Event #30: MONSTER STACK No-Limit Hold'em (freezeout)

On the fourth and final day of the 2021 World Series of Poker Event #30: $1,500 Monster Stack, Michael Noori was crowned the champion as he defeated Ryan Leng heads-up for $610,437. On Day 1, 3,520 entries were collected to create to a prize pool of $4,699,200 with the lion-share of all that money awarded to the remaining players today.

"I feel pretty good, I'm still kind of in shock. The heads-up match went really quick, I'm still processing it and going through it. I had two huge coolers that went my way so I was fortunate enough to win the bracelet today," Noori reflected after the tournament.

"I got lucky in the first hand and then I got a couple of shoves and re-jams through. I just kinda battled with 8-12 big blinds for a while, even four-handed. Ryan had all the chips, I stayed focused, never gave up, and kept battling."

Noori was down to 1.5 big blinds at one point today when he three-bet jammed with pocket nines and Daniel Fortier had looked him up with ace-queen. The queen on the river left Noori in bad shape but he tripled up shortly after to stick around to eventually get to his best-ever result after reaching several WSOP final tables in the past.

Looking back at his previous results, Noori seems to fare better in the mixed games variety.

"I think I am better in mixed games, but I had some deep runs in the Monster Stack before. I finished in the top 1% in 2017 or 2018. I've been there before but didn't have the crucial flips go my way and on this final table, everything went my way. It's very fortunate and nice to be here."

Event #30: $1,500 Monster Stack No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Results

Start of the Final Day

Ivan Deyra and Raul Martinez were the first two players of the day to bust within the first 15 minutes of the day and that set the pace for the next four hours it took to get the tournament down to the final table. Lee Markholt and PokerNews' own live reporter Dannah Kamp fell before Santiago Plante bubbled the final table.

Leng had a slight chip lead at the start of the final table, followed closely by Mordechai Hazan. If Leng could stay in that position and win the tournament, he'd also jump towards the top of the WSOP Player of the Year leaderboard.

Aces Galore on the Final Table

The final day of this tournament had no shortage of players finding pocket aces in their hands. Christopher Andler first doubled with them through Hazan before Fortier scored his double up with the same pair through Jaesh Balachandran.

Hazan then picked up the aces to eliminate Balachandran in tenth place. Leng and Fortier also picked up aces too to split a pot and before that Anthony Ortega ran his pocket kings into the aces of Andler to bust in ninth place.

Johan Schumacher was eliminated by Rafael Reis to get the tournament to seven-handed at which point the PokerGO stream kicked off.

From Seven Players to One Winner

Fortier fell to the hands of Hazan before Noori doubled up through him to vault to second in chips when his pocket sevens found another seven to connect with on the flop. Even though Reis came into the stream with the chip lead, Leng claimed a chunk of his stack when he flopped straight over straight against him. Hazan would leave the feature table in sixth place after that thanks to Leng.

Charlie Dawson was next to go with Leng adding those chips to his stack too when the premium hands kept coming his way. After another break, Andler busted in fourth place when he got his last chips in against the pocket tens of Noori. Shortly after, the Brazilian rail left together with Reis in third place when Noori turned a pair of sevens for the come behind knockout.

Leng held a commanding chip lead of 2:1 but Noori doubled up when he turned a straight against the top two pair Leng had flopped. Forty minutes later, Noori claimed the rest of Leng's stack too when all the chips went in on the turn for Leng with the flush draw and double gutshot to a straight. Noori held the overpair and the ladies helped him to the win. Leng also scored his best cash here at the WSOP with this result.

"I'm exhausted, we'll probably go out tonight and have some fun." Noori said at the end while looking over to his rail which included Toby Lewis, Ankush Mandavia, Matt Affleck, and Matt Savage with the first two there from the start. "They're two good friends of mine, I really appreciate them rooting me on and helping me out. That was nice. Everyone that was there for the support and cheering me on for my first bracelet was amazing. To win my first bracelet in the Monster Stack was even better."

This is it for the PokerNews coverage of this event but check out the WSOP Live Reporting Hub to follow all the exciting action here at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino.

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Michael Noori limped in on the button and Ryan Leng opted to check.

The flop came    , Leng bet 3,000,000 and Noori called.

The turn was the   and Leng continued with a bet of 9,500,000 for Noori to call again.

The river completed the board with the   and Leng opted to check. Noori did the same. Leng tabled the    for Noori to quickly show the    so they could chop the pot.

Michael Noori	135,800,000	-3,300,000
Ryan Leng	40,200,000	3,300,000

Michael Noori raised to 3,200,000 from the button and Ryan Leng defended.

The flop came    , Leng check-called the 2,500,000 continuation-bet of Noori.

They then both checked through the   on the turn to the   on the river. Leng bet 13,000,000 for Noori to fold.

Michael Noori	119,900,000	-5,700,000
Ryan Leng	56,100,000	5,700,000

Rafael Reis shoved from the button for 12,200,000 and Michael Noori called in the big blind.

Rafael Reis:   
Michael Noori:   

The board ran out       for Noori to turn the pair of sevens to eliminate Reis in third place.

Ryan Leng	117,300,000	-400,000
Michael Noori	58,700,000	20,600,000
Rafael Reis	0	-20,200,000

Michael Noori jammed in his stack from the cutoff and Rafael Reis put in his remaining 8,600,000 chips on the button.

Rafael Reis:   
Michael Noori:   

The     flop put Reis way ahead and the Brazilian rail exploded. The   turn and   confirmed Reis' double just before the break.

Ryan Leng	118,500,000	-2,400,000
Rafael Reis	20,200,000	11,000,000
Michael Noori	19,600,000	-5,600,000
Christopher Andler	17,700,000	-3,000,000

Ryan Leng raised to 2,900,000 from the button and both Michael Noori and Rafael Reis called in the blinds.

The flop came    , Noori opted to check and so did Reis but they both folded when Leng put them all-in.

Ryan Leng	114,000,000	14,200,000
Michael Noori	28,200,000	-11,500,000
Christopher Andler	20,700,000	-400,000
Rafael Reis	13,100,000	-2,300,000

Rafael Reis raised to 2,500,000 from the button and Ryan Leng three-bet enough from the big blind to put Reis all-in. The Brazilian tanked for just over five minutes and then folded.

Ryan Leng	78,900,000	3,100,000
Michael Noori	45,100,000	0
Christopher Andler	21,100,000	-3,000,000
Rafael Reis	18,400,000	-3,100,000
Charlie Dawson	12,500,000	3,000,000

Ryan Leng called from middle position, Rafael Reis called from the small blind, and Christopher Andler checked the big blind.

All three players checked the     flop.

The   turn saw Reis bet 2,500,000. Andler folded, Leng raised to 8,500,000, and Reis called.

The   completed the board and Reis check-called Leng's 9,200,000 bet.

Leng showed    for Broadway which was good to beat Reis'    straight.

Ryan Leng	54,700,000	20,700,000
Rafael Reis	23,900,000	-20,700,000

Mordechai Hazan raised to 2,200,000 from the button and Michael Noori three-bet jammed for 20,600,000 from he big blind wich Hazan called.

Michael Noori:   
Mordechai Hazan:   

The flop came     for Noori to hit a set to leap ahead of Hazan't higher pocket pair.

The turn was the   to not change things and neither did the   on the river for Noori to score the double-up.

Rafael Reis	44,600,000	-2,500,000
Michael Noori	42,700,000	31,000,000
Ryan Leng	34,000,000	-4,200,000
Mordechai Hazan	23,600,000	-20,600,000
Christopher Andler	21,100,000	0
Charlie Dawson	10,000,000	-3,700,000