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Brian Rast has won his fifth WSOP bracelet after taking down Event #51: $3,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em for $474,102. The American topped a field of almost one thousand players to pick up the winner's cheque from the $2,661,990 prize pool.
A Club of 27
Everyone knows that Brian Rast is an elite poker player. Not only does he have a career record of $22,182,034 from live tournaments but he also crushes the biggest cash games in the world, and has done so for many years.This fifth WSOP gold bracelet puts Rast into a club of only 27 players who have won five or more. Considering that we now stand almost two decades since the start of the poker boom, it shows what a special achievement that is.
“Honestly, it’s mixed emotions, the biggest one is relief. Things have been changing in my life. Since COVID, it’s the least I’ve played poker since I started. So coming back to this WSOP it’s like, I really haven’t played much for almost a year and a half. This was like a challenge.”
He made it clear that entry into the Poker Hall of Fame is on his mind at this stage of his career.
“I turn 40 in a couple of weeks and it was on my mind to make the Poker Hall of Fame. I think I have a pretty good claim. I’ve played the biggest cash games in the world for over a decade and I’ve done a lot in tournaments as well.”
Final Table into History
As the official final table of six sat down to start the run to the finish line, Rast already had a lead of almost one third of the chips in play. By the heads-up stages anyone sat across from a man with a 5-1 chip advantage and a record like Rast’s would be forgiven for being already mentally beaten.
“When we were a little bit out, I started to build up a chip lead and I was like Ok, I’m going for the win. There were some spots where I was shoving and I really don’t think it was a bad play. I was trying to put max pressure on people and I mean I had a good run of cards too and it worked out.”
In the end, John Gallaher just didn’t have the chips to do anything about it and it was all over in a few hands. His QT into the KT of Rast and no help for the dominated hand.
Final Results:
| 1 | Brian Rast | $474,102 |
| 2 | John Gallaher | $293,009 |
| 3 | Tuan Phan | $210,913 |
| 4 | Nick Yunis | $141,478 |
| 5 | Jun Obara | $100,827 |
| 6 | Francisco Benitez | $73,107 |
