First-Ever World Series of Poker Gold Bracelet Awarded In Pennsylvania Won By Mark ‘ratrivers’ Herm

Less than a month after the World Series of Poker’s Pennsylvania online poker client launched on July 15, the first-ever WSOP gold bracelet was awarded in the state. The Pennsylvania segment of the 2021 WSOP Online got underway with the $500 buy-in ‘Keystone Kickoff’ no-limit hold’em event that ran from Aug. 6-9. The tournament attracted a total of 500 entries across three starting flights, building a prize pool of $225,000. In the end, the largest share of that money was awarded to Mark ‘ratrivers’ Herm, who earned the $48,420 top prize and the historic gold bracelet.

Just 148 players survived to day 2 in this event, with the top 90 making the money to earn at least $630. Herm came into the final day as the overall chip leader. They managed to make the final table with the largest stack, as well. A classic preflop race saw the field narrowed to just eight, with the pocket sixes of ‘Slap_Nuts’ (9th – $3,173) losing out to the A-K of Dillon ‘LavaCake’ Ott.

‘MonkeyBLuffy’ (8th – $4,140) was the next to fall when their A-J failed to hold up against the K4 of ‘AceOnaJetski’. ‘dripbaeless’ (7th – $5,513) saw their run in this event come to an end shortly after their pocket queens were beaten by the A-7 suited of ‘SBbarnz’.

‘SBbarnz’ moved into second chip position behind Herm when their AA held up against the AK of ‘NawtyShawty’ (6th – $7,470). Herm lost a few all-in showdowns against short stacks to slide down the leaderboard during five-handed action, but regained a chunk of those chips when their AK beat out the AJ of Dillon ‘LavaCake’ Ott (5th – $10,305).

Herm surged back into the lead when their AJ bested the A6 of ‘SBbarnz’ (4th – $14,468). ‘AceOnaJetski’ hit the virtual rail in third place ($20,655) when their J10 lost out to the AK of ‘NovaRiver’, who made the nut flush on a Q10236 board.

Heads-up play began with Herm holding more than a 2.5:1 chip lead over ‘NovaRiver’. The gap was narrowed a bit before the final hand arose. ‘NovaRiver’ raised to 250,000 from the button with 76 and Herm called with 108. The flop came down J75 and Herm checked. ‘NovaRiver’ bet 346,500 with their middle pair. Herm check-raised to 693,000 with their gutshot straight draw and ‘NovaRiver’ called. The 2 on the turn saw Herm move all-in and ‘NovaRiver’ make the call for their last 1,076,508. A pair of sevens was the best hand for the time being, but the 9 on the river completed Herm’s straight to earn them the pot and the title. ‘NovaRiver’ took home $29,993 for their runner-up finish.

Here is a look at the payouts awarded at the final table: