Only the last step separates the top three players from choosing this year's WSOP Main Event champion from among themselves. Although players from seven countries qualified for the final table, the absolute dominance was demonstrated by the domestic representatives, who decided ahead of time that the bracelet with the title would remain in the USA.
As well as all the premium events of this year's WSOP, you could also watch the final of the Main Event only on the paid PokerGO platform, in addition to which the director at least offered you a free preview on YouTube:
The almost 6-hour finale brought, among other things, a moment in which WSOP representatives drew a "Seat for Life" lucky winner. Even before the WSOP, they promised that if the Main Event breaks the 17-year record, one of its participants will be awarded free entry to the next 30 editions worth a total of $300,000. In the end, Canadian representative Jason Clarke became the lucky one.
But back to the game, where we had to wait up to 43 hands for the first seat-open. It went to Italian Daniel Holzner, who with A J got into a coinflip against Steven Jones with a pair of TT , but after a blank board, he secured 7-figure rewards for the remaining eight.
Just three hands later, the red seat-open was lit up on the scene again, but this time it was dedicated to the Spaniard Juan Maceiras. He sent his last 11bb into the game with K 9 , but he found an opponent in Toby Lewis with A T . The ace immediately in the window confirmed the distribution of forces, and the chip leader of the seventh day of the game was rewarded with a reward of $1,125,000.
Hand #52 saw another preflop coinflip pitting Toby Lewis with K J against Steven Jones with a pair of T T. Even then, the pair held off the onslaught of five community cards, giving Lewis a seventh-place finish for $1,425,000.
After a long interlude, the poker room saw another seat-open only in hand number 84, in which Dean Hutchinson found a pair of 5 5 with the last 13bb, but he ran straight into a pair of 7 7 under the hand of Jachtmann. The miracle did not happen on the board, but the English player earned a reward of $1,850,000 for the 6th place.
Even though the original plan was to finish the day down to the last four, we ended up witnessing two more eliminations. In fifth place, Ruslan Prydryk had to say goodbye to the tournament. He turned Q T for 12bb against A J under the hand of Daniel Weinman, who shot to the chip lead after hitting two pairs on the flop. On the contrary, Prydryk had to go to the cash register, where a reward of $2,400,000 awaited him.
The first final day ended with the hand numbered 116, in which Steven Jones opened to 4m (2bb), which Walton of BTN called. The last non-American representative in the game, Jan-Peter Jacthmann, went for a 54m (27bb) shove with K Q from BB, but unfortunately for him, he ran straight into A A under Walton's hand. The blank board did not help, so the hall said goodbye to the German representative in 4th place with a loud "USA, USA, USA!" for 3 million dollars.
Immediately after this hand, the first day of finals was stopped, and the players started counting chips. Despite Jachtmann's elimination, Walton is currently in the last place, but the deep stacks give an inkling of a good poker match tonight:
- Steven Jones: 238,000,000 (119 bb)
- Daniel Weinman: 199,000,000 (100 bb)
- Adam Walton: 165,500,000 (83 bb)
Everything will be decided tonight, when we will meet the new American champion. Will it be Walton, Weinman or Jones? Let us know who you think will be the favorite:
Results of the final table of the WSOP Main Event so far:
- ??? (USA) – 12,100,000$
- ??? (USA) – 6,500,000$
- ??? (USA) – 4,000,000$
- Jan-Peter Jachtmann (GER) – 3,000,000$
- Ruslan Prydryk (UKR) – 2,400,000$
- Dean Hutchison (SCO) – 1,850,000$
- Toby Lewis (ENG) – 1,425,000$
- Juan Maceiras (SPA) – 1,125,000$
- Daniel Holzner (ITA) – 900,000$
In addition to the final table of the Main Event, at the last minute, renowned poker coach Faraz Jaka also managed to take home his valuable jewel from this year's WSOP, for whom this is the first bracelet in his career. He managed to get it in the $1,500 Shootout event, which was played in a format where each table was always played down to its winner. This tournament also featured the controversial Ali Imsirovic, who at least made it to ITM. The win and the reward of $237,367 belong to Faraz, who did not hide his enthusiasm: "I was completely in the zone, I felt that after many second and third places, this is finally my tournament. My students are here with me, they are the players I represent, I am even more happy that I could achieve this success in front of their eyes."
Source: PokerNews, WSOP, YouTube, Twitter