Kenny Nielsen, a 36-year-old physical therapist from Sorø, Denmark has been playing poker for eight years. Primarily playing poker as a hobby, Nielsen prefers cash games over tournaments. Nielson is one of two Danish players at the final table (the other is Jeppe Drivsholm).
His largest tournament cash to date came back in 2005 when he finished 27th in a $10,000 buy-in WPT event, scoring a $41,705 payday. When asked yesterday, “What do you want the world to know about you?” Nielsen replied: “That I have won the APPT in Macau tomorrow!” Nielsen will unbag 791,000 in chips at the start of Sunday’s final table.
There's plenty of ways to kill time before playing a Main Event final table and Kai Paulsen has been spotted playing blackjack over in the pit. He's playing at a table with a minimum bet of HKD $200 and is seated by himself. We already know he's locked up HKD $254,608, but maybe he wants to pad his payday with some extra cash. Hopefully he doesn't blow through it all in the extreme case where he needs to money up in order to profit.
Tournament director Danny McDonagh informed us that Paulsen won the buy-in to this event when he hit a royal flush a couple weeks ago playing the Caribbean poker table game. The bonus was enough to cover his entry fee and Paulsen has done quite well with it.
As on most final-table days, the start of the final table has been delayed. Action was set to begin at 12:15 p.m. local time and it's not just about a hour later than that. Good news is, players are seated and the chips are stacked so it shouldn't be too long before things get underway. Grab some popcorn and kick back, we'll be starting shortly!
In an interview with a fellow media member, Jeppe Drivsholm informed that he'd like to be the one driving the action for the final table. On the first hand of the day, Drivsholm raised under the gun to 36,000 and started things off just like he said. Everyone folded and he took down the blinds and antes.
Chong Cheong raised preflop, and Kai Paulsen made the call from the button. The flop came out , and Cheong bet 75,000. Paulsen quickly raised to 175,000. Cheong asked for a count and was told Paulsen had about 260,000 behind. Then Cheong headed into the tank and stayed there until Victorino Torres called the clock. It's important for the shorter stacks to get in as many hands as possible before the blinds go up. Cheong fold, and Paulsen took down the pot.
Cole Swannack raised from early position to 36,000 and then Jeppe Drivsholm called from the button. The two chip leaders took a flop of and Swannack fired a continuation bet of 44,000. Drivsholm made the call.
The turn brought the and Swannack checked. Drivsholm fired 110,000 and Swannack made the call.
The river completed the board with the and quickly both players checked. Swannack tabled the , but Drivsholm held the and scooped the pot. Drivsholm is now the new chip leader, overtaking Swannack.
We've lost our first and most experienced player at the final table. Victorino Torres raised to 40,000, and Keith "the Camel" Hawkins moved all in from the button. It wasn't much more than 100,000 for Torres to call, and call he did.
Showdown
Torres:
Hawkins:
The flop came , giving Hawkins a pair and some extra outs, but the and that followed weren't able to keep him alive.
The first three-bet of the final table just came when Jeppe Drivsholm opened to 36,000 and then Brian Green reraised to 125,000. After a minute or two, Drivsholm mucked and Green raked in the pot.
![[user140525]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, and Cheong bet 75,000. Paulsen quickly raised to 175,000. Cheong asked for a count and was told Paulsen had about 260,000 behind. Then Cheong headed into the tank and stayed there until Victorino Torres called the clock. It's important for the shorter stacks to get in as many hands as possible before the blinds go up. Cheong fold, and Paulsen took down the pot.
and Swannack fired a continuation bet of 44,000. Drivsholm made the call.
and Swannack checked. Drivsholm fired 110,000 and Swannack made the call.
and quickly both players checked. Swannack tabled the 
, but Drivsholm held the 
and scooped the pot. Drivsholm is now the new chip leader, overtaking Swannack.
, giving Hawkins a pair and some extra outs, but the 
and 
that followed weren't able to keep him alive.