Australia’s Ragozzini Misses Out on WSOP Glory
The 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP) is nearing its conclusion in Las Vegas. Only a handful of events remain, including the final of the US$10,000 buy-in Main Event. Australia’s Sean Ragozzini found himself with a shot at a US$8 million top prize, but he missed out.
Some 6,650 players bought into the 2021 WSOP Main Event, but only 36 made it through to the penultimate day’s action. Ragozzini was one of those surviving grinders. He had high hopes of following in the footsteps of fellow Aussie Joe Hachem.
Hachem found himself in a similar position in 2005. Hachem eventually went all the way in the WSOP Main Event that year, outlasting 5,618-opponents, and banking US$7.5 million. His impressive victory sparked a poker boom back home. It was during this poker boom that the now 35-year-old Ragozzini learned about the game.
Ragozzini The Australian Poker Champion
Ragozzini has dual British and Australian citizenship and plays poker full time. Most of his live poker tournament results stem from playing in his native Australia. He won $223,361 in July 2019 in a $20,000 buy-in event at The Star Sydney Champs. An additional $140,181 made its way to him in May 2021 when he won the $5,000 WPTDS Gold Coast 5K Challenge.
Ragozzini cashes in two events held at the Wynn Las Vegas in October. One was a third-place finish in a US$1,600 buy-in tournament that yielded US$33,984. He bought into the $10,000 WSOP Main Event with a ticket won in the online poker world. Reaching the money places guaranteed US$15,000. However, Ragozzini set his sights higher than that, much much higher.
Reaching The WSOP Main Event Penultimate Day
Only 36 players remained on Day 7 of the WSOP Main Event, each guaranteed US$198,550. However, reaching the final table came with a US$1,000,000 minimum payout.
Nine players busted and the prize money increased to US$241,800. Another nine fell by the wayside, pushing the prize money to US$305,000. The Australian was now only nine eliminations away from a final table appearance. Furthermore, he was within touching distance of a US$8 million prize.
Matters were progressing swimmingly until late into the day’s action. Ragozzini limped in with Qs-Qh before instantly calling when Alejandro Lococo moved all-in with what turned out to be Ah-Th. Our hero was a 67.7% favourite to win big pot. This improved to 84.14% on the Kd-Qc-5h flop. However, Lady Luck was not shining down on him because the 9s turn and Js river gave Lococo a straight. Ragozzini busted in 11th place for US$585,000.
The man from Melbourne has US$1,200,605 in live tournament winnings, plus a legitimate bad beat story.
Main Event Champion Crowned Today
The World Series of Poker Main Event crowns its champion today. German poker pro Koray Aldemir goes into the final table with an overwhelming chip lead. Aldemir has 140,000,000 chips, or 175 big blinds. The talented German already has more than US$12.3 million in earnings. He hopes to increase that sum to US$20 million by the time he next goes to sleep.
American George Holmes is another big stack at the final table. Holmes returns with 83,700,000 chips, or 106 big blinds. Holmes’ largest score is a shade over $50,000. He is now guaranteed a seven-figure haul.
Lococo, the man who eliminated Ragozzini, sits down in third place. Ragozzini must be wondering what could have been.
Joshua Remitio, Jack Oliver, Ozgur Secilmis, Hype Park, Chase Bianchi, and Jareth East make up the rest of the final table.
Play resumes at 16:00 local time and continues until only one man remains. That man receives a coveted gold WSOP bracelet, US$8 million, and gets to call themselves poker’s world champion.
