Online Grinder Parssinen Becomes a WSOP Champion

Eelis Parssinen is best known for crushing online poker cash games and tournaments. The Finnish star transferred his online skills into the live arena at the 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP). Parssinen triumphed in the $5,000 Mixed No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha and won $545,616 plus his first WSOP bracelet.

The tournament drew in a crowd of 579 entrants, who created a $2,670,638 prize pool. Gabriel Vezina was the unfortunate soul who burst the money bubble. Vezina opened the preflop betting before calling off his last ten big blinds with Ax-Kx-Jx-Tx after Jason Somerville three-bet. Somerville showed Ax-Kx-7x-2x, and won the pot courtesy of the Kx-9x-7x-3x-4x board.

Brian Rast was one of the first players to bust inside the money places. Others included 2019 Main Event champion Hossein Ensan, Erik Seidel, and Yuri Dzivielevski.

Day 1 Ends With Parssinen Nowhere To Be Seen

Day 1 ended with 40 players, and Parsinnen was one of the shortest stacks of the returning players. All eyes were on online poker legend Niklas Astedt who returned to the battle second in chips.

Parssinen was still bringing up the rear when only eight players remained. However, a few big hands went his way in quick succession to put him back into contention.

His fellow countryman Joni Jouhkimainen sent the first of eight finalists home. India’s Vikranth Anga open-shoved during a no-limit hold’em round with Ac-Ks. Jouhkimainen called with Kd-Kh in the big blind. The Finn’s kings held and Anga busted.

Astedt was the next player out of the tournament. His last 5.5 big blinds went into the middle with Qs-5s, and Noah Bronstein called with Ah-6h. Bronstein flopped an ace and Astedt bowed out in seventh.

The final six became five when Kyle Arora dusted off his stack during a PLO round. Blinds were 150,000/300,000/300,000a, and Arora opened to 650,000 from the button. David Prociak three-bet to 2,100,000 before calling Arora’s shove. Arora turned over Jd-8h-7d-4h, and Prociak Ac-As-Tc-3d. The board read Ad-Qs-8c-9s-Qd, and Arora was eliminated.

A Hold’em round brought an end to Jouhkimainen’s participation. Jouhkimainen was down to two big blinds, and he committed them with 9d-7s after Ezra Abu Gazal shoved with As-Qs. The Finn was drawing dead on the turn of the Qc-2s-5h-Ah-9s run-out.

The Bracelet Is Within Reach

Parssinen lost a big pot when play was four-handed, but the dream was far from over. He laddered up a payout spit when Prociak four-bet all-in with Ad-Tc-2h-2c, and Bronstein called with Kc-Qh-Js-5d. Prociak never caught up when the dealer spread the Jc-7s-4d-9s-9c onto the felt.

A huge PLO pot propelled Parssinen into the chip lead, and he never looked back. He sent Gazal to the showers in third place when his 5c-5d held against the Qd-Tc. This gave Parssinen a three-to-one chip lead over Bronstein going into the heads-up clash.

Level 36 was the final level of the tournament; its blinds were 400,000/800,000/800,000a. Bronstein potted to 3,400,000, and Parssinen called. A brief raising war broke out on the 5d-6s-2h flop that resulted in Bronstein being all-in and at risk.

Bronstein held Kh-Th-3c-2s for bottom pair and a gutshot straight. However, Parssinen had As-6h-6d-5s for top set. Bronstein picked up a flush draw on the Ah turn, but the Js river was a brick.

Parssinen banked $545,616 pus the tournament’s bracelet. Bronstein consoled himself with a $337,216 runner-up prize.

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Eelis Parssinen	Finland	$545,616
2	Noah Bronstein	United States	$337,216
3	Ezra Abu Gazal	United States	$239,321
4	David Prociak	United States	$172,332
5	Joni Jouhkimainen	Finland	$125,940
6	Kyle Arora	United States	$93,425
7	Niklas Astedt	Sweden	$70,367
8	Vikranth Anga	India	$53,824

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.

View Articles