WSOP Event #51: 6-Handed No-Limit Hold'em

Event #51 of the 2021 WSOP is $3,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em. This is a two-day event featuring a turbo-style format (30-minute levels). It started at 3 pm on Tuesday, October 26. The six-max format further added to the action, ensuring all-in collisions early and often.

Brian Rast's hoodie as he took down the $3,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em proudly proclaimed that "Fear is the Mind Killer." That's a line is from Paul Atreides in the novel Dune.

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration," Paul often thinks to himself in the book. "I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path."

We may never know whether Rast was afraid during the runup to his 5th bracelet victory. “I turn 40 in a couple weeks and it was on my mind to make the Poker Hall of Fame,” he said. “I think I have a pretty good claim. […] I wanted to come back here this year to the WSOP and show myself that I can still play great poker.”

Rast beat John Gallaher heads up for the $474,102 top prize. Gallaher came away with $293,009 for second place.

The 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em tourney is a new event for the 2021 WSOP. It has been added to a small grouping of five events with $3,000 buy-ins, which traditionally attract a higher percentage of famed pros. The event joins four other formats -- full-table NLH freezeout, H.O.R.S.E., 6-handed fixed-limit hold’em, and 6-handed PLO -- on the 2021 WSOP slate.

Read about the 2021 WSOP Event #51 winner here.