Event #67: MAIN EVENT No-Limit Hold'em World Championship

After nearly seven hours of play, a final table of nine in the 2021 WSOP Main Event has been whittled down to its last three hopefuls in search of becoming poker's next world champion and $8,000,000 richer.

Koray Aldemir, who came in hot as the overwhelming chip leader and odds-on favorite, kept his distance from the pack and ended a fantastic day with 264,600,000 in chips.

Only two people are standing between Aldemir and poker's most coveted title: UK's Jack Oliver will return second in chips with 77,300,000 after a late-night surge vaulted him up the leaderboard, while the last remaining American, Atlanta, Georgia's George Holmes, rounds out the final three with 57,400,000 in chips, still a cushiony 36 big blinds to work with in the current level.

For Joshua Remitio (4th - $2,300,000), Ozgur Secilmis (5th - $1,800,000), Hye Park (6th - $1,400,000), Alejandro Lococo (7th - $1,225,000), Jareth East (8th - $1,100,000), and Chase Bianchi (9th - $1,000,000), their dream of winning the Main Event came to an end on Day 8.

2021 WSOP Main Event Chip Counts

Final Table Results and Remaining Payouts

While play was originally scheduled to be hard-stopped with four players remaining, a late-night decision by the staff saw play briefly continue. Shortly after that decision, a big three-way all in at the end of the night nearly resulted in a double knockout and almost left the field with just two for the final day. Holding pocket queens, Aldemir over-called after Oliver originally shoved and Remitio three-bet jammed.

Oliver held the jack-nine of diamonds, while Remitio brought ace-jack to the table. Oliver ultimately rivered a backdoor flush for a massive triple up and spun it up even further by delivering the knockout blow to Remitio shortly after. The end result is three-handed play tomorrow with plenty of pepper left in every player's stack.

Explosive End Proves Fitting Conclusion

The explosive end proved a fitting conclusion of a night full of thrills and frills that kicked off in high gear right off the bat. Just five hands in, Bianchi was forced to tap out after running his king-queen straight into Oliver's Big Slick. In the subsequent hand, East saw his Main Event run come to a screeching halt after his ace-jack failed to improve against Holmes' queens.

Left with just seven after a mere six hands, Aldemir grabbed the reigns and started controlling the pace of play from his lofty spot. In the first 60 hands, despite plenty of action to enjoy for the live crowd and audience of home, the final table order wasn't changed all that much. However, hand #61 changed everything. It's one of those hands that will no doubt be remembered in poker history for years to come.

Holding pocket tens, Lococo, second in chips at the time, called a three-bet from Aldemir, who held pocket nines. The jack-jack-nine flop gave Aldemir a boat and the German fired all streets, including a pot-sized shove on the river. Lococo made a very daring call with pocket tens in rather rapid fashion, but received the bad news that forced the popular rapper off the stage in seventh place.

Viewers of the PokerGO live broadcast couldn't believe what they were seeing, and the clip was later uploaded to the PokerGO YouTube channel to be enjoyed in its entirety.

"I decided to three-bet, I can't call with nines," Aldemir said afterwards. "When it came jack-jack-nine, that's just great and I was going for value basically and hope that he has something, a jack or that he doesn't believe me and calls me down."

That's exactly what ended up happening, and with an even bigger lead, it was smooth sailing for Aldemir from there on onwards.

"I hit a lot of hands again and raised a lot, they couldn't do much about it," he said.

With Lococo out of the way, Aldemir turned it up a notch and started opening every other hand. Twenty hands after Lococo's bust, Aldemir took care of Park in a blind-on-blind confrontation with ace-queen versus pocket sevens. On Hand #113 of the night, he also sent Secilmis home after the latter's shove with king-five suited got picked off by Aldemir's nines.

Home Game Hero Holmes "Feels Awesome"

Four-handed play started with Aldemir sporting a four-to-one lead to his nearest challenger Holmes, and if it wasn't for the aforementioned escape by Oliver with the jack-nine, it would've been just Aldemir vs. Holmes on the final day. Holmes, the home game hero and the proverbial David to high roller Aldemir's Goliath, kept his stack afloat throughout the day and will be back on the final day.

"I feel awesome. I just want to go get some sleep so I can start off fresh tomorrow and be in good spirits," he said directly after bagging. Holmes, who may not have the poker resume of his fellow two adversaries, had a plan coming into the day. "Just kind of survive. See if we can get to three or four handed. That's all it was about," he explained.

"Tomorrow is going to be a little bit different from today. They're good, they're aggressive. That's the secret sauce," he added.

Aldemir could become the third German within ten years to win the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas and the reality of that hasn't fully sunk in yet. He was supported by a boisterous rail, which he was part of back in 2019 when Hossein Ensan won and he praised the support by the fellow German poker players.

Aldemir, Oliver, and Holmes will be back in the air at 2 p.m. local time in the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino to contest for poker's most coveted prize. There's 1:45:04 left in level 39 with blinds at 800,000/1,600,000 and a big blind ante of 1,600,000.

Hand #125: Joshua Remitio went all in for 13,400,000 on the button and Jack Oliver called in the big blind.

Joshua Remitio:   
Jack Oliver:   

Both players nailed a pair on the     flop, which kept Oliver in the lead. Neither the   turn nor   river changed that and Remitio, loudly cheered on by his wild rail, left the stage in fourth place.

After the hand, players directly bagged and tagged for the night.

Koray Aldemir	264,600,000	-800,000
Jack Oliver	77,300,000	14,200,000
George Holmes	57,400,000	0
Joshua Remitio	0	-13,400,000

Hand #119: Koray Aldemir raised to 3,200,000 from under the gun and got no action.

Hand #120: Aldemir got a walk.

Hand #121: Aldemir raised to 4,200,000 in the small blind and Jack Oliver called in the big blind. The flop was     and Aldemir continued for 2,300,000 and Oliver folded.

Hand #122: Joshua Remitio shoved 26,400,000 from under the gun and everyone folded.

Hand #123: Similar to the last orbit, Aldemir raised to 3,200,000 from under the gun and

Koray Aldemir	294,200,000	14,600,000
George Holmes	57,400,000	-4,800,000
Joshua Remitio	27,200,000	-3,200,000
Jack Oliver	20,500,000	-6,600,000

Players have agreed to play half an hour more before bagging and tagging for the night.

Koray Aldemir	279,600,000	0
George Holmes	62,200,000	0
Joshua Remitio	30,400,000	0
Jack Oliver	27,100,000	0

Hand #113: Ozgur Secilmis went all in for 17,500,000 from under the gun. Koray Aldemir asked for a count before reshoving all in from the small blind to put Secilmis at risk.

Ozgur Secilmis:   
Koray Aldemir:   

Secilmis picked up a boatload of outs on the     flop, adding the jacks and hearts to his kings as ways to win. The   on the turn took some of those outs away, and those that were still live didn't pop up on the river as the   was dealt instead.

The Turk saw a fantastic Main Event come to an end in 5th place, netting him a payday of $1,800,000. Aldemir now has 70% of all the chips in play with four players remaining.

Koray Aldemir	277,200,000	17,500,000
George Holmes	67,600,000	3,000,000
Joshua Remitio	27,400,000	-600,000
Jack Oliver	21,000,000	-8,500,000
Ozgur Secilmis	0	-17,500,000

Hand #106: Koray Aldemir raised to 2,400,000 from under the gun and Joshua Remitio defended the big blind. The     flop was checked by Remitio and Aldemir's bet worth 1,900,000 won he pot right there.

Hand #107: Aldemir received a walk.

Hand #108: The action folded to Aldemir in the small blind and he raised to 2.900,000. Jack Oliver forfeited his big blind as Aldemir earned the third pot in a row.

Hand #109: A button min-raise to 2,400,000 by Aldemir was called only by Ozgur Secilmis in the big blind. The     flop was checked by the short stack and Aldemir's bet of 1,900,000 won the fourth consecutive hand.

Hand #110: Aldemir opened to 2,400,000 in the cutoff, finding no resistance and scooping the fifth pot in a row.

Hand #111: Another raise by Aldemir from under the gun found no resistance.

Koray Aldemir	259,700,000	17,400,000
George Holmes	64,600,000	-3,600,000
Jack Oliver	29,500,000	-3,000,000
Joshua Remitio	28,000,000	-6,600,000
Ozgur Secilmis	17,500,000	-4,200,000

Hand #101: Ozgur Secilmis opened the action with a raise to 3,200,000 on the button and collected the blinds and big blind ante.

Hand #102: Secilmis made it 2,400,000 to go in the cutoff and Joshua Remitio jammed for 16,100,000 in the small blind, which Secilmis snap-called.

Joshua Remitio:   
Ozgur Secilmis:   

The     flop vaulted Remitio in the lead with trips tens as his rail in the Thunderdome went nuts. Nothing changed with the   turn and the   river let the Mothership almost explode. Remitio doubled and Secilmis was sent back to the bottom of the leaderboard, albeit by a smaller margin that before.

Hand #103: Koray Aldemir made it 3,500,000 to go in the small blind and found no resistance.

Hand #104: Aldemir raised big on the button and both shorter stacks behind in the blinds opted to fold.

Hand #105: For the third hand in a row, Aldemir raised and made it 2,400,000 to go. Once more, no opponent called as Aldemir chipped up further.

Koray Aldemir	242,300,000	6,000,000
George Holmes	68,200,000	-3,000,000
Joshua Remitio	34,600,000	16,100,000
Jack Oliver	32,500,000	-3,000,000
Ozgur Secilmis	21,700,000	-16,100,000

Hand #91: Ozgur Secilmis opened to 2,400,000 on the button and Joshua Remitio filled up out of the big blind. The     flop was checked through and that brought the   on the turn, which went check, check, once more. After the   river, Remitio took 47 seconds to act and bet for 4,000,000.

Secilmis raised all-in for an effective 28,500,000 and Remitio folded after just eight seconds.

Hand #92: Koray Aldemir received a walk.

Hand #93: George Holmes raised to 3,000,000 in the cutoff and collected the blinds and big blind ante.

Hand #94: Remitio min-raised to 2,400,000 from the cutoff and Jack Oliver jammed for 33,700,000 in the small blind, which won the pot without resistance as Remitio folded once more.

Hand #95: Aldemir raised to 2,400,000 in the cutoff and found no resistance.

Koray Aldemir	227,800,000	3,000,000
George Holmes	68,900,000	0
Ozgur Secilmis	42,600,000	5,200,000
Jack Oliver	38,500,000	2,400,000
Joshua Remitio	21,500,000	-10,600,000

Hand #83: Joshua Remitio raised to 2,400,000 on the button and Jack Oliver came along out of the big blind. The flop fell     and both players checked to the   turn. Oliver now led for 1,200,000 and received a call, which led them to the   on the river. Oliver bet once more, making it 2,000,000 to go. Remetio called after 59 seconds and Oliver tabled the    as the winning hand.

Hand #84: Koray Aldemir opened to 2,400,000 on the button and Ozgur Secilmis defended the big blind for the     flop to appear. The check of Secilmis was followed by a bet worth 1,300,000 by Aldemir and that won the pot.

Hand #85: Aldemir raised it up to 2,400,000 in the cutoff and George Holmes three-bet to 6,400,000 from the big blind. Aldemir briefly eyeballed the stack of his opponent and sent the cards into the muck.

Hand #86: From the under-the-gun position, Aldemir made it 2,400,000 to go and Holmes called out of the small blind this time. The     flop was checked by Holmes and Aldemir continued for 2,900,000. Holmes then check-raised to 8,000,000 and Aldemir called after 48 seconds.

On the   turn, Holmes took one minute and 23 seconds before making it 13,000,000 to go. Aldemir took just over a minute and called to see the   on the river. Holmes jammed for 32,700,000 and Aldemir folded near instantly.

Koray Aldemir	230,200,000	-22,200,000
George Holmes	81,900,000	28,800,000
Jack Oliver	41,500,000	5,600,000
Joshua Remitio	32,700,000	-8,000,000
Ozgur Secilmis	13,000,000	-4,200,000

Hand #79: Koray Aldemir raised to 2,400,000 and George Holmes defended the big blind. The flop was     and Holmes checked. Aldemir bet 2,200,000 and Holmes folded.

Hand #80: Aldemir raised to 2,400,000, Holmes three-bet to 7,300,000 from the small blind and Joshua Remitio gave up the big blind. Back on Aldemir, he also folded.

Hand #81: Ozgur Secilmis shoved all in for 14,200,000 from the cutoff and everyone folded.