JENS
KYLLONEN WINS $25K BUY-IN POT-LIMIT OMAHA HIGH-ROLLER CHAMPIONSHIP
Finnish
PLO specialist collects $1,127,035 top prize in Event #62
Kyllonen
becomes third WSOP gold bracelet winner in history from Finland
TommyLe fights tough battle, but finishes as runner up
MEET THE LATEST WSOP GOLD BRACELET
CHAMPION
Name: Jens Kyllonen
Birthplace: Helsinki, Finland
Age: 26
Current Residence: Helsinki, Finland
Marital Status: Single
Children: None
Profession: Professional Poker Player
(online)
Number of WSOP Cashes: 3
Number of WSOP Final Table Appearances:
1
Number of WSOP Gold Bracelet Victories (with this tournament): 1
Best Previous WSOP Finish: 113th (2011)
Total WSOP Earnings: $1,200,035
Personal Facts: Plays Pot-Limit Omaha online
for high stakes
Winner’s Quote:
“I don’t want to get into other people’s mistakes at the table
in this tournament, but online I play against tougher opposition.”
Jens Kyllonen
is the newest member of poker’s gold bracelet club.
The 26-year-old
professional poker player from Helsinki, Finland won the $25,000 buy-in
Pot-Limit Omaha High-Roller tournament, which was played over four days and
three nights and concluded on the ESPN main stage at the Rio in Las
Vegas. Due in large measure to a fierce back and forth battle during the later
stages of the competition, the tournament extended longer than expected.
Kyllonen
collected a whopping $1,127,035 in prize money, making this the biggest win of
his career -- barely. He’s been playing
in the highest-stakes cash games for the past six years. In fact, he’s even won (and lost) seven
figures within a single day.
“I can’t
remember having a rush like I had today,” Kyllonen said shortly after his
victory. “I had some big wins online and
back in 2011 I won a million in a single day.
But other than that, this is the biggest one.”
Despite his
well-deserved reputation as a PLO master, this was only his third time to cash
in a WSOP event. He arrived in Las Vegas to play in this event only a day
before the tourney started, making this the only tournament he’s entered this
year. Hence, Kyllonen stands at a
perfect 1 for 1 in the events he’s entered.
With his victory,
Kyllonen became the third gold bracelet winner from Finland, following in the
footsteps of Jani Vilmunen and Ville Wahlbeck. Both previous wins came in
2009. It was no surprise that the latest
win for the Finns came in a game where they are particularly known for their
proficiency, especially in online circles.
“I think PLO
has more action. You can make more hands
with four cards,” Kyllonen said. “I also
think it’s easier to get lucky in this game.”
Kyllonen won
his victory by coming out on top at a final table which included a formidable
lineup of experienced foes. High Roller events tend to attract many
of the most successful poker players to the pressure-filled arena, and
this one-- with a million-dollar prize plus the added incentive of a gold bracelet
dangling in front of the winner -- attracted both cash game and tournament
professionals, such as Kyllonen and others. Two gold bracelet winners
were seated among the final nine – including Ryan D’Angelo and Robert Mizrachi.
When three
finalists returned on Day Four, they were in a virtual dead heat at about 7M in
chips each. It was anyone’s tournament to win (or lose) and given the
deep stacks everyone expected a long battle.
They weren’t disappointed. The
added day lasted another four hours.
After about an
hour of the final day, Dan Smith was finally knocked out in third place.
That left Kyllonen to face Tommy Le heads up for what would be either player’s
first gold bracelet. When the duel began, the Finn enjoyed nearly a 2 to
1 chip advantage. That set into motion a nearly three-hour grind where
both players had the chip lead at various stages. However, Kyllonen
seized command late with a couple of big pots and the closed the victory in
front of a packed gallery of spectators who were evenly split between the Finn
and the American.
After Kyllonen
won a huge pot when he flopped quad-aces, the closing moment came a short time
later when Kyllonen scooped the final pot of the tournament, against Le who
finished as the runner up. This was Le’s second final table appearance of
the summer, after coming in fifth place in a previous event. His
consolation prize amounted to $696,558.
“The heads-up
match took much longer than I expected,” Kyllonen said afterward. “That’s PLO when you play short-handed. Situations can change so fast. You can play your best, but you can’t help
it. You have to win the all-ins.”
Kyllonen is one
of many outstanding players from Finland.
However, when it comes to Pot-Limit Omaha, he might be the best. Kyllonen has made news over the years and was
even a target of cheaters who once tried to bug his computer in an effort to
see his cards while playing online. The
thievery was found out, and Kyllonen has since become an outspoken advocate of
security measures warning players, especially high-stakes players, to protect
themselves.
This tourney
attracted 184 entrants which created a prize pool totaling $4,370,000.
The top 28 finishers collected prize money.
Aside from the winner, here’s a
brief report of the other top finishers who made the final table:
Second
Place: Tommy Le, from Tustin, CA came close to what
would have been a first WSOP victory. He
had the chip lead at various stages but wasn’t able to close out the win. Still, Le pocketed a very nice $696,558
prize. This was one of many cashes at
the WSOP. This was his third final table
of the ’16 series – coming in 2nd, 3rd and 5th.
Third
Place: Dan Smith, from Las Vegas, NV came in third place in what
was his 24th time to cash.
He’s now pocketed nearly $2 million have collecting $487,361 for this
deep run. Smith now has four 3rd-place
finishes at the WSOP – including three in the last two years.
Fourth
Place:
Ryan D’Angelo, from Binghamton, NY was aiming for a second gold bracelet
of the summer after winning the $1,500 Deuce-to-Seven tourney during opening
week. This marked his seventh cash in
2016, and 26th in-the-money finish overall at the series. D’Angelo picked up another $347,641 and
crossed the $1 million mark in career earnings.
Fifth
Place:
Veselin Karakitukov came in fifth place, which paid a cool $252,909. The poker player from Plovdiv, Bulgaria also
cashed in a previous PLO event this year.
Sixth
Place:
Dmitry Savelyev, from San Bruno, CA added $187,724 to his winnings by
coming in sixth. He came in second in an
earlier event this year and has now cashes seven times in WSOP events.
Seventh
Place:
Ludovic Geilich, from Glasgow, Scotland came in seventh. He pocketed $142,227 in his fourth series
cash.
Eighth
Place:
Sean Winter, from Jacksonville, FL finished in eighth place, which paid $110,035. This was Winter’s second final table
appearance in a Pot-Limit Omaha tournament at this year’s series. He previously finished in eighth place in the
$3K buy-in version of this tourney.
Ninth
Place:
Robert Mizrachi, from Hollywood, FL continued to astound with yet
another deep run in a tough and prestigious tournament. This marked his ninth cash at the 2016
series. Mizrachi won his fourth gold
bracelet opening week and now has added another $86,969 to his poker bankroll.
This was the 62nd official event on this
year’s schedule. This leaves 7 gold
bracelet events still to go at the 2016 WSOP.
OTHER
NOTABLE IN-THE MONEY FINISHERS:
Robert Mizrachi’s ninth-place finish
was made more interesting by his brother Michael Mizrachi coming in 12th
place in this event. The Mizrachi’s have
appeared at a final table once before, at the 2007 Poker Players
Championship. They almost repeated that
feat again here.
Other gold bracelet winners who
finished in-the-money included – Paul Volpe (13th) and Chris Lee (15th).
EVENT DIRECT LINKS:
For this event’s official final results
(listing all players who finished in-the-money), please visit:
http://www.lnmandiya.com/tournaments/results.asp?grid=1232&tid=14962
For Jens Kyllonen’s official player
profile page, please visit:
http://www.lnmandiya.com/players/playerprofile.asp?playerID=128581
For the live reporting logs for this
event, please visit:
http://www.lnmandiya.com/tournaments/updates.asp?grid=1232&tid=14962
To access licensed images from this all other 2016 WSOP gold
bracelet events, please visit:
www.pokerphotoarchive.com
For the live stream archive of this
event, please visit:
http://www.lnmandiya.com/videos/?vcat=2
(Note: Will appear 48 hours after
event concludes)