Leo Contreras
Karolis Sereika was crowned the winner of Event #37: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Super Turbo at the 2021 World Series of Poker to win his first bracelet. The Lithuanian professional player defeated a 1441-player field including the formidable Brazilian Pedro Padilha in heads-up play to win the $195,310 top-prize and some bounties worth $500 each.
The Lithuanian grinder had a big rail behind him all night and could be heard throughout the Amazon room in every hand he was involved. His previous best finish was second in a $1,100 No-Limit Hold’em event in 2018 in which he cashed $159,969. Sereika has cashed for $302,858 lifetime with this being his biggest to date at $195,310.
“This is the first live Lithuanian WSOP bracelet so that means a lot to me and all Lithuanian players, I’m very happy and very excited. Just so many emotions, I really wanted it with all my heart.”
Sereika becomes the first Lithuanian live player to earn a WSOP bracelet, and perhaps as impressive, he eliminated all but one player from the final table. Three other Lithuanian players in Vincas Tamasauskas, Gediminas Uselis, and Vladas Burneikis have all won WSOP Online bracelets at GGPoker.
Final Result Event #37: $1,500 Super Turbo Bounty NLHE
| Position | Winner | Country | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Karolis Sereika | Lithuania | $195,310 |
| 2 | Pedro Padilha | Brazil | $120,700 |
| 3 | Lorenzo Adams | United States | $88,435 |
| 4 | Pierre Calamusa | France | $65,494 |
| 5 | Steve Buell | United States | $49,033 |
| 6 | Alec Gould | United States | $37,114 |
| 7 | Romuald Pycior | United States | $28,406 |
| 8 | Alexander Norden | Sweden | $21,986 |
| 9 | Wing Yam | United States | $17,211 |
A lot of familiar faces gave it a shot to win a bracelet in one day but most of them didn’t make it. Qui Nguyen, Greg Raymer, Kenny Hallaert, David “Chino” Rheem, and Maurice Hawkins all gave it a shot but failed to make the money in this event. Plenty of others did make the money as there were a total of 217 players that ended up winning a piece of the $1,923,735 prize pool.
Some of the fortunate players include Jason Stockfish (19th – $6,025), Jeonggyu Cho (47th – $4,307), Jesse Yaginuma (47th – $3,710), Bertrand Grospellier (54th – $3,710), and Joe Serock (136st – $1,876).
Final Table Action
Wing Yam was ousted in ninth place when he lost a flip with ace-seven suited against the fours held by Alec Gould.
Eliminated in eighth place Alexander Norden after making the call with the better hand pocket Jacks but unfortunately for him, Sereika ran good at the right time and hit a wheel on the turn with his ace-five of clubs and eliminated Norden.
Sereika put on quite the display as after eliminating Norden he sent Lorenzo Adams, Pierre Calamusa, Steve Buell, Gould, and Romuald Pycior to the rail to leave him heads-up with Padilha.
It wasn’t smooth sailing for Sereika heads-up despite eliminating a slew of players and holding a 3:1 chip advantage against Padilha. Padilha battled back and took 3:1 chip advantage himself before he doubled Sereika twice to put the Lithuanian back in control
Soon after, Padilha found himself short of a bracelet and had to settle for the runner-up prize of $120,700 plus bounties after he unsuccessfully jammed king-eight suited into ace-nine.
