WSOP Event #88: 8-Handed No-Limit Hold'em

Event #88 of the 2021 WSOP is the $5,000 8-Handed No-Limit Hold'em. This event represented the final chance to win a bracelet for anyone who busted out of The Closer. However, it operated at a slightly higher price point, and players were allowed up to one re-entry.

The convention center at the Rio was deserted as the action came to a close. The 2021 WSOP Main Event was over. Banners and tables had been packed away. Poker players from far and wide had gone home or sought out active games at other casinos. But there was still some play left to be had on the last day of the 2021 World Series of Poker. The $100,000 High Roller tournament battled down to its final five players after its Day 3 restart, and Event #88 -- the $5,000 8-Handed tournament -- had 30 players still standing at the beginning of Day 2.

Michael Addamo leveraged his gargantuan chip lead to score his fourth WSOP bracelet in the High Roller event. That win passed the torch to the four players still standing in the $5,000 8-Handed event. They were the final four ever to play in the WSOP at the Rio. In the end, Boris Kolev walked away with the win, carving his name into poker history books as the victor of the last bracelet ever awarded at the Rio.

This tourney began on November 22. With half-hour blinds, 12 levels planned for Day 1, and slightly shorter handed tables, the event came to a brisk close on without much chance of overrunning.

Read about the 2021 WSOP Event #88 winner here.