In a lot of ways, Richard Alsup is the perfect example why the World Series of Poker is the best summer camp for adults who happen to like to spend their day indoors staring at cards and people, trying to win a whole lot of money.
So today we celebrate Alsup and the rest of the players who took a chance in the $1,500 Monster Stack event that attracted enough entries to build a $15.8 million prize pool.
Alsup won his second WSOP bracelet and the $1.3 million that came with it by being the last of 11,933 entries standing. It pushes his lifetime winnings mark into the $4 million neighborhood and beat his former best cash by more than a $1 million.
The field beat last year’s entry numbers by a healthy 2,073. The top 6,690 were paid at least $4,500, and players who cracked the top 100 won at least $10,000. Hit 26th place, and the payout was plus-$50,000. Andrew Moreno was the first to hit six-figures, and he did it by making it to 11th.
Players who made the final table were guaranteed at least $190,000. That player was Nikolao Angelou, who beat his previous-best cash by $40,000. He now has $1 million in poker cashes. Angelous’ elimination hand was a doozy and included Kevin Eyster, who came to the final table as the chip leader.
But it was the beginning of a series of misfortunate events for Eyster, who was going for his second bracelet. He found AK in a three-way hand where Aaron Massey had Pocket Rockets and Angelou had kings.
The aces held, and Eyster would soon follow Angelou out the door in seventh, good for $240,000.
Pierce McKellar was next to exit, winning an extra $65,000, followed by Matt Miller, who cashed $400,000. Massey’s fourth-place finish — sparked by those aces — was good for over a half-milly, which was his 11th six-figure cash. He now has more than $6.5 million in life-times cashes.
John Ripnick won an online bracelet in 2021, and will have to wait for his first live one. His third-place finish was good for $700,000, more than a half-million more than his best lifetime cash of $170,000.
Salvatore Dicarlo scored his best lifetime cash by finishing second, and that should be enough cash to salve the bittersweetness of coming so close to a bracelet. At one point, he held a 4-1 chip lead, relinquished it, and retained it before succumbing to Alsup after three hours.
The next day, after winning all the money, DiCarlo cashed in a $300 event at South Pointe Casino.
Event #11: $1,500 Monster Stack Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richard Alsup | United States | $1,302,125 |
| 2 | Salvatore Dicarlo | United States | $900,000 |
| 3 | John Ripnick | United States | $700,000 |
| 4 | Aaron Massey | United States | $520,000 |
| 5 | Matt Miller | United States | $400,000 |
| 6 | Pierce McKellar | United States | $305,000 |
| 7 | Kevin Eyster | United States | $240,000 |
| 8 | Nikolao Angelou | Greece | $190,000 |
