2021 WSOP: Fifty Stack tourney won by Paulo Joanello

Jon Pill
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Posted on: November 19, 2021 2:41 am EST

The 2021 WSOP Event #77: $1,500 FIFTY STACK No-Limit Hold’em came to an end the same day as the Main Event. Understandably, the $1.5k buy-in event didn’t get quite as much sunlight as the biggest game in town, but it still made Paulo Joanello’s day.

There were 1,501 entries to the event, which made for a prize pool of $2,003,835.

$321,917 of that pool was set aside for the first-place finisher, who proved to be first-time WSOP final tabler Paulo Joanello.

Joanello took the event down after a hectic two days of deep-and-steep play.

The Fifty Stack gets its name from the starting stack size, a deep 50,000 in chips. Still, the high-speed blinds mean that in practice the Fifty Stack doesn’t play all that different than any other $1,500 event after the first few rounds of play.

The WSOP celebrated Joanello’s win on Twitter with a post that read, “Today’s bracelet ceremony is for Paulo Joanello, winner of Event 77: $1,500 FIFTY Stack, held in [the Brasilia Room].”

Flying down to the RIO

Joanello is from Brazil and only visits the U.S. during the WSOP. This time he brought with him a few friends to rail his final table performance.

“When [Price] came back in heads-up, I thought I was going to lose,” Joanello in his post-game interview, describing one particular tough spot. “But I looked at the bracelet and my rail and I said ‘No,’ this is going to Brazil and these people.”

In the end, he was right.

Price took a tumble during the 800k/1.6 million blind level. With 23.9 million in his stack, Price shoved with Q♠2 on a flop of Q♠96♣.

Joanello met Price’s price and turned over K♣K. Price needed a two or a queen to stave off the end of the tourney.

The dealer did not oblige. Instead, the turn was the 6♠ and the river was the 9.

“It’s a dream, a dream come true,” said Joanello after his win. “I have no voice left because I was yelling. But it’s a dream for all of us.”

Price won $198,970 for second place.

The WSOP tweeted: “Brazil native Paulo Joanello outlasts 1,501 entrants in the $1,500 NLH Fifty Stack to earn $321,017 and his first WSOP bracelet.”

2021 WSOP Event #77: $1,500 FIFTY STACK No-Limit Hold’em complete final table results

PositionPlayer NamePayout
1stPaulo Joanello$321,917
2ndToby Price$198,970
3rdMartin Bicanik$146,061
4thRon Moisescu$108,349
5thRoongsak Griffeth$81,228
6thAxel Hallay$61,550
7thElio Fox$47,145
8thDavid Morel$36,508
9thScott Hall$28,585

Featured image source: WSOP