One of the most enticing aspects of freezeout events at the World Series of Poker for recreational players is that professional players with large bankrolls don’t have the advantage of being able to re-buy. All 720 players that played in this year’s 2021 WSOP Event #13 $3,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em were limited to one buy-in. Harvey Mathews made the most of his, winning the tournament for its top prize of $371,914 and his first WSOP gold bracelet on Friday night.
This was just the ninth live tournament cash ever recorded on Mathews’ Hendon Mob page. Three of those previous eight cashes came in WSOP events as he finished 3,632nd in the $500 No-Limit Hold’em Big 50 event in 2019, 282nd in a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event in 2011 for $2,815, and 36th in the $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em Six Handed tournament for $12,456 in 2010. That cash was the biggest of Mathew’s career prior to this one.
The $3,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em event had a total prize pool of $1,922,400. Michael Gathy was the biggest name to advance to the final table as a four-time WSOP bracelet winner who won his most recent bracelet and $260,504 online in the 2020 GGPoker $500 The Closer Event #85. Gathy would eventually settle for a third-place finish in this event when he moved all-in on a short stack with ace-eight and ran into Mathews’ suited ace-king.
Harvey Mathews defeats Gabriel Andrade heads up
After eliminating Gathy with the ace-king, Mathews carried a 2-to-1 chip lead of 19,245,000 vs. 9,645,000 into heads-up play against Gabriel Andrade. Andrade pulled to within striking distance multiple times during heads up play, but Mathews kept managing to fend him off thanks in large part to his aggressive betting.
On the final hand of the tournament, Mathews raised enough to put Andrade all-in for his last 3,190,000 in chips with king-ten offsuit. Andrade made the call and was ahead with ace-nine going to the flop. The flop came down eight-eight-five and was followed by a deuce on the turn. But right when it looked like the resilient Andrade was going to double-up again, the king of spades fell on the river to lock up the win for Mathews.
Final Table Payouts
1. Harvey Mathews: $371,914
2. Gabriel Andrade: $229,848
3. Michael Gathy: $164,083
4. Girish Apte: $118,815
5. Brandon Caputo: $87,288
6. David Lolis: $65,072
7. Craig Mason: $49,238
8. Andrew Jeong: $37,824
9. Freddy Heller: $29,504
Featured Image Credit: PokerGO
