2021 WSOP.com POY Mike "BrockLesnar" Holtz Wins Event #17: $777 NLH Lucky 7s ($76,157)
Event #17: $777 NLH Lucky 7s as part of the 2022 WSOP.com Online wrapped up early Monday morning and saw Mike "BrockLesnar" Holtz defeating Jordyn "ThLstCrdBndr" Miller during a short heads-up battle to win his first bracelet and $76,157.
In January, Holtz was named the 2021 WSOP.com Player of the Year to win a ring and $10,000 in cash. Deep into 2022 and Holtz now finds himself a WSOP bracelet holder.
The online event attracted 347 entrants, including 217 re-buys, to generate a prize pool of $394,800. Some big names in the field included poker vlogger Johnnie "JohnnieVIBES" Moreno (30th - $2,369), two-time bracelet winners Michael "Unbelievable" Wang (20th - $2,566), Jeremiah "freestylerr" Williams (19th - $2,566), streamer Tim "uNORTH0doX" Reilly ($3,514) and Women in Poker Hall of Famers JJ "artiliu" Liu and Kathy "Luckygal" Liebert, who were both eliminated near the money bubble.
WSOP.com Online Event #17 Final Table Results
| PLACE | PLAYER | COUNTRY | PRIZE (IN USD) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mike "BrockLesnar" Holtz | United States | $76,157 | |
| 2 | Jordyn "ThLstCrdBndr" Miller | United States | $55,114 | |
| 3 | Mark "YZAZ." Dube | United States | $40,112 | |
| 4 | Vinny "brownmagic" Pahuja | United States | $29,057 | |
| 5 | Paul "rungood27" Scaturro | United States | $21,161 | |
| 6 | Fred "staeks" Li | United States | $15,634 | |
| 7 | Matthew "Foreright" Schulte | United States | $11,489 | |
| 8 | Shane "shanemcd" Mcdaniel | United States | $8,528 |
Final Table Action
Holtz entered the final table second in chips and was able to quickly jump into first when he eliminated Shane "shanemcd" Mcdaniel in eighth, who got it in with middle pair and a flush draw against the top pair of Holtz and failed to improve.
It was an early sign of things to come as Holtz went on to bust Matthew "Foreright" Schulte in seventh when Schulte's ace-queen couldn't hit against the pocket nines of Holtz.
Holtz had no part in the next few eliminations and Miller took the lead when he won a big three-way all in with aces to send Vinny "brownmagic" Pahuja out in fourth. Holtz then re-took a slight lead when he eliminated Mark "YZAZ." Dube in third place, whose flopped second pair was no good against Holtz's top pair.
The 2021 WSOP.com POY dipped a bit but took a big lead when his pocket fives held against Miller's ace-jack for a double. Miller managed to find a double himself before the final hand where he moved in with king-five to be called by the ace-six of Holtz. A flopped pair of fives gave Miller the lead, but an ace on the river gave Holtz the winner to earn him his first WSOP bracelet.
Continued Success
For twelve months last year, Holtz, who grew up in Maryland before recently relocating to Las Vegas, battled against thousands of players on WSOP.com to earn 2021 POY title.
“It was a pipe dream that I had considered before, but if I’m being honest, I thought it would be unattainable,” Holtz told PokerNews earlier this year. “One person gets it per year, you have to beat out tens of thousands of people. The truth is I wasn’t playing on WSOP.com at the end of 2020. I had good results but I was mostly playing on shady phone apps. I felt like I was doing well and didn’t plan on returning to WSOP online at least for the beginning part of 2021.”
Winning the WSOP.com POY distinction is a remarkable feat, and Holtz now follows it up with his first bracelet victory after winning his first Circuit ring in October 2021 in a $215 buy-in WSOP.com event, bringing his total WSOP earnings to $576,225.
In the field with Holtz in Event #17 was four-time bracelet winner and 2006 WSOP POY Jeff Madsen, who recently began coaching Holtz in mixed games. Madsen ended up in 16th place for $2,843.
"He has been instrumental in the success and improvement of my mixed games," Holtz told PokerNews. "We did 12 hours of sessions before the big PLO bracelet events, where I had two massive five-figure scores back to back.”
That wraps up PokerNews' live reporting of Event #17: $777 NLH Lucky 7s. Be sure to check out the 2022 WSOP Online live portal for more coverage of the latest bracelet events.