Three short stories par excellence including a young Swede inducted into the Swedish Poker Hall of Fame, the latest Raw Deal host coming close to his first World Poker Tour title, and more news from the Aria High Rollers.
It was a cockroach in Barcelona.
A mouse stuck in the radiator in Amsterdam.
Airbnb is a more exciting living experience than Premier Inn because of these immune system busting novelties, but there is one constant in all of the rooms, that gives you the sense that you are living in a hotel chain – the IKEA BOLMEN waste bin.
And that white triangular corner unit, big enough to hold two used tampons, and a day’s worth of snot rags, is one of three things I knew came from Sweden before I worked in the poker industry.
The other two broke my heart.
Ulrika Jonsson in 1989.
Tomas Brolin in 1992.
Since working in the poker industry, the number of Swedes I know has increased by three, and this week, one of them was in the news for his services to the poker industry.
The 2014 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion, Martin Jacobson, is the latest addition to the Swedish Poker Hall of Fame (SPHoF). The Swedish Poker Federation created the SPHoF in 2016 when Chris Bjorin and Dan Glime were the first to move in.
Joining Jacobson in the Class of 2017 is Per Hilderbrand. A jury of representatives of the Swedish Poker Federation and Poker.se voted the pair into the SPHoF, with the IKEA BOLMEN bin full of pieces of paper bearing the names of potential suitors who didn’t make the cut.
Phil Hellmuth (Nearly) Wins a WPT Title
Phil Hellmuth is that big of a deal, even when he fails to win a World Poker Tour (WPT) title, he still steals the headlines.
The 14-time WSOP champ, was one of three heroes who made the final table of the WPT Legends of Poker, joining current WPT Champions Club members: JC Tran and Marvin Rettenmaier in the final six.
The event was 763 entrants strong, and it was Hellmuth’s first appearance in a WPT event since the company named him as the successor to Tony Dunst as the Raw Deal host.
White Magic may be a big deal in WSOP circles, but he is a square in a round hole over at the WPT failing to win a single title in 16-years. And he will have to try very hard to get as close as he did in the Bicycle Casino.
Rettenmaier exited in fifth, and JC Tran – who was the chip leader for large periods of the final table – hit the rail in third, leaving Hellmuth to face Art Papazyan in heads-up action for the $668,692 first prize and a seat in the season ending WPT Tournament of Champions.
The final hand of the evening saw Hellmuth get it in ahead AK<KQ, but Papazyan flopped a queen to piss on the script that the TV companies, WPT, and media representatives so desperately wanted to see play out.
Papazyan wasn’t the only big winner at the WPT Legends of Poker. It was the first time a WPT Main Event Final Table was streamed live for the PokerGO audience, and what a final table it was.
Final Table Results
1. Art Papazyan – $668,692*
2. Phil Hellmuth – $364,370
3. JC Tran – $217,040
4. DJ Alexander – $161,490
5. Marvin Rettenmaier – $120,775
6. Adam Swan – $91,825
*Includes a $15k seat into the WPT TOC
Sean Winter Wins Another Aria High Roller
Forget the saying: Winter is Coming, he’s already here.
On 30th August, Sean Winter won his third consecutive Aria High Roller when he defeated 27 entrants to capture the $109,677 first prize in the $10,000 buy-in event.
Winter bested the reigning Global Poker Index (GPI) Player of the Year, David Peters, in heads-up action to seal the win. On the 17th August he beat 23 entrants to win the $115,000 first prize in another $10,000 buy-in event, and two days later beat ten entrants, including Jason Koon, in heads-up action to win the $175,000 first prize in a $25,000 buy-in event.
A few days after Winter’s latest win, two of the Aria High Rollers biggest winners clashed in heads-up action at the $25,000 buy-in event with Jake Schindler beating Cary Katz to capture the $175,000 first prize. Once again, only ten entrants took part in this fading beast, making me think the Aria High Rollers won’t be around as long as that compact and bijou IKEA BOLMEN.
