WSOP $600 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack victory for Wu

After just over an hour of final table action, Zhi Wu of Boston, Massachusetts defeated Ari Mezrich of Las Vegas in heads-up play to win the gold bracelet in Event #8: $600 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack.

The first Deepstack event of the 2021 World Series of Poker attracted 4,527 entrants to generate a $2,309,280 prize pool from which Wu collected $281,604 for the victory.

The victory was Wu's first cash at the WSOP after previous success in other tournaments around the country.

Winner's Reaction

Wu hails from Boston and plays most of his poker in home games with his friends, some of whom were on the rail for his victory. The group plans to go home to Boston after this weekend before returning at the end of October for the Main Event.

"I won a Foxwoods $400 a couple of years ago and I came in second in a $1,700 bounty in Florida," Wu said through a translator. "I am not a professional, but I have some experience.

"I am going to play the Millionaire Maker, the Main Event, and a few others. We plan to party a little bit but stick to the schedule."

The $600 deepstack event drew previous bracelet-winners Asi Moshe, Joey Weissman, and Craig Varnell, but they were all eliminated prior to Day 3 and the final table welcomed a group of fresh faces looking for their first WSOP victory.

Final Table Action

The action unfolded quickly when Chrishan Sivasundaram knocked out Nicholas Zautra with a pair of kings as the final table got underway. Zautra was soon followed by Ryan Chen in fourth place. Chen was Wu's first victim of the day when he shoved his stack with middle-pair on the flop against Wu's top-pair of eights.

Wu applied pressure early in three-handed play and extended the lead with two big pots before eliminating Sivasundaram in third place. Wu called Sivasundaran's shove with seven-three and the hot run continued when he made two-pair on the flop.

Runner-up Mezrich entered the day as the shortest stack and Wu held a commanding lead going into heads-up play, but Mezrich immediately went to work and doubled up twice before taking two other pots to bring the players near even. In a matter of minutes, Wu had lost his commanding chip lead and Mezrich was on the march.

"I was nervous about big hands so I changed my strategy," Wu said. "I played big hands differently because I knew my opponent was a strong heads-up player."

The nerves didn't last long, however, and Wu soon looked down at a pair of aces. Mezrich called off with mid-pair after tanking for more than a minute when Wu shoved the turn. The river was a brick and Wu was all smiles as he took his first look at the WSOP gold bracelet.

Final Table Results
1 Zhi Wu United States $281,604
2 Ari Mezrich United States $173,998
3 Chrishan Sivasundaram United States $131,675
4 Ryan Chan Canada $100,330
5 Nicholas Zautra United States $76,974

(Article courtesy of World Series of Poker)