We were supposed to have just two players left to battle heads-up for the 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event Championship on Tuesday, but after twelve hours of play Monday and on into Tuesday morning, it was time to call it quits with three players remaining. It will be an all-European fight to the finish as Dutchman Jorryt van Hoof, Swede Martin Jacobson, and Dane Felix Stephensen prepare for what could be another long night.
The first day of the November Nine belonged largely to Jorryt van Hoof, who entered the final table as the chip leader and gave the lead up for only a short time. It was obvious from watching him play, and this observation was back up by analysts Antonio Esfandiari, Daniel Negreanu, and Phil Hellmuth, that van Hoof played spectacularly. He used his big stack to bully his opponents, made excellent reads, and rarely stepped out of line. He would likely be the first to admit that he ran well, too, but this was not a situation like, say, Jamie Gold in 2006, when Gold was slapped in the face with the deck, getting any card he wanted, no matter how good or bad his plays were. Van Hoof rarely got out of line and if it makes sense, sort of “earned” his run-good. At one point, when play was five-handed, it looked like he was going to absolutely just steamroll the table, as he had over 100 million chips while the four other players were all in the 20 million range.
On Hand 199 of the final table, though, van Hoof had one of his few unlucky hands of the night, losing with pocket Jacks when Stephensen went all-in with A-8 and flopped an Ace. That took van Hoof down to 85.675 million and elevated Stephensen to 44.6 million. From that point, van Hoof more or less took it easy. He did get some back from Stephensen at one point to climb over 100 million again, but eventually ended the night with 89.625 million.
The player that many were interested in going into the night was Martin Jacobson, who was easily the most accomplished tournament player at the table. Unfortunately, he was also one of the shortest stacks, so his perceived skill advantage was possibly negated. He was patient most of the night, staying at the bottom of the leader board. Once he became extremely short stacked, though, he started making his moves, doubling up on a number of occasions. His biggest hand, other than double-ups in which his tournament life was on the line, came when he eliminated Will Tonking, who was for a short time the chip leader, after Tonking moved all-in pre-flop with pocket Deuces. Jacobson had pocket Tens and went all-in himself, forcing a fold from van Hoof. Tonking got a sweat on the turn, as he picked up a flush draw and gutshot straight draw, but it wasn’t to be. Because the two players were so close in chips and there were a lot of blinds and antes on the table, Jacobson more than doubled-up. While he was still the shortest stack of the three remaining players, he now had plenty of chips with which to play. By the end of the night, he was up to second place.
Here is a look at how the chip stacks shape up going into the final day of the 2014 WSOP Main Event:
1. Jorryt van Hoof – 89,625,000
2. Martin Jacobson – 64,750,000
3. Felix Stephensen – 46,100,000
And the order of finish to this point:
4. William Tonking – $2,849,763
5. Billy Pappas – $2,143,794
6. Andoni Larrabe – $1,622,471
7. Dan Sindelar – $1,236,084
8. Bruno Politano – $947,172
9. Mark Newhouse – $730,725
The final table will resume at 5:30pm PT / 8:30pm ET and will be broadcast almost live with just a 30-minute delay on ESPN.
