Koray Aldemir: Who will be the winner of the 2021 World Series of Poker Main Event?

Germany has another poker world champion. On Wednesday, November 17th, Koray Aldemir (31) won the Main Event of the World Series of Poker 2021 (WSOP) at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Born in Berlin, he won $ 8 million in prize money, the champion's gold bracelet and, of course, the title of world champion.

Aldemir is already the third German in the long history of the WSOP to take home the title. Before him, Pius Heinz managed to win the main event in 2011. In 2019, Hossein Ensan managed to get the bracelet.

The long way to the final table

The main event of the 2021 WSOP lasted nine days. 6,650 players competed with only one goal in mind, namely to win the title, the bracelet and the lion's share of the total prize pool of USD 62,011,250. The winner should receive $ 8 million.

The bubble burst on day 3 of the tournament. All 1,000 players who were still there were guaranteed a minimum payout of USD 15,000 at this point. As a bubble boy, the American Kevin Campbell was eliminated in 1.001 after an unbelievable bad beat. He put his stack in the middle of the table preflop with a pair of aces and received a call from Chris Alafogiannis, who revealed A-9 suited.

The board, however, thwarted Campbell's hopes for a doubler, as it brought out 9-T-8-7-9 trips and the pot for Alafogiannis, but the end for Campbell. The hand was documented by video by teammate Paul Mattioda:

Folks ... holy shit ... the money bubble just popped off my table in the most blatant way at the WSOP Main Event. As an aside, this is a pretty surreal experience. On day 4 of tomorrow's main event, USD 15,000 is guaranteed, it’s about 8 million stones !!!!

But Campbell received a ticket for the main event in the coming year 2022 as a consolation prize from tournament director Jack Effel.

On the sixth day there were only 36 players left. Aldemir was doing pretty well up to then. After all, at the time he was in fifth place in the chip count with a stack of 18,905,000. On day 7 the time had finally come. The final nine lined up in front of the final table.

The nine finalists of the WSOP 2021

1st place - Jareth East - 8,300,000 chips - Great Britain

2nd place - Koray Aldemir - 140,000,000 chips - Germany

3rd place - Jack Oliver - 34,000,000 chips - Great Britain

4th place - Ozgur Secilmis - 24,000,000 chips - Turkey

5th place - George Holmes - 83,700,000 chips - USA

6th place - Chase Bianchi - 14,100,000 chips - USA

7th place - Joshua Remitio - 40,000,000 chips - USA

8th place - Alejandro Lococo - 46,800,000 chips - Argentina

9th place - Hye Park - 13,500,000 chips - USA

Nine players reach for the crown

The nine finalists fought for every single chip for seven hours until finally three players remained on the night of Wednesday, November 17th.

Koray Aldemir from Germany, the US American George Holmes and the British Jack Oliver were only one day away from the big win. A minimum payout of USD 3 million was already guaranteed for all players. Now it was mainly about the bracelet and the championship title.

On the ninth day, the three players took their places at the final table. With a stack of 264,000,000 chips, Aldemir already had a clear advantage over the other two players. Oliver started with 77,300,000 chips and Holmes with 57,400,000.

Still, it shouldn't be an easy path to victory for Aldemir. It took 223 hands to reach the final decision. After the tournament, Aldemir stated that he had to fight hard for every single chip.

After 168 hands, Oliver was the first to leave the table. He only had 35,700,000 chips left to put all-in when he got A-8. Holmes called with Qj suited. The jack on the turn brought the pot for Holmes and at the same time meant the end for Oliver.

The exciting heads-up duel

Aldemir still had the chip lead at the beginning of the heads-up, but Holmes won a few larger pots, which even gave him the chip lead for a short time. But gradually the German managed to take the lead again.

The decision finally fell in hand 223, when the American raised offsuite with KQ and received a call from Aldemir with T-7 suited. Aldemir flopped two pair and decided to check. Holmes placed a continuation bet of 6,000,000, Aldemir raised to 19,000,000 and Holmes called.

The turn brought Holmes top pair with the King. Aldemir bet 36,500,000 and Holmes called. On the 9 on the river, Holmes pushed all-in. It took Aldemir a few minutes before he decided to call. But this call should prove to be correct, because it brought him the victory.

The following video [clip in English] documents the last exciting winning hand:

Results of the final table:

Place: Koray Aldemir - Germany - 8,000,000 USD
Place: George Holmes - USA - 4,300,000 USD
Place: Jack Oliver - Great Britain - $ 3,000,000
1st place: Joshua Remitio - USA - 2,300,000 USD
Place: Ozgur Secilmis - Turkey - 1,800,000 USD
Place: Hye Park - USA - $ 1,400,000
Place: Alejandro Lococo - Argentina - $ 1,225,000
Place: Jareth East - Great Britain - $ 1,100,000
Place: Chase Bianchi - USA - 1,000,000 USD

The Treasury is reaching out, but not at Aldemir

The total winnings from the final table were $ 24,125,000. But a good share went to the tax office. The American George Holmes, for whom second place at the final table brought in USD 4.3 million, had to cede USD 1.8 million to Uncle Sam.

The Americans Joshua Remitio, Hye Park and Chase Bianchi each had to part with 46% of their profits. Ozgur Secilmis from Turkey will also have to dig deep into his pockets. The Turkish tax office will withhold around $ 700,000 from its $ 1.8 million profit at a tax rate of 40%.

Koray Aldemir comes from Germany, but now has his place of residence in Austria. There, winnings from the poker game do not have to be taxed. That means Aldemir can keep the entire $ 8 million.

Profits from gambling are basically tax-free in Germany. However, there is an exception for professional poker players, who should include Aldemir. In his case, a 25% tax could be due if he was still officially resident in Germany.

Players from Great Britain are also exempt from the tax. So Jareth East and Jack Oliver can also enjoy the full amount of their total winnings.

Koray Aldemir: Who is the 2021 World Poker Champion?

Koray Aldemir is the poker world champion in 2021. But who is behind the German player who appears friendly and rather shy in interviews? What we know: He likes to wear brightly colored masks, which is how he brought color to the poker room of the casino in the Rio All-Suite Hotel.

Aldemir was born in Berlin in 1990 and grew up there. After graduating from high school, he moved to Cottbus to study business administration. He first encountered poker at the age of 16 while playing with friends.

He started playing poker online when he was 18. At university he met a professional player who could finance his studies with poker. This piqued Aldemir's interest and he began to study the game more intensively.

In January Aldemir had his first success at a live tournament in the Berliner Spielbank. In a tournament for a buy-in of 200 euros, he took first place and won 3,375 euros. During that time he also got to know the now well-known professionals Rainer Kempe and Fedor Holz.

Aldemir's successes increased. In December 2013 he won 21,000 euros at the Concord Card Casino in Vienna. In 2015 he had already won a total of 100,000 euros. But his real success began in 2016. He was able to reach third place in the No Limit Hold'em High Roller for One Drop at the WSOP, for which he received prize money of USD 2,154,265.

The following year he won an additional $ 1,292,509 in the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in the Philippines and just days later took first place in the No Limit Hold'em of the World Poker Tour in Los Angeles, which gave him an additional $ 125,000 brought in. With his most recent win at the 2021 WSOP Main Event, Aldemir ranks 31st on the All Time Money List today with $ 20,334,109 in cash .

Sources:

https://casinova.org/no-deposit-casinos/

https://www.wsop.com/tournaments/updates/?aid=2&grid=4865&tid=19798&dayof=1979815&rr=5