While eight new players put their names on the WSOP bracelet winner list, several players from the past added hardware to their own personal collections. That includes Farzad “Freddy” Bonyadi, Josh Arieh, and Brian Rast, who brings his bracelet count to five. Five, in case you’re wondering, is a lot. That puts him in rarefied air alongside Scotty Nguyen, Allen Cunningham, John Juanda, Stu Ungar, Jason Mercier, Barry Johnson, Daniel Alaei, David Chui, Gary Bertland and Michael Mizrachi.
Josh Arieh
$1,500 PLO Eight-handed
$204,766
Winning his third WSOP bracelet, Arieh is approaching $6 million in WSOP cashes. Not bad for a former law firm courier. His first bracelet came in 1999.
Kevin Gerhart
$10,000 H.O.R.S.E
$361,124
With 48th WSOP cash — most of them of the min-cash variety — Gerhart won his third bracelet for his biggest score to push his lifetime WSOP cashes over a quarter-million dollars.
Carlos Chang
$2,500 NLH Freezeout
$364,589
The Taiwanese poker player took down his first career bracelet by being the last of 896 standing. He’s won just shy of a million since his first cash in 2015.
Brad Ruben
$1,500 Razz
$99,188
With his fifth cash of the 2021 Series, Ruben secured his third bracelet in an event that attracted 311.
Anthony Denove
$1,000 Doublestack NLH
$446,983
Playing in a massive field of 3,991, the Californian won his first career bracelet. His next largest cash, $6,330, also came at this year’s Series.
Ryan Hansen
$3,000 Six-handed Limit Hold’em
$109,692
Hansen completed the rare feat of having his first WSOP cash be for a bracelet. He outlasted 161.
Tommy Le
$10K PLO Eight-handed
$746,477
The man known as “Tommy Legend” won his second bracelet, pushing his WSOP winnings over $3.4 million.
Chad Norton
$800 No-limit Deepstack
$214,830
Making his second cash count, Norton was part of a field of 2,053 that helped generate a prize pool of more than $1.4 million. It’s his first bracelet.
Alexandre Reard
$5,000 No-limit Hold’em Freezeout Eight-handed
$428,694
The Frenchman and Unibet sponsored pro made history by becoming the first person from France to win a WSOP bracelet. He added the bracelet to his two WSOP Circuit rings won in Europe.
Kazuki Ikeuchi
$1,000 Online No-limit Hold’em
$152,798
The Japanese professional won his first bracelet online, beating 554, giving him more than $1.2 million through 43 WSOP cashes since 2007.
Gershon Distenfeld
$1,500 No-limit Hold’em Shootout
$204,063
Since making the final table of last year’s unique WSOP Main Event (he finished 8th), the Jersey player cashed six times and won his first bracelet.
Farzad Bonyadi
$10K No-limit 2-7 Lowball Draw
$297,051
It’s been 16 years since his last bracelet, but the former shift manager at Hollywood Park Casino won his fourth career bracelet, pushing his winnings over $2.2 million.
Darrin Wright
$600 Mixed No-limit Hold’em/PLO Eight-handed
$127,219
His first WSOP cash, at a Circuit event, was barely worth $500. His second came with a pile of money and a bracelet. Congrats to the man from Chicago.
Brian Rast
$3,000 Six-handed No-limit Hold’em
$474,102
That makes five bracelets for the Las Vegas-based poker pro. He’s cashed 48 times for more than $6.5 million.
Photos by Danny Maxwell and Hayley Hochstetler, courtesy of WSOP.com.
