2021 poker players image credit: World Poker Tour
There are so many standout 2021 poker players and, if we’re being honest, we all have our favorites. But today we’re going to sift through the record books and take account of a few players who well and truly smashed it in 2021.
Online players on a high
In 2021 alone, Sami Kelopuro recorded 11 wins of $100,000 or more for his online play. The biggest was a $720,833 payday after bossing it during a two day event. Known online as LarsLuzak, this online poker veteran certainly lived up to his reputation during the year.
However, it was Brazilian force of nature Pedro Vinícius Garagnani ruled the roost online as 2021 came to an end. He had a tremendous year on the virtual felt, riding high on the nosebleed tables.
If you frequent those sorts of tables, you might know him better under his screen names pvigar or donkey. But whatever you call him, the stats don’t lie. He scooped seven six-figure wins over the course of the year, making him one of the truly impressive 2021 poker players. The highlight came in April when he won over $450,000 in a single tournament. Dizzying stuff, even for seasoned virtual players.
Out of his top 10 cashes of all time up to the end of 2021, eight of them occurred in that year. There’s one thing that’s for sure, Garagnani won’t forget his rocketing success of 2021 in a hurry.
WSOP 2021 bosses
Some people say that the cream of the crop turn out for the World Series of Poker every year. And 2021 was more hotly anticipated than ever. That’s what makes the fact Josh Arieh scooped Player of the Year in 2021 all the sweeter.
This famously prickly poker player took the WSOP tables by storm, winning two bracelets along the way. His performance was so impressive, he won Player of the Year despite the fact it was also the year Phil Hellmuth smashed the record for the most final tables in one WSOP. We’re guessing Hellmuth being pipped at the post for the Player of the Year title made Arieh even more delighted with his score.
And of course we can’t talk about the WSOP without giving a shout out to the incredible winner of the Main Event Koray Aldemir. He bested 6,649 entrants to get his crown in the $10,000 buy-in event. On top of that, he also was the player with the most WSOP cashes totalling a frankly incredible $3,040,322.
Crushing it at live events
To say Almedin Imsirovic is one of 2021 poker players of the year is an understatement. He has been dazzling competitors at live tournament tables and netting amazing paydays along the way.
A highlight had to be the World Poker Tour Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open, where he took down a $695,355 prize in a single tournament. And that’s not the last of his big wins of the year, he also had two other $500,000 wins in 2021 alone.
Meanwhile, Nadya Magnus was 2021’s top ranking female player on the Global Poker Index. She played up a storm throughout the year, especially during the World Poker Tour’s Lucky Hearts Poker Open, where one tournament scored her over $100,000.
Test your own skills online
Inspired by these phenomenal players? Well then why not play a few hands yourself? Whether you’re into a cash game or a tournament, bet365 has you covered. And as well as that, if you’re a new player, you can take advantage of this superb bet365 bonus code. That makes spending time on the virtual felt extra sweet!
