Gershon Distenfeld wins 2021 WSOP $1,500 Shootout, donates winnings

The 2021 WSOP Event #48: $1,500 SHOOTOUT No-Limit Hold’em had a player cap of 2,000. However, it only garnered a field of 800.

The roundness of that number was handy as day one saw 80 tables of ten players start the event. Each player began with 25,000 in chips and each table played until one person had all 250,000 in front of them.

Everyone who survived Day 1 made the money.

On Day 2 the field reconvened at ten tables of eight players. Each table played down to one remaining competitor. Day 2 stacks showed small variations since unclaimed stacks were blinded out at each table for a while then chucked down the hole after level 4. Players then carried these slightly lopsided chip stacks over to the second round.

Day 3 saw the remaining ten players seated at the final table where they played down until — once again — a single-player reigned triumphant. Today that player was Gershon Distenfeld.

The WSOP tweeted his victory: "Gershon Distenfeld wins the $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout event to earn $204,063 and his first gold bracelet."

Charitable giving

Distenfeld is a first-time bracelet winner. However, he made a small cash in the 2021 WSOP $800 Deepstack event, but even so, his total lifetime live earnings before today stood at $14,300.

That number is a little lower than you might expect. That is because it does not include the $126k he won for his 8th place finish in last year's Online WSOP Domestic Main Event.

The first prize in the $1,500 Shootout was $204,063. Quite a jump.

Distenfeld will be giving his entire winnings to charity (as he did last year with his profits from the Domestic Main Event). He also wanted to encourage other bracelet winners to "to give away 1% of their money to the charity of their choice."

"There's no lack of needs out there," Distenfeld said. "If I could have a lasting impact in the poker community, it would be that."

Heads-up play was a three-hour slug-fest with chips going back and forth between Distenfeld and Johan Schumacher.

Schumacher, wearing a shirt that was seemingly designed to short out the CCD chips in PokerGO's cameras, found himself down to just a few blinds multiple times over the course of his battle with Distenfeld.

Schumacher eventually succumbed when Distenfeld's Q♣4♠ outdrew Schumacher's Q♦️T♣ after a pre-flop all-in.

The final board read A❤️Q♠7♠4❤️K♠.

Schumacher won $126,133 for second place.

2021 WSOP Event #48: $1,500 SHOOTOUT No-Limit Hold’em complete final table results

Featured image source: PokerGO