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As we have reported yesterday, there were only three players left standing (sitting) in the battle for the 2014 WSOP Main Event title and the $10 million first prize. Jorryt van Hoof and Felix Stephensen both played great poker, but neither of them could stop Swedish tournament legend Martin Jacobson, who has claimed the first major tournament win of his career.
In the first "round" of the final table, players played down from 9 players to 3, while the next day the three remaining players would play down to the winner.
After Bruce Banner announced "Shuffle Up and Deal", play continued on the 600k/1.2 million blind level with the following stacks:
Jorryt van Hoof - 89.625 million
Martin Jacobson - 64.75 million
Felix Stephensen - 46.1 million
Jacobson won the first pot and managed to gain momentum, he shortly took over the lead from van Hoof.
Norway's Felix Stephensen didn't win many pots and fell back to 26.9 million chips, but he managed to double through van Hoof. The Dutch player raised to 2.6 million from the button, and Stephensen called from the big blind. Both players checked the 9-4-3 two clubs flop. The turn was the 5 of hearts, putting two flushdraws on the board, and Stephensen lead out for 4 million, and van Hoof called. The King of clubs on the river saw Stephensen jam for 17.1 million, and van Hoof called after thinking a little.
Stephensen showed down 9-8 for second pair, while van Hoof had J-5 for third pair.
van Hoof kept losing pots and he began the 800k/1.6 million blind level as the shortstack, while Jacobson kept his lead.
van Hoof managed to accumulate some chips during the level but was busted by Jacobson before he could really get the ball rolling.
van Hoof raised to 3.6 million from the button, Jacobson 3bet to 9.2 million, van Hoof shoved with 46.2 million, and Jacobson called.
Showdown:
van Hoof: A-5
Jacobson: A-T
The board came T-5-2-Q-Q and with that the Dutch player was eliminated in third place for $3.8 million.
Jacobson started the heads-up with 142 million chips while Stephensen had 58 million. Stephensen managed to win a couple of small pots, but Jacobson slowly and surely grinded the Norwegian down. In the final hand of the tournament, Stephensen opened to 3.5 million, then called all-in for 28.3 million when Jacobson shoved.
Showdown:
Jacobson: T-T
Stephensen: A-9 suited
Jacobson flopped a set on the 3-9-T flop and the crowd went crazy. Stephensen didn't manage to catch miracle cards on the turn and river and was eliminated in second place for $5.1 million.
When the river hit Jacobson was rushed by friends, family, and fellow professionals. Jacobson is one of the best tournament players in the world, he came very close to winning major titles before, but never managed to close the deal until now. With the $10 million first prize his lifetime career earnings in live tournaments has increased to $14.8 million.
Final table results:
1. Martin Jacobson - $10.000.000
2. Felix Stephensen - $5.145.968
3. Jorryt van Hoof - $3.806.402
4. William Tonking - $2.848.833
5. Billy Pappas - $2.143.174
6. Andoni Larrabe - $1.622.080
7. Dan Sindelar - $1.235.862
8. Bruno Politano - $947.077
9. Mark Newhouse - $730.725