking For Bracelet #5
- 9 2021 WSOP Day 9: FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver Headlines $10K Limit Final Table; Racener Leads
- 10 2021 WSOP Day 10: Brian Yoon Hunting for Fourth Bracelet
- 11 2021 WSOP Day 11: Hellmuth In The Hunt Again; Reaches Another Final Table
- 12 2021 WSOP Day 12: Negreanu Hunting for Seventh Bracelet
- 13 2021 WSOP Day 13: Five Left in Milly Maker; Marle Cordeiro Among Last 17 in Ladies Event
- 14 2021 WSOP Day 14: Vanessa Kade Racks Up Fifth Cash of the Series
- 15 2021 WSOP Day 15: Zinno On Course For Fourth Bracelet
- 16 2021 WSOP Day 16: Kornuth Reaches Back-to-Back $10K Short Deck Finals
- 17 2021 WSOP Day 17: Phil Hellmuth Hunting for 16th Bracelet with 10 Remaining in $1,500 NL 2-7 Lowball
- 18 2021 WSOP Day 18: Elezra in the Mix For His Fifth Bracelet
- 19 2021 WSOP Day 19: David ��Bakes�� Baker Hunting for Third Bracelet at $1,500 Triple Draw Final Table
- 20 2021 WSOP Day 20: Friedman After a Three-Peat as Negreanu and Hellmuth Advance to Final 10 in $10K Dealer's Choice
- 21 2021 WSOP Day 21: Addamo Flying High In Yet Another High Roller
- 22 2021 WSOP Day 22: Arieh Positions Himself For Bracelet #3
- 23 2021 WSOP Day 23: Gerhart, Johnson, and Shack-Harris Seeking Third Bracelets with Five Remaining in $10K H.O.R.S.E.
- 24 2021 WSOP Day 24: JC Tran Flying High in the $10K PLO
- 25 2021 WSOP Day 25: Elezra and Matusow Hunting for Fifth Bracelets in the $10K PLO Championship
- 26 2021 WSOP Day 26: Soverel Leads the Charge in the NL 2-7 Single Draw Championship
- 27 2021 WSOP Day 27: Glaser Leads Final 8 $10K NL 2-7 Championship as Negreanu Alive Hunting for Seventh Bracelet
- 28 2021 WSOP Day 28: Stars Turn Out For $25K PLO High Roller; Deeb Flying High
- 29 2021 WSOP Day 29: Lamb Registers Late In $25K PLO and Bags Lead
- 30 2021 WSOP Day 30: Ka Kwan Lau On Course For $25K PLO Bracelet
- 31 2021 WSOP Day 31: Kolev Leads the $10K 6-Handed NLHE Championship
- 32 WSOP 2021 Day 32: Yockey Bags $50k Poker Players Championship Day 1 Chip Lead
- 33 2021 WSOP Day 33: Volpe and Cates Lead Final 35 of the $50K Poker Players Championship
- 34 2021 WSOP Day 34: Ryan Leng Leads Final 10 in the $50K PPC
- 35 2021 WSOP Day 35: Eli Elezra Leads Final 5 in the $50K Poker Players Championship
- 36 2021 WSOP Day 36: Main Event Underway, Brunson Up to Old Tricks
- 37 2021 WSOP Day 37: Three Bracelet-Winners Crowned as Main Event Continues
- 38 2021 WSOP Day 38: Aleksandr Shevlyakov Bags Overall Chip Lead on Day 1c of the Main Event
- 39 2021 WSOP Day 39: Main Event Breaks Through 4,500 Entrants; Ajayi Tops Counts
- 40 2021 WSOP Day 40: Joe Hachem Back in Form on Day 1e of the Main Event
- 41 2021 WSOP Day 41: Rameez Shahid Leads Main Event as Phil Hellmuth Makes Grand Entrance
- 42 2021 WSOP Day 42: Main Event Whittled to 2,362 Players
- 43 2021 WSOP Day 43: Jessica Cai Leads After Main Event Bubble Bursts
- 44 2021 WSOP Day 44: Ramon Colillas Bags Day 4 Chip Lead in WSOP Main Event
- 45 2021 WSOP Day 45: Aldemir Claims Main Event Chip Lead After Day 5
- 46 2021 WSOP Day 46: Park Leads the Final 36 in the Main Event
- 47 2021 WSOP Day 47: Yuval Bronshtein Leads Final Four in $10K Stud Hi-Lo Championship in Hunt for Third Bracelet
- 48 2021 WSOP Day 48: Lisandro Leads Hellmuth After $10,000 Razz Championship Day 1
- 49 2021 WSOP Day 49: Hellmuth Hunting for Bracelet #17 as Dzivielevski Leads Final 14 in $10K Razz Championship
- 50 2021 WSOP Day 50: Benny Glaser Hunting for 4th Bracelet with Heads-Up Lead in $10K Razz Championship
- 51 2021 WSOP Day 51: Glaser, Schemion, Cowen and Wheeler Pick Up Bracelets; Mateos Chip Leads in $250K SHR
- 52 2021 WSOP Day 52: Jason Koon Leads $50K High Roller
- 53 2021 WSOP Day 53: Holz In Front In The $100K High Roller
- 54 2021 WSOP Day 54: Michael Addamo Leads Final Five in $100K High Roller
