After 12 days of fierce competition at the Rio All Suite Hotel & Casino, Germany's Koray Aldemir has officially become the 52nd WSOP World Champion. Defeating 6,650 contestants from around the world, Aldemir claimed his first main event victory on Wednesday night, boasting an $8,000,000 prize, and took home a 10k yellow and white gold bracelet surrounded by 2,230 rubies, white and black diamonds.
Aldemir first appeared in the professional poker world in 2012 and raised more than $12,000,000 in total revenue until winning the $10,000 Normit Holdham main event today. Aldemir, who knows the tournament circuit well, hasn't won the world championship title to this day.
On winning the main event in 2021, Aldemir said, "It felt good. The dream came true because it is the world's largest final table. Maybe every poker player thinks of this moment, believing 'I might be there one day' when they see this."
On Wednesday, Nov. 17, at 2 p.m. (PST), three people, Koray Aldemir, Jack Oliver, and George Holmes, came into the race to win the world champion title. Oliver exploded first, and Holmes and Aldemir headed for the evening. Energy exploded throughout the Amazon room as a fierce showdown culminated as Aldemir won the 2021 World Series Poker World Championship after just six and a half hours of trading. The final match started with Aldemir calling Holmes's 6,000,000 and Holmes responded to all 133,000,000 and Aldemir won by two pairs, Ten and Seven.
"This year's main event has exceeded expectations overall," said Ty Stewart, senior vice president of the World Poker Series. "It's been amazing to see the five countries represented at the 2021 Final Table, and we're looking forward to raising Corray's flag in Bali on the Streep this summer after a classic battle."
The 53rd Annual World Series of Poker Tournament will be held for the first time from May 31 to July 19, 2022 at Caesars Entertainment's Valley - Las Vegas and Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, the heart of the famous Las Vegas strip. Following 17 years of successful operations at the Rio All Suite Hotel & Casino, WSOP continues its tradition of being the world's largest, richest, and most prestigious gaming event in a whole new place.