Mikita Badziakouski has been a crusher on the high roller tournament poker scene for years. He hasn’t had many World Series of Poker cashes to date due to his preference for playing high-stakes buy-in tournaments. But the inclusion of more high roller tournaments on the WSOP schedule prompted Badziakouski to get in the mix this year, and his second cash of the series came with a victory in the Event #85 $50,000 High Roller tournament. The first-place finish gave Badziakouski his first gold bracelet and a cool $1,462,043.
Badziakouski’s first cash of the 2021 WSOP came in a fifth-place finish in the Event #11 $25,000 Heads Up Championship for $36,820. One day after winning the $50,000 High Roller, Badziakouski final-tabled the Event #87 $100,000 High Roller tournament and finished in eighth place for $217,274. The Belarusian poker pro has 17 WSOP cashes under his belt for a total of $5,786,050 in tournament earnings.
And that figure only scratches the surface of Badziakouski’s overall success. The 29-year-old ranks No. 12 on the all-time money list on Hendon Mob with over $31 million in documented tournament winnings. That list of tournament cashes includes a staggering eight seven-figure paydays, including two wins in the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in 2018 worth $5,257,027 and $2,499,184.
Daniel Negreanu settles for third place again at a stacked final table
The $50,000 High Roller event finished with a total of 113 entries, generating a total prize pool of $5,409,875. Cary Katz was the final player eliminated before the money bubble in 18th place. Shaun Deeb (16th, $84,486), Christoph Vogelsang (12th, $92,407), Ole Schemion (11th, $105,607) and Elio Fox (10th - $105,607) all cashed but came up just shy of the final table.
And as is almost always the case in these high roller tournaments, the final table was jam-packed with elite players including Ryan Leng, Ali Imsirovic, Stephen Chidwick, Jason Koon, and six-time WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu.
Negreanu settled for third place in the $50,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha event late on Saturday night, locking up a $519,764 payout in the process. He finished in the exact same place just one night later in the $50,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em event, this time cashing $661,041. It was an excellent weekend of poker financially for Negreanu, but a frustrating one for the bracelet-driven star who has been stuck on six bracelets since 2013.
Negreanu’s exit in third place paved the way for Mikita Badziakouski and Ren Lin to go heads up for the bracelet. Badziakouski started heads-up play with a 27 million to 7 million chip advantage, but Lin fought well to eventually flip the chip advantage to 27 million to 7 million in his favor. The battle continued with Badziakouski turning the tide back in his favor to take the lead. He eventually put Lin away in a hard-fought victory.
Final Table Payouts
1. Mikita Badziakouski: $1,462,043
2. Ren Lin: $903,610
3. Daniel Negreanu: $661,041
4. Jason Koon: $489,585
5. Stephen Chidwick: $367,153
6. Ali Imsirovic: $278,840
7. Carlos Villamarin: $214,496
8. Joao Vieira: $167,152
9. Ryan Leng: $131,982
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