The Poker Masters has given us some truly impressive poker over the last week. Yesterday saw the stakes rise from $10k buy-in events to the first of the $25k events.
Event #8: $25,000 No Limit Hold'em garnered 57 entries, making for a $1,425,000 prize pool.
Along with the increased buy-in, the starting stacks rose from 100,000 to 125,000, making for slightly deeper play earlier on and a bit more room for players to work their skill edges.
In the end, the edgiest player proved to be Chris Brewer, who took first place and $427,500. Brewer touted his enthusiasm for the format in his post-game interview.
“It’s way more fun in a tournament. A cash game is usually way less exciting," Brewer explained. "A tournament — like — you won. Which is always a good feeling. To just be the winner.”
He added that it wasn't just the tournaments he wanted to win. That purple jacket for the series champ was looking good to him too.
"I would like to win some of these series," he said. "I would just like — basically in any game that’s big — to be the guy who’s winning the most in it. That’s really all [there is to do] because all of these guys play great."
The final hand
With the blinds at 50k/125k and the big blind ante at 125k, Elias was sitting on just 1,650,000 in chips. Brewer had him comfortably covered with 5,475,000.
With the pot at 300,000 Elias looked down at T♣9❤️ and decided to punt. His chips went into the middle, and after a short pause Brewer matched his bet. Winning the hand would put Elias almost even with Brewer. Losing would send him to the rail.
Unfortunately for Elias, Brewer had him dominated with the Q♦️9♣.
The flop of J♣6♠4♦️ wasn't much help to either player. Nor was the A❤️ on the turn. Elias needed one of the three remaining tens in the deck to save him.
The river was not a ten. Instead, it was the Q❤️ improving Brewer's hand necessarily and sending Elias to the cashier for his second-place prize of $285,000. Brewer had to stick around to give his winner's interview.
"I think this is the first time I’ve won on stream," he said. "So it’s probably one of my favorite moments for that. I think it has to be up there as one of my favorites."
Poker Masters 2021 Event #8: $25,000 No Limit Hold'em complete results
| Position | Player Name | Payout |
| 1st | Chris Brewer | $427,500 |
| 2nd | Darren Elias | $285,000 |
| 3rd | Lou Garza | $199,500 |
| 4th | Brock Wilson | $142,500 |
| 5th | John Riordan | $114,000 |
| 6th | Matthew Wantman | $85,500 |
| 7th | Alex F. | $71,250 |
| 8th | Ian O’Hara | $57,000 |
| 9th | Eliran Yamin | $42,750 |
These results substantially change the landscape of the Poker Masters Leaderboard.
Daniel Negreanu slipped from his perch at the top of the leaderboard. He had been topping out the Poker Masters ladder since he took down Event #5 a few days ago.
Brock Wilson is the new leader, up from fourth place. Brewer is in at number two. Negreanu's new spot is number three.
"It would be really cool to win the jacket," Brewer said after finding out his new leaderboard spot. "I just got to win money, which is cool. I was saying right before this that winning or losing you should probably feel the same about your play. Most of it, in regards to the results, is out of your control.”
2021 Poker Masters Leaderboard after Event #8: $25,000 No Limit Hold'em
| Rank | Name | Points | Wins | Cashes | Earnings |
| 1st | Brock Wilson | 358 | 1 | 3 | $414,300 |
| 2nd | Chris Brewer | 320 | 1 | 3 | $490,800 |
| 3rd | Daniel Negreanu | 281 | 1 | 2 | $281,400 |
| 4th | Sean Perry | 280 | 1 | 3 | $280,000 |
| 5th | Dylan DeStefano | 260 | 0 | 3 | $260,800 |
| 6th | Lou Garza | 234 | 0 | 3 | $313,700 |
| 7th | Stephen Chidwick | 232 | 1 | 2 | $231,600 |
| 8th | Matthew Wantman | 216 | 0 | 3 | $250,700 |
| 9th | Shannon Shorr | 205 | 1 | 1 | $205,000 |
| 10th | John Riordan | 190 | 0 | 4 | $235,500 |
Featured image source: PokerGO
