After the chaos of the last few days, today was relatively low-key at the WSOP. The only final table they had on the go at the Rio was for Event #17: $1,500 Millionaire Maker. This event has been — in previous years — something like a mid-stakes Main Event of the series (with the Colossus serving as a kind of low-stakes main event). So the Milly's turnout is a good barometer of how the series is doing as a whole.
The Millionaire Maker definitely didn't collect quite as many players as the WSOP staff were hoping. The event drew 5,330 entries. This put $3,428,280 in the pot. The result of the lower turnout was a somewhat lopsided payout structure with $1 million for first, $500,125 for second, and then a shallow decline through to the min-cash of $2,400.
For comparison, 2019's Millionaire Maker was the largest ever with 8,809 entries. John Gorsuch won that event with $1.3 million up top.
On this basis, the series isn't in too bad shape after COVID. It's taken a dive for sure, but that is only to be expected given travel bans, vaccine mandates, and general concern over Delta and Mu.
This year's event went to Daniel Lazrus. This was a return to WSOP victory for Lazrus, who already has a 2021 bracelet on his wrist from an Online WSOP event back in July.
Day four and the final five
The final table of the Milli Maker took an overnight break after the field narrowed down to five players.
Daniel Lazrus led the way at this point in play and never gave up that lead. He, returned on Day 4 to a stack of 60.2 million in chips.
Heads-up play ultimately came down to Lazrus and Darryl Ronconi. The bout between the two players was short, ending after just a few hands.
The blinds were 500,000/1,000,000 with a 1,000,000 big blind ante. Ronconi had 42.6 million but tried to get clever with T♣7❤️.
He three-bet all in and was called by Lazrus, who had him covered. Lazrus tabled A♠J❤️.
The board came down 9❤️9♦️8❤️, putting a possible straight out there and more than doubling Ronconi's outs. Unfortunately, neither the K♣ nor the 4♠ which came next was any use to Ronconi.
"Come forth, Lazrus," they said. "But he came first, and lost the job."
Still, the he won the bracelet and a million bucks, while Ronconi earned $500,125 for second place.
2021 WSOP Event #17: $1,500 Millionaire Maker complete final table results
Featured image source: PokerGO
