The World Series of Poker first introduced the $ 1,000 no-limit hold’em team event in 2016, 34 years after the last ‘mixed doubles’ tournament held in 1982. The fifth edition of the modern version of this event took place in 2021 WSOP. A total of 641 teams took part in the event, which began in a fun and festive atmosphere on the occasion of Halloween. The healthy turnout built up a prize pool of $ 590,490, with the largest share ultimately going to “Team Ruter.” The team consisted of two Californian players: Mike Ruter and Samy Dighlawi. They both won their first bracelets and their share of the top prize of $ 113,366.

An equal distribution of the prize money would result in a salary of $ 55,683 for each of the champions, which would be the highest score for either player. The winning team said PokerNews’ live reporters that they first tried their hand at that same event in 2019, but were quickly eliminated. This time around, they lasted three full days of action to clinch the title.

The final day started with ‘Team Newman’ leading out of the ten remaining pairs, with ‘Team Ruter’ in third to start. A pre-flop cooler of pair of nine against pair of Kings sent Mike Lutz and Matt Krebs of ‘Team Lutz’ to the rail in 10th place ($ 6,882). Scott Johnston and Bob Fisher were next to be eliminated when their best pair of aces with a queen kicker couldn’t resist ‘Team Botfeld’ straight flush and backdoor draw. The father-daughter duo of David and Amanda Botfeld hit a club on the river to take out “Team Johnston” in ninth place ($ 8,670).

‘Team Erdwurm’ (Zachary Erdwurm and Steven Jones) finished eighth for $ 14,494, while Holly Babbitt and Michael Babbitt’s race finished in seventh place ($ 14,494).

“Team Ruter” scored their first knockout at the final table when Dighlawi’s pocket three won a race against the ace-king of “Team Miner”. Benjamin Miner and Dmitriy Uskach won $ 19,226 for their sixth place finish.

Alfie Adam and Vidur Sethi were the next to drop, with their A-6 colliding with Ruter’s assorted AK, who flopped the Kings of the Trip and held on from there. “Team Adam” took in $ 25,928.

Michael Newman and Robert Ormont of ‘Team Newman’ started the day with the chip lead, but eventually hit the rail in fourth place when their K7 failed to beat the 88 of ‘Team Wolf’, despite an action-packed A flopQJ. Two bricks at the turn and the river sent ‘Team Newman’ home with $ 35,542.

Amanda Botfeld, author of A Guide to Girls’ Poker, reached the last three teams alongside his father, David. She took to Twitter before the last day started sharing a family photo of the couple playing together.

My dad teaches me how to play poker with lime chips. 15 years later, we reached the final table together in the wsop Tag Team Tournament.

Love you dad, and couldn't have done it without you. #fatherdaughter #poker joinpokerpower pic.twitter.com/Mb04y3KaEJ

– Amanda Botfeld (@amandabotfeld) November 2, 2021

‘Team Botfeld’ got last of their stack in peflop, 3-bet shove A-5 combination 5 on the opening of ‘Team Ruter’s’ Dighlawi, who called with A6. The board brought four clubs to give Dighlawi an unbeatable color before the river. “Team Botfeld” received $ 49,512 for its third place finish.

Heads-up was a back-and-forth affair, but a big hand with two pair gave “Team Ruter” the decisive advantage. Tomer Wolf of ‘Team Wolf’ pushed for his last 890,000 with 76 and Dighlawi followed with Q7. The board missed 842QJ to secure the pot and the title for ‘Team Ruter’. Wolf and his teammate David Landell won $ 70,074 as finalists.

Here is an overview of the winnings awarded to the final table:

Photo credit of winner: WSOP / Melissa Haereiti.