Persistence pays off as Norway’s biggest live tournament winner in history wins the first-ever Norwegian Poker Championships held on home soil.
After televised coverage of the 2015 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event had developed a case of incongruent radiance, social media was awash with tales of the death of televised poker. It seems Norwegian poker fans didn’t get that memo.
Over 100,000 fans watched over 60 hours of programming courtesy of TV 2 Sport pay-TV channel. The finished product was a visual splendour, courtesy of Amaya Inc. subsidiary Global Poker Tours Ltd., the team responsible for hosting the event.
The historic event was held at the Thon Hotel in Gardermoen, Oslo. 1,973 players ponied up the 5,000 NOK ($580) entry fee, and they couldn’t dream up a better story. The winner was the country’s biggest ever live tournament money earner: Felix Stephensen.
Stephensen became a household name in poker when in 2014 he was runner-up to Martin Jacobson in the WSOP Main Event earning $5.1m. Stephensen’s live tournament affairs have been low key since that huge score with a 32nd place finish in the EPT11 Grand Final in Monte Carlo his best score to date.
The turnout dwarfed the 1,274 entrants that made their way to Dublin for the 2014 Norwegian Championships, and it bodes well for the future of Norwegian poker.
According to PokerNews, Stephensen started the final table second in chips. His heads-up opponent was Silje Nilsen. Nilsen began with the chip lead but lost it in a flip AK
Final Table Standings
1st. Felix Stephensen – $162,497
2nd. Silje Nilsen – $89,452
3rd. Anders Bjerk – $61,898
4th. Andreas Fardal – $44,435
5th. Jens Petter Johansen – $36,887
6th. Haakon Garberg – $29,766
7th. Erik Fjell – $22,799
8th. Simon Other Solberg – $16,066
