The WSOP continues to steal the tournament spotlight this week with players such as Kevin Gerhart and Adam Friedman putting together historic runs. However, with a world of action happening outside of Las Vegas, we’ve searched high and low for another crop of rising stars and MTT masters. So, to help you keep your finger on poker’s pulse, here are the Big Winners for the week ending Oct. 24.
Kevin Gerhart
WSOP HORSE Championship
The Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino
$361,124
Gerhart is no stranger to mixed-game success. The Ohio native who now calls Las Vegas home is a regular in the $80/$160 cash game at Resorts World. He was also already a two-time bracelet WSOP title holder before bagging his third bracelet on Saturday. By besting a 149-player field in the $10K championship event, he reaffirmed his position as one of the world’s top mixed-game players.
Adam Friedman
WSOP Dealer’s Choice
The Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino
$248,350
Friedman etched his name in the record books on Wednesday for two reasons. Not only did the American pro deny Phil Hellmuth his 17th WSOP bracelet, but he also won the Dealer’s Choice Championship for the third consecutive time. He won his first mixed game WSOP title in 2019 after beating Stuart Rutter heads-up. He followed that up in 2019 with a win over Shaun Deeb before coming through a field of 93 entrants to beat Hellmuth last week. Winning the $10K tournament for the third straight time is a remarkable feat that even Hellmuth couldn’t scoff at. Despite being disappointed, he paid homage to Friedman on Twitter, calling the 3-peat an “amazing” achievement.
Dragos Iosub
German Poker Days Main Event
King’s Resort Rozvadov
€60,428
($70,138)
Iosub has been a proverbial wrecking ball in low-stakes events at King’s Resort this October. With five final tables over the last three weeks, including a win in King’s Big Wednesday, the Romanian finally hit the big one on Monday. Lining up alongside 1,877 other entrants in the €175 ($203) Main Event, he made it through the early rounds as 243 players exercised their right to rebuy. The masses fell away over the course of four days, and Iosub finally got the job done against Marc Pedevilla. The win capped off a fantastic run of results and earned Iosub the second-biggest payday of his career.
Dmytro Shubin
The Hendon Mob Championship Main Event
Casino Banco
€34,640
($40,069)
The Hendon Mob doesn’t just collate all the latest tournament results, it creates them. The latest live offering from the poker database provider saw Shubin outlast 819 in a €250 ($290) showdown. All but two of the Ukrainian’s 14 tournament cashes have been in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava, so his performance at Monday’s final table was apt. After contributing to the demise of Japan’s Katsuhiro Muto, Shubin defeated hometown hero Jakub Janosovsky to win his first live title and the biggest cash of his career.
Sergey Brykalin
WPTDeepStacks Online Mini Turbo Knockout
Partypoker
$8,834
($5,834 + $3,000 in bounties)
Brykalin did what every poker player dreams of doing on Monday by winning a WPTDeepStacks online title without spending a cent. The Russian grinder was chosen at random to receive a free ticket for the $11 MTT. Despite almost missing the notification because of an impending vacation, he logged into Partypoker and joined 1,300 other players fighting for the lion’s share of $100K. Brykalin made it through Sunday’s opening session with an average stack. Things took a turn for the worse on Day 2 when he dropped to nine big blinds with 30 players left. However, Brykalin rallied and went on to beat Karl John Bjorkland heads-up to win his maiden poker title and a huge return on his freeroll.
Daniel Smyth, Bob Pajich, and Chris Wallace all contributed to this report. Know a big winner we missed? tips@cardschat.com
