Finland's Eelis Parssinen has emerged as the winner of Event 64 of the 2021 World Series of Poker, $5,000 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em/Pot-Limit Omaha. Parssinen's win on Wednesday came in one of the most distinctive bracelet events on the 2021 World Series of Poker slate.
Parssinen topped a 579-entry field to win this mixed-games event, which only included alternating rounds of poker's two most popular variants, no-limit hold'em and pot-limit Omaha. Parssinen's win was worth $545,616 -- a career best. The big payday pushes his career live-tourney earnings over the $1.5 million mark.
The bracelet win also puts Parssinen in elite homeland company, as he's only the seventh Finnish player to claim WSOP gold. Juha Helppi remains the country's only double-bracelet winner. Another Finnish pro, Joni Jouhkimainen, also made the final table here before being eliminated in fifth.
Parssinen doubles through countryman Jouhkimainen to key bracelet win
It might have seemed that it was Parssinen's fellow Finlander, Jouhkimainen, who would take down the title. Jouhkimainen started the day third among the 47 Day 2 players in this fast-paced, turbo-style event, while Parsinnen was back in the pack. Jouhkimainen held the lead for a short while early on Day 2, but both he and Parssinen arrived at the final table with mid-pack stacks.
American David Prociak led much of the Day 2 action before suffering big hits delivered by both Parssinen and Ezra Abu Gazal. Prociak eventually exited in fourth. Before that, however, Parssinen landed one of the hands of the day when he turned quad queens in a big PLO pot against Jouhkimainen. The hit started a tough run for Jouhkimainen, who busted in fifth, not long before Prociak joined him on the rail.
Parssinen, Abu Gazal, and Noah Bronstein ended up in an extended three-way battle where each player took turns in the lead. Parssinen finally closed out Abu Gazal in a race hand, where his pocket fives held up against Abu Gazal's Q-10. That left Bronstein well behind Parssinen, and the end came during the next PLO rotation. In the final hand, Bronstein pot-raised preflop, and Parssinen called. The flop came 5d-6h-2s. Bronstein led out, Parssinen raised, and Bronstein called off his remaining chips, only to find himself well behind. Parsinen showed As-6d-6h-5s for trip sixes, while Bronstein opened Kh-10h-3c-2s. An Ah turn meant Bronstein needed a heart or a four to stay alive. A Js river card came instead, and Parssinen's trip sixes were good for the win.
Event 64, $5,000 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em/Pot-Limit Omaha – Final-table results
- Eelis Parssinen (Finland) - $545,616
- Noah Bronstein (United States) - $337,216
- Ezra Abu Gazal (United States) - $239,321
- David Prociak (United States) - $172,332
- Joni Jouhkimainen (Finland) - $125,940
- Kyle Arora (United States) - $93,425
- Niklas Astedt (Sweden) - $70,367
- Vikranth Anga (India) - $53,824
Featured image source: WSOP.com
