Jens Kyllonen from Finland has joined the prestigious club of WSOP gold bracelet winners after the player topped the field of the 2016 WSOP $25,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha (8-Handed). Apart from capturing his first WSOP-related gold piece, the Finn also received a top prize of $1,127,035.
It could not be said that Kyllonen’s victory came as a big surprise, given the fact that the player is largely considered one of the best Pot-Limit Omaha professionals. He is not only a tournament regular, but he also plays quite a lot of cash games. His achievements online are noteworthy. The player has once won more than $1 million within the span of a single day.
It is also interesting to note that Kyllonen has almost fell victim to cheaters who tried to bug his computer so as to see his cards while he was playing online. Since then, the Finn has become an active advocate of measures for warning and protection of online players, particularly high stakes ones like him.
Commenting on his most recent triumph, Kyllonen said that he had quite a rush throughout the tournament and that this has been his biggest win so far. Of his preference for Pot-Limit Omaha, the player noted that the format offers more action.
The $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship attracted as many as 184 entries who generated a prize pool of $4,370,000. The top 28 finishers were paid a portion of the money. As it usually happens with high roller tournaments, this one too attracted some of the big names in poker, with four-time gold bracelet winner Robert Mizrachi being among those.
The event was scheduled to be played from July 6-8. However, it extended into an unexpected fourth day after a winner could not be determined until late on Friday. Day 4 of the tournament began with three remaining players, each holding about 7 million in chips. Bearing in mind the deep stacks, a long battle was expected to take place. Indeed, it took more than four hours for a winner to emerge.
Eventually, Kyllonen faced Tommy Le from Tustin, California heads-up. Although the Finn started two-handed match with a 2-1 chip advantage over his last remaining opponent, winning the gold bracelet and the top prize did not prove to be an easy task. The two players exchanged the chip lead for several times before the final hand for the day and the tournament as a whole was played.
Le raised the pot to 1,800,000 and Kyllonen called. The flop ran out [10d][4d][2s] and Kyllonen checked. Le bet the pot for 3,600,000 and Kyllonen check-raised. Le then called all in. The player tabled [Ad][9h][8s][7d] against his opponent’s [Qs][10s][5d][3d]. The turn came [5s] and the [3h] appeared on the river, both of no help to Le. The player had to console himself with a payout of $696,558.
Dan Smith from Las Vegas, Nevada took 3rd place for $487,361. Ryan D’Angel from Binghampton, New York took 4th place, good for $347,641. Veselin Karakitukov from Bulgaria was paid $252,909 for finishing 5th.
Dmitry Savelyev from San Bruno, California received $187,724 for taking 6th place. Ludovic Geilich from Scotland finished 7th for $142,227. Sean Winter from Jacksonville, Florida took home $110,035 for taking 8th place in the tournament.
