WSOP Online The Big 500 Encore title belongs to Van Auken

On Sunday night, the 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Online Event #26 $500 NLH The Big 500 Encore attracted 729 players who rebought 389, making 1,118 total entries which built a $503,100 prize pool.

The tournament was an encore to the first event on the 2021 WSOP schedule, and after more than 12 hours of play, it was Eric "8Bracelets" Van Auken coming out on top to win a $93,627 top prize for his first career bracelet and topping his previous career high cash of $39,994 by some distance.

According to Hendon Mob, the New Jersey native has accumulated $112,063 in winnings thus far in his career, meaning this top prize nearly doubles his career winnings in one fell swoop.

After "oneTiger" exited as the bubble bout in 167th place, the in-the-money eliminations came at a steady pace which included two-time WSOP bracelet winner Ryan "adopt_adogg0" Leng (130th - $805), Ryan "hagzzz021" Hagerty (64th - $1,157), Ye "yuan365" Yuan (28th - $2,214), Brett "Metanemesis" Apter (18th - $3,320), and (10th - $6,457).

Final Table Action

Jack "Borgia92" McClelland was the first final table victim as his ace-king fell to pocket queens when a straight came in to take out the flopped king. Next to go out was Jacob "tooletime13" Toole who lost a flip with ace-queen vs jacks.

Justin "pocketprofit" Wong hit the rail in seventh place, falling to pocket kings. Dean "nikobellic99" Curreri fell in sixth after being able to chase down ace-queen with king-jack.

Tomasz "ToMRoX" Trelski was eliminated in fifth place after taking the lead with king-eight on the flop but going back behind on the turn to an ace to pair his opponent's ace-ten. The next player to go was Naichang "cncly1314" Chen in fourth place when his ace-jack could not overcome ace-queen.

In third place was Corey "Corgasm" Paggeot who enjoyed another amazing run following his second place finish in last night's Event #24.

Heads up play began with Dominick "Flow_Cold" Sarle holding a 3:1 chip lead over Van Auken but it was Van Auken who would immediate start to chip into the lead and eventually draw close. After a series of big hands, he would take a 3:1 chip lead himself, completely flipping the table. Sarle did get a double up to bring the stacks to even but Van Auken would put a hammer lock on it in a big all in when his pocket eights made a straight on the river to over take the ace-ten of Sarle who had flopped a ten. Van Auken won a couple of hands later.

Final Table Results
1 Eric "8Bracelets" Van Auken $93,627
2 Dominick "Flow_Cold" Sarle $57,856
3 Corey "Corgasm" Paggeot $40,952
4 Naichang "cncly1314" Chen $29,381
5 Tomasz "ToMRoX" Trelski $21,331
6 Dean "nikobellic99" Curreri $15,697
7 Justin "pocketprofit" Wong $11,722
8 Jacob "tooletime13" Toole $8,855
9 Jack "Borgia92" McClelland $6,792

(Article courtesy of World Series of Poker)