3 July 2019 (Las Vegas) – Jeremy Saderne won the inaugural Mini Main Event at the 2019 World Series of Poker, earning his first WSOP bracelet and $628,654. Saderne is the second French bracelet winner of the year.
"I’m feeling very good," Saderne said after the event with a huge smile on his face. "I cannot imagine winning a tournament with more than 5,000 people. Especially this one when the tournament is very, very fast. You have to have good cards, and I just ran so good."
He did, in fact, have some good cards help him on his road to the bracelet. In a key hand with three players left, he was all in with pocket sixes against Lula Taylor's King-Ten. There was a king on the flop to leave Saderne drawing thin, but he spiked a six on the river to stay alive.
There was a boisterous crowd of supporters cheering on Saderne throughout the final table, and they erupted in celebration when the six fell on the river. It looked like Saderne had just won the event, but two opponents still stood in his way. For the rest of the tournament, his rail almost never quieted down.
"All of my friends were here. It was incredible," he said. "I’ve never seen that before. It was better than Marseilles Stadium, in the south of France. I just want to say thank you to all of my friends. They gave me a lot of power and energy. They were incredible."
There was a friendly atmosphere on stage as the final table wound down, and the winner had especially positive things to say about his heads-up opponent Lula Taylor.
"I played with her a little bit yesterday. She’s so fun at the table. She plays very, very aggressive. She was so, so, so nice with me." He added that their conversations extended beyond poker, and she went so far as to say he seemed like a son to her.
Taylor earned $388,284 for her runner-up finish, and she just barely missed out on becoming the first woman to win an open event at this year's WSOP.
Saderne started the final day second in chips behind Andres Korn, but quickly jumped into the lead. After chips shuffled around a bit, he regained the lead when there were four players left by doubling through Taylor. The lead changed hands several times with three-players left, but Siderne pulled ahead and then eliminated Korn in third place. That hand gave him a roughly 2-1 lead to start heads-up play, and he quickly collected the last of the chips to secure the victory.
This event was originally scheduled to end yesterday, but the huge field forced it to extend an extra day. The 5,521 entries generated a prizepool worth $4,968,900. The top 829 players made the money, and the top six players earned six-figure payouts.
Eight players returned for Day 3, and the final day had a distinctly international flavor. Seven countries were represented among the eight players: Ireland, Switzerland, Argentina, Japan, China, France, and two players from the United States.
The action got off to a furious start on the final day. The first elimination occurred less than 30 minutes after play began. Ben Alloggio, who started the day as the shortest stack, got all in with against Yi Ma’s . Alloggio looked like he was in good shape, but his opponent made a straight to eliminated Alloggio in eighth place for $71,199.
The next bustout was only about 15 minutes later. Philip Gildea was eliminated in seventh place for $92,686. Gildea, who hails from Dublin, Ireland, had started the day second-to-last, ahead of only Alloggio, and so far the day was playing out predictably based on start-of-day stacks.
It took almost an hour until the next elimination, and Stefan Widmer was the one to go. The Swiss player earns $121,586 for his sixth-place finish. This is his first-ever WSOP cash.
It was only another 15 minutes before the next bustout. Koji Takagi of Japan got the last of his chips in as a favorite with against Lula Taylor’s , but a jack on the river sent Takagi to the payout desk in fifth place. He earns $160,715.
After a break and about 15 more minutes of play, Yi Ma, of China, became the fourth-place finisher. He was eliminated in a two-hand sequence, both against Andres Korn of Argentina. In the first, Korn put in a raise and Ma three-bet all in. Korn called with , and was in good shape against Ma’s . Korn doubled up with his kings, and Ma was left with less than one big blind. He moved all in from under the gun on the next hand. Korn called again and Ma was eliminated. He earns $214,047.
Saderne then eliminated Andres Korn in third place ($287,219), leaving him heads up against Lula Taylor with the bracelet on the line.
Full Results
Live Updates from the Event
Final Table Results:
1 – Jeremy Siderne – $628,654
2 – Lula Taylor – $388,284
3 – Andres Korn – $287,219
4 – Yi Ma – $214,047
5 – Koji Takagi – $160,715
6 – Stefan Widmer – $121,586
7 – Philip Gildea – $92,686
8 – Ben Alloggio – $71,199
9 – James Stewart – $55,118