Former "October Niner" Dan Sindelar has become the latest winner of a World Series of Poker gold bracelet by capturing the final event in the U.S.-domestic WSOP Online series, the $500 NLH Grand Finale. Sindelar's win over Event #33's 2,024-entry field was worth $159,100. This closing event attracted the series' largest overall field.
It's Sindelar's largest victory, but nowhere near his biggest payday. One of the Nebraska native's earliest recorded tournament results came in a 2007 Twin Cities event, worth $105,312. However, Sindelar remains most famed for his deep run in the 2017 WSOP main event. His run there ended in seventh place, for a $1,236,084 cash that still accounts for almost half of his $2.5 million in career winnings.
Sindelar's first bracelet comes just days after a near miss in an earlier 2021 WSOP Online event. He finished as the runner-up in Event #12, the $500 NLH Turbo Deepstack, in mid-July. Bryan Piccioli won that earlier event, while Sindelar settled for $51,527 and second place.
Sindelar the latest comeback winner
Several recent WSOP Online final tables have seen players come from behind to claim gold. Sindelar joins that trend, though getting to heads-up play was his first challenge. Early final-table action found Guy "PhilLaak" Dunlap, "chuckybrown", and Stanley "stanman420" Lee taking turns as the leader.
Lee logged four straight knockouts during the final's middle stages, while Sindelar chipped up without being involved in an elimination hand. Lee's final knockout, of third-place finisher Fred "staeks" Li, gave him about 80 percent of the chips entering the final duel.
Sindelar, though, wasn't done. He doubled through Lee and into the lead when his ace-jack held up against Lee's king-queen. A few hands later, Sindelar moved all in with Ac-Kc and a short-stacked Lee called with Qs-2s. An empty 10d-7s-5h-9s-Jd board missed Lee's hand, giving Sindelar the pot and the win.
New bracelet winner guaranteed at final table
None of the Grand Finale's nine finalists had previously won a WSOP bracelet, guaranteeing a debut winner. Sindelar's previous WSOP final-nine run made him the most well-known of the finalists. (In 2012, the WSOP main event's final table played out in the last days of October; the "November Nine" as a marketing concept had yet to be created.) Yet as with all the recent WSOP Online events, many prior bracelet winners and other famed players made their own deep runs.
Another former November Niner, 2012 fourth-place finisher Russell Thomas, finished just a few spots short of the final. World Poker Tour superstar Darren Elias exited just a few spots further back. Other high finishers included Jason Dewitt, Steve Gross, Steven Kelly, Mike Gagliano, and Shankar Pallai.
Final Results
- Dan "Feeltheflow" Sindelar - $159,100
- Stanley "stanman420" Lee - $98,400
- Fred "staeks" Li - $71,500
- Guy "PhilLaak" Dunlap - $52,400
- Drew "casualcarl" Gonzalez - $38,800
- "chuckybrown9" - $29,000
- Conrad "KerriP" Simpson - $21,900
- Anna "Dusty4" Antimony - $16,700
- Dan "omg_its_dan" Gallegos - $12,900
Featured image source: Twitter/dansindelar
