As the World Series of Poker Main Event continues with the Final Table, let’s take a look back and recap the big winners at the poker series from this past week:
Koral Wins 2019 WSOP $1.5K Double Stack No-Limit Hold’em Event
35-year-old poker professional Tom Koral earned his second career World Series of Poker bracelet by winning the 2019 WSOP $1,500 Double Stack No-Limit Hold’em event. The veteran player took home the top prize of $530,164 at the Rio Casino after prevailing from a field of 2,589 entries. In addition to the massive payday, Koral was awarded 1,200 Card Player of the Year points and moved up to 162nd in the POY race.
Koral overcame a massive disparity in chips playing Freek Scholten heads up at the final table. Scholten had 76,100,000 in chips to Koral’s 53,500,000 chips but quickly began fighting his way to close the gap. By the time they reached the final hand, Koral limped in with a pair of aces. Scholten quickly moved all in with a Queen, 3. Koral called, the board came down King, 10, 9, 5, 4 and the rest is gambling history. Scholten still ended up taking home $327,563 for his runner-up finish.
Swedish Rising Star Earns $304,793 In First WSOP Bracelet Win
Rising youngster Jerry Odeen took home $304,973 as well as his first World Series of Poker bracelet in the $1,500 mixed no-limit hold’em and pot limit Omaha event. Odeen, who is still just 24 years old, came out on top of a field of 1,250 runners.
The first-time winner from Gothenburg, Sweden entered the final table in second-to-last place on the leaderboard. However, he rallied with a memorable comeback which included eliminating five of his opponents on the final day. Odeen, who talked after the event about watching poker since he was 15 years old, earned 960 Card Player of the Year points for his efforts.
Odeeen became the 11th overall bracelet winner from Sweden, joining star players such as Chris Bjorin, Martin Jacobson, Peter Eichhardt, Mats Rahmn and Michael Tureniec in the process.
Tilston Takes Down Negreanu, Wins 2019 WSOP $100K Super High Roller
Keith Tilston is the winner of the 2019 WSOP $100,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em super high roller event. Tilston took down a field of 99 entries in the process of securing his first WSOP gold bracelet. The 36-year-old also collewcted a top prize of $2,792,406 for the victory. It was the poker pro’s first ever seven-figure score.
The win pushed his career lifetime earnings to more than $6.4 million and it was sweeter as he knocked off a legend, Daniel Negreanu, en route to the win. In addition to the big money score, Tilston took home 1,080 Card Player of the Year points for the victory.
It was his fourth final table finish of the year and first win. With 2,026 points and $3.746,280 in year-to-date earnings, Tilston has moved to 52nd place in the 2019 Player of the Year race.
The top-three players in the tournament all scored more than $1 million for their efforts. Runner-up Daniel Negreanu took home $1,725,838 while third-place finisher Nick Schulman was awarded $1,187,802. While Tilston took down Negreanu to win the event, he still has a long way to go in order to catch the legendary poker pro in all-time earnings. Following the runner-up finish, Negreanu’s career tournament earnings now sit at $40,694,047.