Martin Jacobson wins WSOP main event
It was unusually quiet inside the Rio’s Penn & Teller Theater for much of Tuesday night, a phenomenon partly attributed to the fact that — for the first time ever — the final three players in the World Series of Poker Main Event did not include an American.
But when the harmless king fell on the turn at 9:41 p.m., Martin Jacobson’s friends stormed the stage. And they definitely were not silent.
“They were a lot more excited than I was,” Jacobson said.
Jacobson, a 27-year-old professional poker play originally from Stockholm now living in London, won the WSOP Main Event, defeating fellow pro Felix Stephensen in an hour-long heads-up duel.
Jacobson earned the $10 million first prize and his first career WSOP bracelet.
“It’s everything to me. I’m just in shock,” Jacobson said. “There was so much pressure leading up to this moment. … I’ve been focusing on this since play ended in July. For it to finally be over and me winning it all, it’s just surreal.”
The only European players to capture the WSOP Main Event prior to this year are: England’s Mansour Matloubi (1990), Noel Furlong of Ireland (1999), Carlos Mortensen of Spain (2001), Peter Eastgate of Denmark (2008) and Germany’s Pius Heinz (2011).
Stephensen, a London resident originally from Oslo, Norway, takes home $5,147,911.
Jorryt Van Hoof of Eindhoven, Netherlands, entered the “November Nine” final table with the chip lead and also was the leader when three-handed play began with 89.625 million in tournament chips. But the Dutchman lost more than half his stack in the first three hours Tuesday and was sent to the rail by Jacobson.
Van Hoof, a professional poker player, takes home $3,807,753.
The 45th annual WSOP $10,000 buy-in No-limit Texas Hold ’em World Championship started July 5 with 6,683 players — the fifth-largest Main Event field in history — from 87 countries, generating a prize pool of $62,825,752. The tournament culminated with the three European players squaring off after action was halted just before 4:30 a.m. Tuesday.
William Tonking of Flemington, N.J., was the top American finisher as he was eliminated in fourth place by Jacobson early Tuesday morning and took home $2.84 million. Tonking started the final table seventh in chips but knocked out Mark Newhouse in ninth place to move up the leaderboard.
Tonking spent much of Monday evening as one of the largest stacks at the table before losing more than half his chips during a two-hour stretch from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. He bowed out when he pushed all-in with a pair of twos against Jacobson’s pocket 10s.
“I don’t play a lot of tournaments,” said Tonking, an online cash-game specialist. “My three closest friends in poker helped me. We put the time in. We were prepared. I know we played well. I thought we executed our game plan, did the best we could.”
William Pappaconstantinou, a professional foosball player known as “Billy Pappas,” went out in fifth place and earned $2.14 million. Pappaconstantinou quickly became a favorite of television viewers as the lone amateur at the table but was eliminated by Jacobson at approximately 2:45 a.m.
Jacobson had pocket fives against Pappaconstantinou’s ace-jack, and the Swede improved with a five on the flop to move past the 50 million-chip mark. Pappaconstantinou was left with only 50,000 chips after losing that hand and was eliminated by Van Hoof on the next hand.
“I wanted top three. I was pretty embarrassed by the way I played until six-handed, and then I felt like I played good. So I’m happy,” Pappaconstantinou said. “Making the money was just amazing. I never thought I would get this far. Incredible.”
Andoni Larrabe, a poker professional from Spain now living in London, took sixth place and $1.6 million.
Contact reporter David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidSchoenLVRJ.
