Renan Bruschi won his first WSOP bracelet on Friday in the WSOP Online Big 500. (SuperPoker photo)

The World Series of Poker Online events on GGPoker continue to be a showcase for Brazilian poker players. On Friday, Renan Carlos Bruschi, currently ranked #6 in the PocketFives Rankings, took down Event #14 ($500 The Big 500) to become the fifth player from Brazil to win a WSOP bracelet this year.

When the final table began on Friday afternoon, Bruschi held the chip lead over the other eight players and the next closest stack to his belonged to a fellow countryman, Rafael Furlanetto. Just 15 minutes after play began, Furlanetto added to his stack by winning a classic flip.

Furlanetto raised to 320,000 from UTG+1 with 9c9h before Andrejs Zukovs moved all in from his direct left for 3,964,752 with AcKd. The AsTc9s flop gave Furlanetto bottom set and left Zukovs hoping for runner-runner help. The 4h turn left him drawing dead to the 7h river and Zukovs was out in ninth place.

Bruschi took his turn in the executioner role just a few minutes later. David Wang raised to 320,000 from UTG+1 and Arthur Conan bumped it up 832,000 on the button. Bruschi responded by raised to 2,208,000, Wang moved all in for 4,260,251 and Conan folded. Bruschi called and tabled KcKs while Wang showed QhQs. The board ran out Th4s2s6s2c to eliminate Wang in eighth place.

Furlanetto was involved in the next elimination but ultimately wasn’t the benefactor. From UTG Eugenio Pernia moved all in for his last 1,866,806 with As3s and Nikola Minkov attempted to isolate by moving all in for 3,811,082 with TcTd. Furlanetto then re-shoved from the button for 19,314,503 with AhKc. The JcJh8h flop changed nothing and neither did the 7c turn. The Th river missed both Pernia and Furlanetto and gave Minkov a full house to bust Pernia in seventh.

Minkov found another victim just over 10 minutes later. Nick Maimone raised to 770,000 from the button with AhQh before Minkov jammed from the big blind for 7,993,970 with JcJh and Maimone put the rest of his 7,136,510 stack at risk. The Th6h2d flop gave Maimone some extra outs. However, he bricked the 2s turn and Tc river and was out in sixth place.

While everything had gone swimmingly for Minkov to that point, it all came to a disastrous end in a cooler against Bruschi just 10 minutes later. Bruschi raised to 700,000 from UTG with KhKs and Minkov moved all in for 10,054,100 with AhKc. The JdTs5s flop gave Minkov some hope but as the 6s turn and 3h river completed the board, the Bulgarian grinder was eliminated in fifth.

Watching that hand unfold with curiosity was Conan. Down to less than seven big blinds when Minkov went out, a one hand later Conan raised to 800,000 on the button with AcJh and Furlanetto jammed for 35,286,534 from big blind with As4d. The flop came Ks8h7h to keep Conan safe, but the 4s turn gave Furlanetto a pair. The Ad river improved his hand to two pair and eliminated Conan in fourth place with just a pair of aces.

While Brazilian poker fans were no doubt hoping for a heads-up duel between Bruschi and Furlanetto, Leonid Bilkour had other ideas. Having started the final table with the shortest stack, Bilkour navigated his way to holding the chip lead with three players remaining. After more than 20 minutes of battle, the two Brazilians clashed in a pot that propelled Bruschi to the chip lead and Furlanetto to the exit.

From the small blind, Bruschi raised to 1,500,000 with 8c8h and Furlanetto moved all in for 12,514,699 with 2d2s and Bruschi called. The board ran out Jc9c7cKc6d to eliminate Furlanetto in third place and send Bruschi to heads up with 62% of the chips in play.

Over the eight minutes that followed, Bilokur battled back to take the lead over Bruschi, the PocketFives Player of the Month for July. That lead was short-lived as Bilokur watched the best hand in poker spell his demise. Bilokur raised to 1,800,000 and Bruschi called. The KdJs8s flop got Bruschi to check and Bilokur bet 1,837,500. Bruschi called and then bet 4,000,5000 on the 7h turn. Bilokur called and watched the 9d river complete the board. Bruschi fired 11,869,500 into the middle. Bilokur called all in for his last 11,704,565 and showed AcAd but Bruschi tabled Ts3s for a rivered straight. Bilokur was eliminated in second place.

The win allowed Bruschi to join Joao Simao, Thiago Crema, Eduardo Pires, and Lucio Lima as Brazilians winning WSOP gold in 2021 and gave him the opportunity to improve upon his runner-up finish in Event #2 ($2,500 Limit Hold’em Championship).

Final Table Payouts

  1. Renan Carlos Bruschi – $150,327
  2. Leonid Bilokur – $112,728
  3. Rafael Furlanetto – $83,534
  4. Arthur Conan – $63,391
  5. Nikola Minkov – $47,537
  6. Nicholas Maimone – $35,648
  7. Eugenio Pernia – $26,732
  8. David Wang – $20,046
  9. Andrejs Zukovs – $15,032