Five Stars Looking For Their Maiden WSOP Bracelet

The 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP) shuffles up and deals on September 30, and thousands of poker players are hunting for their maiden WSOP bracelet. Most of those hopefuls will, unfortunately, return home having not achieved their goal. The following five poker superstars are hopeful of winning their maiden WSOP bracelet.

Jason Koon Is Looking For His Maiden WSOP Bracelet

Jason Koon is arguably the best poker player without a WSOP bracelet to his name. The man from Weston, West Virginia, is ridiculously good at tournament poker, as is evident by his $32,513,227 in earnings.

Koon has 49 WSOP cashes worth a combined $2,132,795, but his maiden WSOP bracelet eludes him. Koon came close in 2012 when he finished second in a $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha mixed event. More recently, in 2018, Koon finished fifth in a $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event for another near miss.

Nobody except Koon knows how many events he will play in 2021 because he recently became a father for the first time. It is most likely he will go for quality over quantity.

Will 2021 See Isaac Haxton Win His Maiden WSOP Bracelet?

Isaac Haxton of Syracuse, New York, is another player with eight figures of earnings who is looking for his maiden WSOP bracelet. Haxton has $27,670,939 in live MTT earnings, placing him 16th on the all-time money list.

Some $2,996,040 of Haxton’s winning stems from WSOP events. However, his 32 cashes have never resulted in securing his maiden WSOP bracelet. A runner-up finish in the $40,000 No-Limit Hold’em event at the 2009 series is the closest Haxton has come to poker gold. He had a third-place finish in 2017, and a fourth-place in 2018.

Haxton did not compete at the 2019 series while COVID-19 curtailed the 2020 edition. Will he return for 2021?

Dan Smith Has $37.5 Million in Earnings But No Bracelet

Dan Smith hails from Manalapan, New Jersey, but resides in Las Vegas, Nevada, so does not have far to travel for the World Series. Smith has an incredible $37,531,306 in winnings, placing him fifth in the all-time money list.

Smith is a regular at the series, and has 44 cashes totaling $9,962,953. However, he still awaits his maiden WSOP bracelet. He has a runner-up finish, like Koon and Haxton. It happened in 2016 in the $111,111 High Roller for One Drop and came with $3,078,974 in prize money.

Five cashes at the 2019 series extended Smith’s wait for his maiden WSOP bracelet. He plays all poker formats and variants, so could be the best to win a gold bracelet this fall.

Sean Perry Goes Into The 2021 WSOP in Great Form

Las Vegas resident Sean Perry comes from a poker-playing family; his father, Ralph won his maiden WSOP bracelet in 2006. Perry Jr only has two WSOP cashes to his name, partly because he only turned 21 in 2017.

Players going into the WSOP inform tend to perform well, which bodes well for Perry. He has won five $10,000+ buy-in events in 2021 alone, helping him reach a total of $4,042,950 in earnings. Incredibly, $3,201,113 of that sum has come this year! Perry is a solid bet for a bracelet if he heads to the series over the next eight weeks.

Ali Imsirovic Excels In High Roller Events

Ali Imsirovic has a WSOP Circuit ring but is waiting for his maiden WSOP bracelet. Imsirovic has $13,071,182 in earnings, with $800,124 coming from WSOP events. A second-place finish in a $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Super Turbo Bounty in 2019 is the closest Imsirovic has come to reeling in poker’s most sought-after prize. He finished fourth in a $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em event later in the same series.

Imsirovic prefers high roller events, so probably will not play a busy schedule, but he will be a force to be reckoned with in any tournament he buys into.

Brad Johnson

You name the game, and you can bet your bottom dollar that Brad has either played it or placed a wager on it! Brad calls himself a natural gambler, and someone who gains as much enjoyment from writing about the crazy game of poker as he does playing it.

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