Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas hosted the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Event 97: $10,000 Short Deck No-Limit Hold'em. It featured 106 players and had a $895,300 prize pool.
Martin Nielsen, a Faroe Islands player, defied the odds when he topped the field to bag a bracelet and the $270,160 first-place prize. But, he battled it out with popular poker players like John Juanda (poker Hall of Famer) and Hong Wei Yu, who he defeated in a heads-up match.
The recent event was Nielsen's second WSOP cash after winning $403 in the $200 Daily DeepStack. Hendon Mob shows that the latest win increased his live poker winnings to $300,000, the largest among all Faroe Islands players.
The Top Seven Finalists' Payouts
- Martin Nielsen from Faroe Islands-$270,160
- Hong Wei Yu from the U.S.-$167,340
- Ivan Ermin from Russia-$118,037
- Eric Wasserson from the U.S.-$85,124
- John Juanda from Indonesia-$62,793
- Nobuaki Sasaki from Japan-$47,406
- Chris Brewer from the U.S.-$36,648
What Transpired on the Final Day?
Juanda used queen-ten of hearts to make a preflop all-in move before Eric Wasserson used ace-king of diamonds to call him.
The former got in a tricky spot as the latter made a king flop and sent him packing in fifth place. This slowed down the table's action since the finalists' average stack was more than 100 antes for a long period.
Wassersson got the chip lead after beating Nielsen for a huge pot. But Ivan Ermin beat Wassersson for a big cooler and doubled him up after two hands.
The latter lost most of his chips after using a set of eights on the eight-queen-ace board to flop against Nielsen's ace-nine. But Nielsen beat Wassersson for a big pot. The latter almost drew the former dead.
Nielsen stunned poker diehards when he got a seven-six miraculous runout and landed a straight on the river hence extending his run. This prompted Wassersson to use king-nine suited to go all-in before Ermin called him with king-queen.
The former made a pair of nines turn and got the stack lead. Yet, he didn't maintain it for long as Ermin landed a gutshot straight on the river that earned him the pot and busted Wassersson in the fourth position.
Ermin followed Wassersson in third place after two levels when his jack-ten suited lost a preflop to Nielsen's ace-queen. The former's pair of tens earned him the lead and a ten-eight-queen flop. Unfortunately, Nielsen's king-jack runout helped him land a straight on the river and eliminate Ermin in third place.
Nielsen had a 3:1 chip advantage over Yu when their battle of the blinds began. The latter used jack-ten of spades to wager his chips, and the former held pocket kings. Yu exited the event as the runner-up with $167,340 after the river failed to help him.
