Koray Aldemir Defeats George Holmes to Win 2021 World Series of Poker Main Event

Koray Aldemir won the World Series of Poker Main Event on Wednesday, winning heads-up over George Holmes.

Aldemir entered the day as the chip leader, and though he was pushed by Holmes, he held on to earn his first WSOP gold bracelet. The 31-year-old Germany native, who now resides in Austria, took home a prize of $8 million.

Here's a look at the final payouts and a recap of some of the action when it got down to the final three.

All reports are via WSOP.com.

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Final Payouts

First: Koray Aldemir ($8,000,000)

Second: George Holmes ($4,300,000)

Third: Jack Oliver ($3,000,000)

Fourth: Joshua Remitio ($2,300,000)

Fifth: Ozgur Secilmis ($1,800,000)

Sixth: Hye Park ($1,400,000)

Seventh: Alejandro Lococo ($1,225,000)

Eighth: Jareth East ($1,100,000)

Ninth: Chase Bianchi ($1,000,000)

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Key Moments

Jack Oliver entered the day with the second-highest chip count. He fell behind when he couldn't answer a check-raise by Holmes. Oliver struggled to catch up to Holmes from that point.

Oliver eventually went all in at 35,700,000, which Holmes called. Oliver looked to be in good shape when the flop gave him a pair of eights, but a jack on the turn gave Holmes the superior pair and spelled the end for Oliver.

When it was down to the final two, Holmes quickly closed the gap on Aldemir and took the chip lead. But his time in front was short-lived. Aldemir later aggressively raised three hands in a row to put Holmes on the back foot. Aldemir's bet of 36,000,000 forced Holmes to fold despite sitting on a two pair with queens and jacks.

Aldemir's aggression would come back to bite him. Holmes refused to let another two pair get away as he answered each of Aldemir's bets with raises to take the biggest pot of the night at 62,400,000 and go in front again.

Once the blinds were raised after a break, the two of them traded leads back and forth. Aldemir was able to pull away after forcing Holmes to fold on back-to-back hands.

On the final hand, Holmes pushed all in and Aldemir called despite having a slim lead of 10 million. Holmes felt strong with a pair of Kings, but Aldemir had the advantage with two pair.