Less than two hours into the second day’s play in the World Series of Poker main event final table, Dutch player Jorryt Van Hoof has suffered a remarkable reversal of fortunes and was the short stack at three-handed play stage when we went to press this morning.
The tall Dutchman started the final day of play against Sweden’s Martin Jacobson and Norwegian Felix Stephensen with a stack of 89.625 million…an advantage of at least 24 million on his closest opponent, but a series of reversals at the hands of Stephensen thrust him into third position inside the first 2 hours of play.
His bad run resulted in the chip counts changing to:
Martin Jacobson – 97,400,000
Felix Stephensen – 68,100,000
Jorryt van Hoof – 35,000,000
The second day of this all-European final table saw the three survivors again take their seats, cheered on by a boisterous crowd. Some wore illuminated Viking helmets and costumes, others bespoke T-shirts supporting their favourite player and some were holding large national flags.
At that point Van Hoof was well ahead on 89.62 million chips, trailed by Jacobson with 64.75 million, and then Stephensen on 46.1 million. All three contestants are professional poker players, although not one of them has previously achieved WSOP winner-bracelet status.
Get a feel for the atmosphere here:
UPDATE 1:
Jorryt Van Hoof is out, eliminated by Martin Jacobson after most of his stack was eroded by Felix Stephensen soon after the last day of final table action started. The big Dutchman claimed the third placing prize of $3,807,753. Van Hoof spent 198 of yesterday’s 244 hands in the lead but only lasted 21 hands after he became the short stack.
UPDATE 2:
Martin Jacobson is the winner of this year’s World Series of Poker main event, and takes home $10 million and the prestige of a world champion’s gold and diamond bracelet.
At 9.48 pm Vegas-time Tuesday the Swedish pro finally took down his Norwegian heads up opponent Felix Stephensen to the delight of a large band of family and supporters.
It was the culmination of a final table that lasted a total of just 16 hours spread over two days, with Stephensen busting in second place for $5,145,968.
Remarkably for a professional who is already widely respected with high career earnings, it was Jacobson’s first major tournament win.