Sam Soverel win 2019 Poker Masters Purple Jacket

The 2019 Poker Masters was a three-horse race until the final event, but in the end, Sam Soverel galloped away from his closest challengers, Chance Kornuth and Kahle Burns as he won Event #10, the final event of the series, to capture the Purple Jacket.

In some senses, Sam Soverel has redefined high roller success in 2019, winning not only this 10-event series, but also the British Poker Open. Soverel, dominant at the felt and blessed with a flawless temperament to the point of being an almost robotically unreadable player, won over $1.3 million in taking down the 2019 Poker Masters, but it never seemed about the money as he first caught, then outran his rivals in stunning fashion.

It is a huge compliment to say that despite Chance Kornuth taking an early lead and Kahle Burns roaring into contention himself, Sam Soverel was never written off for the title, and yet, when he overtook his opponents, he never looked like being caught.

In the final event, the $50,000-entry Poker Masters Main Event, Soverel had the air of a man who was always in control, even without the chip lead. With six players left, only five would cash, and the unlucky bubble boy was the 2018 Poker Master champion, Ali Imsirovic. The Bosnian big hitter had top pair and top kicker on the flop but couldn’t hold against Stephen Chidwick, who rivered a straight with the chips already committed.

With the five remaining players in the money, Seth Davies was busted when his pocket queens ran into Soverel’s pocket kings, and it was the luckless Chidwick who busted in fourth place, eliminated in exactly the same fashion, this time his pocket queens no match for Chris ‘Big Huni’ Hunichen’s pocket kings.

When Elio Fox suffered the fate of having a full house lose to a better full house – his nines over sevens losing to Soverel’s nines over eights – the heads-up clash was set. But who would use their pocket kings winning hand to become king?

It could only be one man.

Sam Soverel went into the duel with a 4:1 chip lead and didn’t take long to finish off the fight, his all-in covering move with queen-ten seeing Hunichen make the call with pocket deuces. It was a race, and just like the Poker Masters leaderboard itself, Soverel would prove himself the master of coming from behind to win, a queen giving him the crown he so richly deserved and winning him Event #10.

Poker Masters 2019 event #10 final table results:

After 10 events, Sam Soverel had outfought, outdrawn, outran, out-battled and out-thought some of the best players in the world, winning more than double any other player and cashing in an unbelievable seven out of the ten events.

Receiving the 2019 Poker Masters Purple Jacket from the 2018 winner Ali Imsirovic, Soverel looked genuinely humbled, truly grateful that his love of poker, and playing the game as long as he could in every event just because he adores the challenge of such competition had rewarded him with such recognition.

At this level of the game, the $100,000 added money he received for winning the Purple Jacket really wasn’t important. That’s another buy-in to another event and has plenty of value just in that sense. But the sense of achievement, of glory, that was what Soverel coveted.

Just like at the 2019 British Poker Open, Sam Soverel achieved just that, and in doing so, adds his name to poker history.

Soverel deserves to be remembered for doing what he has this year.

Poker Masters 2019 final leaderboard: