Taiwan has the third World Series of Poker bracelet winner in its history as Carlos Chang took down the 2021 WSOP's Event 41, $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout on Friday. Chang's best-ever $364,589 payday accompanies his first-ever WSOP bracelet and boosts his global tourney winnings over $1.5 million.
With the win, Taipei's Chang joins James Chen (2019) and Pete Yen Han Chen (online Event 3 earlier in this series), as Taiwan's only bracelet winners. Chang almost won his first bracelet in 2019, when he finished fourth in that year's "The Closer" event.
Chang also final-tabled the Little One for One Drop in 2015 and has shown a flair for large-field no-limit hold'em events during his seven-year WSOP career. On Saturday, he came out on top of an 896-player field in this freezeout event, in which busted players could not re-enter.
Chang, Osterman duel for title
Saturday's final table figured to be a battle between Chang and the U.S.'s Brady Osterman. Chang arrived at the final with 8.14 million in chips, while Osterman was close behind at 7.69. No other player began with more than 4.8 million. The two swapped the lead throughout the day, though Osterman appeared to be in control late, after busting France's Adrian Delmas in third.
As heads-up action began, Osterman held nearly a 2:1 edge over Chang, until a series of all-in collisions finally ended with Chang claiming the win. Chang won several medium-sized pots to take more than a 3:1 edge of his own. Osterman then won a sizable pot and followed it by doubling through Chang to return to the lead.
The turning point came in a hand where Chang rivered a flush, moved all in, and got Osterman to call with two pair. That left Osterman on fumes. Moments later, he moved all in with Ah-Jd, and Chang called with 10c-7c. Osterman stayed ahead through the 6c-8d-8h flop and 6h turn. A 9h river, however, filled Chang's gutshot straight, giving him the hand and Taiwan's third-ever WSOP bracelet win.
Event 41, $2,500 NLH Freezeout - Final-table Results
- Carlos Chang (Taiwan) - $364,589
- Brady Osterman (United States) - $225,333
- Adrien Delmas (France) - $161,731
- Sergi Reixach (Spain) - $117,650
- Arthur Conan (France) - $86,757
- Sung Joo Hyun (South Korea) - $64,864
- Gerald Cunniff (United States) - $49,179
- Quang Ngo (United States) - $37,820
- Christopher Basile (United States) - $29,506
Featured image source: WSOP.com
