All the action unfolded preflop and it escalated quickly. Didier Rabl opened from the button to 30,000, Ville Haavisto raised the pot to 110,000, Rabl shoved and Haavisto called.
Didier Rabl:
Ville Haavisto:
The board ran out and Rabl didn't get any help to be eliminated in 10th place.
Espen Sandvik was the bring-in with the . Joao Vieira completed, Kahle Burns made it two bets, and Sandvik folded. Vieira took his time before calling. On fourth street, Burns bet and Vieira got the rest of Burns' chips in after glossing it over a bit more.
Vieira paired his king on fifth street to leave Burns trailing the rest of the way. The Australian high roller departed in 9th place and received €6,839.
Two short stacks tangled in a hand with multiple raises from the beginning. Sebastian Pauli raised the cutoff, Thomer Pidun made it three bets on the button, Pauli four-bet and called a five-bet from Pidun.
Pauli changed one card on each of the three draws, while Pidun stood pat all the way with a dealt eight-seven smooth.
Sebastian Pauli:
Thomer Pidun:
Pauli picked up a on the last draw and was eliminated from the event.
Espen Sandvik was the bring-in with the . Everyone folded to Joao Vieira who completed and Sandvik called. Vieira bet on fourth after Sandvik checked, then led out on fifth and sixth street.
On sixth street, Sandvik quickly put in a raise, and Vieira stuck the rest of his chips in.
Sandvik opened up his river card first, improving his hand to a full house. Vieira was left drawing dead and, despite making a flush at the end, had to depart in 7th place.
Two back-to-back hands in the same game were enough for Kaiser to hit the rail. First, he played against Jeff Madsen where he lost the majority of his stack. Madsen raised to 60,000 and Kaiser called from the big blind.
Kaiser drew three and Madsen two cards, with Kaiser check-calling 30,000.
Kaiser drew two and Madsen one in the second draw, with Kaiser check-calling again, this time for 60,000.
On the third draw, both players drew one card and this time they checked.
Jochen Kaiser:
Jeff Madsen:
Kaiser was left with 10,000 and automatically all-in on the next hand, being in the small blind.
This time, Espen Sandvik raised from the first position and Hellmuth called from the big blind. On the first draw, Kaiser drew two cards, Hellmuth three, and Sandvik one. Sandvik bet 30,000 and Hellmuth folded.
On the two following draws, Kaiser drew two cards both times while Sandvik stood pat.
Jochen Kaiser:
Espen Sandvik:
Kaiser's ace-high was second best to hit the rail in 6th place.
Ville Haavisto was the bring-in with the . Thomer Pidun, left short after the massive three-way clash in the previous hand, completed and Espen Sandvik called with his jack after some thought. Haavisto folded.
On fourth street, Pidun moved all in for his last 40,000 and Sandvik, catching a Broadway card, took his time before committing the call.
Pidun had caught a brick on fourth and bricked again on fifth, ultimately ending up with Q-8-7-5-4. Sandvik played T-9-7-6-A and Pidun was eliminated.
Espen Sandvik raised the button, Jeff Madsen three-bet the big blind and Sandvik called. The flop was and Madsen bet. Sandvik raised, Madsen pushed and Sandvik called.
Jeff Madsen:
Espen Sandvik:
Madsen was ahead with his pair of tens but the on the turn gave some extra outs to Sandvik. The on the river was one of them and Sandvik completed his flush to send one more opponent to the rail.
Two triple draw hands became the demise of Phil Hellmuth, who saw his attempt to win bracelet No. 16 end in third place. In the first hand, Hellmuth raised the small blind and Sandvik called. They both drew two apiece on the first draw and Hellmuth check-called a bet.
Hellmuth drew two cards on the second draw while Sandvik drew one. Once again, Hellmuth check-called. On the third draw, both drew one card and Hellmuth check-called another street.
Sandvik showed and Hellmuth mucked, leaving himself with just 120,000.
Two hands later, Sandvik raised on the button and Hellmuth called from the big blind. Hellmuth drew four cards while Sandvik took two.
Hellmuth put the rest of his chips in the middle and was all in, while Sandvik called him quickly.
On the next two draws, Hellmuth drew two cards each time, while Sandvik drew one. Agonizingly slow, Hellmuth revealed for a paired hand. Sandvik showed to take the pot and eliminate Hellmuth in third place.
Facing a 18:1 chip deficit, it was clear the heads-up would be quite the uphill battle for Ville Haavisto if he was to make a stunning comeback. In the first hand of heads-up, his stack of 183,000 quickly went into the middle after a series of raises.
On the first draw, Haavisto drew two and Espen Sandvik three. Both drew two apiece on the second draw.
On the final draw, Haavisto drew one while Sandvik waved his hand, indicating a pat.
Ville Haavisto:
Espen Sandvik:
Haavisto had plenty of outs to double but paired up with the to finish in second place, worth €46,613.
Norway's Espen Sandvik has become the fourth bracelet winner of the 2019 World Series of Poker Europe in King's Resort. Sandvik reigned supreme at the end of Event #5: €2,500 8-Game Mix and received €75,246 as well as the coveted WSOP gold bracelet. He follows in the footsteps of Thor Hansen, Sigurd Eskeland, and Annette Obrestad as the fourth bracelet winner from the Scandinavian country.
Phil Hellmuth, meanwhile had his quest for bracelet No. 16 cut just short. He was relegated to a third-place finish, adding to his nearly $15M in lifetime WSOP winnings.
Much to the delight of the crowd, Hellmuth was making a very deep run in this event and ensured a packed rail at times in King's. "The Poker Brat" came very close to improving further on his legacy, but, like the others, ultimately had to tap out to the relentless Norwegian, who knocked out each of his opponents single-handedly.
Being challenged by a driven and arguably the most successful player in WSOP history isn't for the faint of heart, and Sandvik admitted the thought about a possible heads-up looming with the 15-time champ crossed his mind.
"I was hoping not to play heads-up against him, because maybe I'd become a bit more nervous then," he said.
Despite these jitters, Sandvik added that he's not one to easily become flustered, and quipped back at Hellmuth when asked if he was nervous, as Hellmuth tried to leverage his experience over the opposition. The calm Norwegian kept his composure and did so as well when he explained what winning a WSOP gold bracelet meant to him.
"More confidence and more inspiration to work harder," he said, explaining that playing within his roll kept him confident. "I'm mature in bankroll management, the buy-in of the Main Event is too much. I don't take too big risks. I feel good about playing like this and not be nervous."
Event #5: €2,500 8-Game Mix Final Table Results
Place
Player
Country
Prize (EUR)
Prize (USD)
1
Espen Sandvik
Norway
€75,246
$84,058
2
Ville Haavisto
Finland
€46,613
$52,072
3
Phil Hellmuth
United States
€31,058
$34,695
4
Jeff Madsen
United States
€21,386
$23,890
5
Thomer Pidun
Germany
€15,235
$17,019
6
Jochen Kaiser
Germany
€11,242
$12,559
Blom, Negreanu Miss Out on the Money
Twenty-six players returned at 3 p.m. to King's Resort to play down to a winner, with only a money finish waiting for 11 of them.
At the start, Sandvik was still an unknown face positioned in the middle of the pack, far away from the spotlights that were being hogged by big dogs such as Viktor Blom, Eli Elezra and Daniel Negreanu. However, the arduous nature of limit poker reared its head once again, providing some brutal swings along the way that caused many a player to yo-yo up and down the leaderboard as the day progressed.
Perhaps the one player that's eponymous when it comes to swings in poker, online legend "Isildur1" Blom, ran into the bad side of variance today. Despite starting the day off second in chips, Blom became one of the early casualties after losing several sizable limit pots before getting his aces cracked in his signature pot-limit Omaha game by Kahle Burns.
Burns was also responsible for knocking out Negreanu, whose run came to an end shy of the money as well. "Kid Poker" found himself in good companionship, as fellow big names Jeff Lisandro, Allen Kessler, Manig Loeser and Eli Elezra also missed out on another WSOP cash. David "ODB" Baker was the bubble after losing a nine-low to Madsen's seven-low in razz.
Once in the money, Tomasz Gluszko and Didier Rabl were the ones having to settle for min-cashes, as did Burns who lost queens versus Joao Vieira's kings in stud. After Sebastian Pauli finished in eighth place, it was Vieira who bowed out next, despite holding the chip lead not long before that. First, the 2019 bracelet winner lost part of his stack to Hellmuth before Sandvik broke him in stud with a full house versus a flush.
Sandvik Steamrolls the FT
With the knockout of Vieira, Sandvik started the official final table with a sizable chip lead and strapped the rocket accordingly. Shortly after the dinner break, he knocked out Jochen Kaiser in triple draw, then toppled Thomer Pidun in razz to leave the field with four.
Not done yet, Sandvik subsequently took Jeff Madsen apart in fourth place. Holding jack-eight of spades on a king-eight-three flop with one spade, Sandvik got it in against Madsen's pocket tens. Two more spades came on the turn and river to give Sandvik an overwhelming chip lead against Hellmuth and Ville Haavisto.
"I was hoping not to play heads-up against [Hellmuth]"
Twenty minutes after Madsen's bust, it was Hellmuth who became the next to fall to Sandvik. In triple draw, Hellmuth check-called all the way in a hand where both players kept drawing until the final draw. Sandvik showed him a made eighty-seven to leave Hellmuth with crumbs, which he lost the next hand.
Sandvik started the heads-up with an 18-to-1 lead against Haavisto, who got his stack in on the very first hand to try and turn things around. Still in triple draw, Haavisto was drawing live on the final draw against a pat queen-low, but bricked by pairing his hand to make Sandvik the fourth bracelet winner of the 2019 World Series of Poker.