Event #43: DOUBLE STACK No-Limit Hold'em

After eight and a half hours of play on Day 4 of Event #43: $1,000 Double Stack No-Limit Hold'em at the 2021 World Series of Poker, it was cash game player Anthony Denove who took down the first-place prize of $446,983 and his first WSOP bracelet.

The cash game player, who up until this week had $76k in live earnings, with his biggest recorded cash being $6,000 has more than tripled his lifetime earnings with his win here today. "It's been my dream to win a bracelet," Denove said overcome with emotion. "I've been playing cash for six years but I do really love tournaments."

Denove, who also recently became a father, was the start of the final table chip leader, full of big names like Michael Wang, Jeff Platt, and David Guay who had come in seventh place in this event in 2019.

"I knew a lot of those players would not be making any mistakes in a lot of spots," he said when asked about the lineup. "I try not to be too conscious of it, helps keep my expectations in check."

Event #43: $1,000 Double Stack Final Table Results

The action with the final 17 players was fast and furious and players were eliminated rather quickly. Bracelet winners Jonathan Dokler (15th-$23,877) and Sejin Park (13th-$29,602) came into the day with bigger stacks, but ultimately found themselves on the wrong side of some coinflips and were eliminated before the final table. Within a few hours, the final table of ten was set.

Final Table Action

The action went quickly at the final table, starting out with Denove raising in the cutoff and Matthew Raffoul putting his entire stack in the middle. Start of day chip leader Michael Wang in the big blind thought for a long time before deciding to do the same and put his whole stack in the middle and Denove called covering them both. Denove's pocket kings were well ahead of the ace-ten of Raffoul and pocket nines of Wang, and Denove flopping a set left his opponents drawing very thin. Neither of them improved and they were eliminated. Raffoul in tenth place for $36,949 and Wang in ninth place for $46,430.

The next player to fall was Joshua Harrison when his ace-eight could not hold against the king-queen held by Frank Lagodich. A king on the flop sealed Harrison's fate and he departed in eighth place for $58,735.

Start of the final table short stack was able to ladder up a few spots, but in the end, Kenneth Inouye got in his remaining chips with queen-ten suited against David Guay's ace-eight suited and Guay filled up on the turn to have Inouye drawing dead before the river even came. Inouye received $74,796 for his seventh-place finish.

Steven Stolzenfeld was next to leave when he got his remaining chips in with pocket eights against Timothy Little's ace-five suited. The board paired Little's ace and the river brought an eight to give Stolzenfeld three of a kind, but it was no good as the eight he got was a flush completing card for Little. Stolzenfeld departed in sixth place for $95,878.

Lagodich had lost almost all of his chips in a massive pot against Guay but had managed to double up three times, putting him in the top three for chips with five people left. But a big pot emerged with Guay when he had top pair versus middle set and all the chips went in the middle, leaving Lagodich to depart in fifth place for $123,710.

PokerGO commentator Jeff Platt spent most of the time on the short stack when players were five-handed, and he departed shortly after Lagodich when his ace-nine could not hold up against the king-jack of Guay. Platt congratulated the other players as he departed in fourth place for $160,662.

Things were pretty even between Guay and Denove for chips with Timothy Little being the shortest stack three-handed. Eventually, Little got his chips in with ace-three against Guay's ace-eight. The board came all high cards, looking as if it was going to be a chop, but an eight came on the river to pair up Guay and Little departed in third place for $210,004.

Heads-up play chip counts started very even, but within thirty minutes Denove was comfortably ahead. With Denove acquiring a 2:1 chip lead, Guay picked up pocket nines and Denove picked up pocket tens, and all of the chips got in before the flop. Guay could not find improvement on the board, and the seventh-place finisher of this event in 2019 ended his second final table run in the double stack in second place for $276,269.

Guay and Denove shook hands and Denove went to his rail, full of emotion as he went to go talk to his father on the rail about the tournament that he won to get his first WSOP bracelet.

Denove said he will come back to try to play the Main Event, but first, he is going to go home and spend some time with his wife and daughter.

PokerNews' coverage of this event is finished, but stay tuned for updates on all other WSOP events right here at The Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino.

David Guay raised to 3,000,000 from the button and Anthony Denore called.

The flop came    . Guay bet 2,500,000, denore called.

The turn came the  , action went check-check.

The river was the  . Denore bet 3,600,000 and Guay called. Denore tabled the    and took down the pot.

Anthony Denove	106,640,000	10,640,000
David Guay	50,000,000	-13,640,000

Anthony Denove has raised several pots preflop and only one flop was seen, which Denove took down.

Anthony Denove	84,320,000	8,320,000
David Guay	76,320,000	-6,180,000

Timothy Little moved all in from the button for about 11,000,0000 and was called by David Guay in the big blind.

Timothy Little:   
David Guay:   

Guay had the lead as the flop came    . The turn was the   to make a chop pot likely but the   came on the river to give Guay two-pair and end the night for Little in third place and set up heads up play with very tight stacks.

David Guay	83,200,000	20,200,000
Anthony Denove	76,570,000	1,670,000
Timothy Little	0	-28,300,000

Jeff Platt's chip stack was hovering around a few blinds for a while after some shoves and no calls. There were a few times he was unwilling to call a shove, but finally, there was a shove and a call as Platt moved all in for 8,400,000 from under the gun and big stack David Guay called from the big blind.

Jeff Platt:   
David Guay:   

Platt's large rail yelled for the board to hold but the flop came     to hit Guay and send him into the lead. The turn was the   to give Platt a gutshot. The dealer paused for dramatic effect before dealing the   on the river which was not enough for Platt as his memorable run ended in a fourth place finish.

David Guay	81,700,000	6,700,000
Anthony Denove	54,000,000	-1,000,000
Timothy Little	24,000,000	-1,700,000
Jeff Platt	0	-11,500,000

Jeff Platt raised to 2,000,000 from under the gun. David Guay called in the big blind.

The flop came    . Guay led for 2,100,000 and Platt called.

The turn was the  . Action went check-check.

The river came the  . Guay bet 3,100,000, Platt took a few moments before he folded as his stack gets shorter.

David Guay	49,600,000	5,300,000
Jeff Platt	11,500,000	-4,700,000

Frank Lagodich went all-in on the small blind for 8,500,000 and David Guay called in the big blind.

Frank Lagodich:   
David Guay:   

The board ran out       giving no improvement to either player which meant Lagodich's hand was good.

David Guay	43,500,000	-9,000,000
Frank Lagodich	18,000,000	9,000,000