The WPT Five Diamond Classic was the last very big live tournament this year. With over 700 entries the $10k main event in Las Vegas was comparable in size to the WSOPE Main Event earlier this month. The Californian Taylor Black won the event this weekend and took home over $1.2m and the 2nd big title of his poker career.
Key Facts: WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic 2021
- Venue: Bellagio Resort & Casino Las Vegas
- Buy-In: $10.400
- Players: 716 Entries
- Prize Pool: $6,945,200
- Winner: Taylor Black
- Prize Money 1st place: $1,241,430
The WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic is one of the most prestigious events of the World Poker Tour and has produced some of the most well-known winners of all long running poker series. Among others Dan Smith, Antonio Esfandiari, Joe Hachem, Daniel Negreanu and Gus Hansen have won this event in the past.
After last year's edition of the World Poker Classic was axed because of the pandemic situation, the event was back almost full steam this year. Although the player numbers dropped noticeably compared to 2019, this year's event was still the 5th biggest WPT World Poker Classic Main Event ever held.
This is how the number of players at the WPT World Poker Classic developed since the inauguration in 2002:
| Year | Entrants | Prizepool | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 146 | $1,416,200 | Gus Hansen |
| 2003 | 314 | $3,044,750 | Paul Phillips |
| 2004 | 376 | $5,470,800 | Daniel Negreanu |
| 2005 | 555 | $8,075,250 | Rehne Pedersen |
| 2006 | 583 | $8,482,650 | Joe Hachem |
| 2007 | 626 | $9,390,000 | Eugene Katchalov |
| 2008 | 497 | $7,231,350 | David Rheem |
| 2009 | 329 | $4,761,450 | Daniel Alaei |
| 2010 | 438 | $4,261,267 | Antonio Esfandiari |
| 2011 | 413 | $4,006,100 | James Dempsey |
| 2012 | 503 | $4,879,100 | Ravi Raghavan |
| 2013 | 449 | $4,355,300 | Dan Smith |
| 2014 | 586 | $5,684,200 | Mohsin Charania |
| 2015 | 639 | $6,198,300 | Kevin Eyster |
| 2016 | 791 | $7,672,700 | James Romero |
| 2017 | 812 | $7,876,400 | Ryan Tosoc |
| 2018 | 1,001 | $9,709,700 | Dylan Linde |
| 2019 | 1,035 | $10,039,500 | Alex Foxen |
| 2021 | 716 | $6,945,200 | Taylor Black |
Taylor Black wins after final table roller coaster ride
The eventual winner Taylor Black started the final table of this year's main event as the clear chip leader with more than half of all the chips but managed to lose most of his stack and found himself at the end of the leader board after 160 hands played.
Black managed to double back into the lead with a flush against Gianluca Speranza's trips. From then on Black never again gave away his lead. He eliminated Lorenzo Lavis with top pair against Lavis' flush draw which never materialized and after the Italian Sperenza was eliminated in 3rd place, Black was heads-up against Vik Shegal.
This heads-up only lasted slightly more than 10 hands, then both players found decent aces and were all-in preflop. Shegal moved all-in with A 8 and Black called with A K . After the board came down K 10 6 Q 9 the better ace won and Taylor Black was crowned winner of the WPT World Poker Classic 2021.
It was Black's 2nd big title. The 1st one was his triumph at the partypoker Millions in Kahnawake in 2018.
Final result WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic 2021
| # | Player | Prize Money |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Taylor Black | $1,241,430 |
| 2 | Vik Shegal | $827,620 |
| 3 | Gianluca Speranza | $609,960 |
| 4 | Lorenzo Lavis | $454,590 |
| 5 | Mohsin Charania | $342,645 |
| 6 | David Kim | $261,235 |
| 7 | Bryn Kenney | $201,480 |
| 8 | Dylan Linde | $157,220 |
| 9 | Pat Lyons | $124,145 |
| 10 | Sean Ripp | $124,145 |
| 11 | Tony Wasaya | $99,205 |
| 12 | Justin Saliba | $99,205 |
| 13 | George Wolff | $80,245 |
| 14 | Jacob Ferro | $80,245 |
| 15 | David Mock | $65,705 |
| 16 | James Hundt | $65,705 |
| 17 | Sergio Fernandez | $54,475 |
| 18 | Markus Gonsalves | $54,475 |
| 19 | Elio Fox | $54,475 |
| 20 | Marty Mathis | $54,475 |
| 21 | Aaron Massey | $45,735 |
| 22 | Maz Abdallah | $45,735 |
| 23 | Brek Schutten | $45,735 |
| 24 | Ray Qartomy | $45,735 |
| 25 | Sam Panzica | $38,890 |
| 26 | Peter Mugar | $38,890 |
| 27 | Matt Berkey | $38,890 |
| 28 | Bob Buckenmayer | $38,890 |
| 29 | David McGowan | $38,890 |
| 30 | Mike Liang | $38,890 |
| 31 | Larry Greenberg | $38,890 |
| 32 | Andrew Lichtenberger | $38,890 |
| 33 | Matt Affleck | $33,495 |
| 34 | Stephen Foutty | $33,495 |
| 35 | Jeff Trudeau | $33,495 |
| 36 | David Marshall | $33,495 |
| 37 | Bradley Berman | $33,495 |
| 38 | Glenn LaFaye | $33,495 |
| 39 | Bill Klein | $33,495 |
| 40 | Yuri Ishida | $33,495 |
| 41 | Jeffrey Tanouye | $29,230 |
| 42 | Ralph Perry | $29,230 |
| 43 | Matthew Su | $29,230 |
| 44 | Alex Condon | $29,230 |
| 45 | Johan Schumacher | $29,230 |
| 46 | Erik Seidel | $29,230 |
| 47 | Ed Sebesta | $29,230 |
| 48 | Z Stein | $29,230 |
| 49 | Maxi Lehmanski | $25,850 |
| 50 | Nacho Barbero | $25,850 |
| 51 | Mike Meskin | $25,850 |
| 52 | Jason Koon | $25,850 |
| 53 | John Andress | $25,850 |
| 54 | Steve Zolotow | $25,850 |
| 55 | Arkadi Onikoul | $25,850 |
| 56 | Anthony Zinno | $25,850 |
| 57 | Dorian Rios | $23,165 |
| 58 | Damjan Radanov | $23,165 |
| 59 | Ben Hamnett | $23,165 |
| 60 | Nick Schulman | $23,165 |
| 61 | Zach Donovan | $23,165 |
| 62 | Paul Fisher | $23,165 |
| 63 | Ariel Mantel | $23,165 |
| 64 | Joseph Cheong | $23,165 |
| 65 | Darren Elias | $21,045 |
| 66 | Steve Karp | $21,045 |
| 67 | Henrik Hecklen | $21,045 |
| 68 | Vanessa Kade | $21,045 |
| 69 | Mitchell Halverson | $21,045 |
| 70 | Boris Akopov | $21,045 |
| 71 | Eric Ting-Yi Tsai | $21,045 |
| 72 | Tom Marchese | $21,045 |
| 73 | Chris Moorman | $19,385 |
| 74 | Justin Bonomo | $19,385 |
| 75 | Martins Adeniya | $19,385 |
| 76 | Felipe Ramos | $19,385 |
| 77 | Michael Shanahan | $19,385 |
| 78 | Brian Green | $19,385 |
| 79 | David ODB Baker | $19,385 |
| 80 | Amir Mirrasouli | $19,385 |
| 81 | David Gonzalez | $18,110 |
| 82 | James Calderaro | $18,110 |
| 83 | Will Berry | $18,110 |
| 84 | Christopher Frank | $18,110 |
| 85 | Kainalu McCue-Unciano | $18,110 |
| 86 | Landon Tice | $18,110 |
| 87 | Pavlo Veksler | $18,110 |
| 88 | Jeremy Ausmus | $18,110 |
| 89 | Nate Silver | $18,110 |
| 90 | Alex Foxen | $18,110 |
