Martin Jacobson Wins 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event For $10 Million

With six players remaining in the 2014 World Series of Poker main event, Martin Jacobson had less than ten big blinds.

Although he was short on chips, the 27-year-old poker pro was long on experience, with the most impressive live tournament resume of any of the final nine. With plenty of big scores and final table finishes to his name, it was not at all surprising when Jacobson mounted a slow but steady comeback and emerged victorious with the championship bracelet, the $10 million first-place prize, and the title of World Champion.

With the win, Jacobson increased his career tournament earnings to more than $14.7 million, but money was not his focus. When asked for his plans for his newly-earned millions, Jacobson responded, “I haven’t thought about it. All of my focus was on becoming the World Champion. That’s what really means something to me. It may be hard to tell right now, but I’m in shock. For this to finally be over with me winning it all, it’s surreal.”

In addition to the money, the title, and the bracelet, Jacobson also earned the distinction of being the first-ever WSOP main event champion from Sweden, a nation that has produced numerous top poker players, such as Chris Björin, Erik Sagström, Martin de Knijff, and Viktor “Isildur1” Blom.

With this historic win, Jacobson has secured his spot as Sweden’s all-time poker earnings leader and climbed inside the top ten on the all-time live tournament earnings list.
Here is a look back at how the final table unfolded:

November Nine Return After Four-Month Break

Seventeen weeks after Luis Velador was sent to the rail as the final table bubble boy, the 2014 November Nine returned to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino to battle it out for the $10 million first-place prize and the title of WSOP main event champion.

From a starting field of 6,683 players from 87 different countries, only nine remained, each with their eyes on the championship bracelet and the eight-figure payday. Holland’s Jorryt Van Hoof, who was only the second Dutch player to ever make the main event final table, was the chip leader with 38,375,000 in chips.

Norway’s Felix Stephensen came into the final showdown in second chip position with nearly 33 million in chips, but it was the player with the third largest stack who drew much of the attention heading into November.

Mark Newhouse outlasted 6,343 opponents in 2013 to make the WSOP main event final table, eventually finishing ninth for $733,224. Incredibly, just a year later, Newhouse made the November Nine yet again, this time beating out 6,674 others to become the first player to make back-to-back main event final tables since the inception of the November Nine format. The last player to achieve this incredible feat was Dan Harrington in 2003 and 2004, when he finished third out of a field of 839 and fourth in a field of 2,576 respectively.

Newhouse came into this year’s final table with 26 million and a determination to go farther than he did in 2013, when he entered the final table as one of the short stacks and was never able to mount a comeback. Unfortunately for the 29 year old from Chapel Hill, he got off to a mediocre start, playing a lot of pots and not taking many down or winning often enough at showdown.

By the time the 56th hand of the final table arose, Newhouse had slipped from third chip position to fifth place. With blinds of 250,000 – 500,000 with an ante of 50,000 Van Hoof raised to 1.1 million and Mark Newhouse called from the cutoff. William Tonking three-bet to 3.75 million from the small blind and only Newhouse made the call. The flop brought J 4 2 and Tonking bet 3.5 million. Newhouse made the call and the turn saw the 4 pair the board. Tonking opted to check, which prompted a 4.5 million-chip bet from Newhouse. Tonking made the call and the river paired the board again with the J. Tonking checked and Newhouse moved all-in for 10.2 million. After only roughly a minute of thought, Tonking made the huge call with the Q Q. Newhouse had turned his 10 10 into a bluff on the river, but Tonking had sniffed it out to win the huge pot and send Newhouse to the rail as the ninth-place finisher for a second year in a row, earning $730,725.

Tonking and Van Hoof Run Amok

With that hand, Tonking just overtook Van Hoof for the chip lead, with roughly half of the 200 million chips in play in their stacks. For the next hours, the two pounded away at the table, extending their leads while the other six players at the table all saw their stacks slip while trying to avoid being the next to hit the rail.

Bruno Politano was the shortest stack coming into the day and remained so throughout the hours that followed Newhouse’s elimination. The first Brazilian player to ever make the main event final table eventually got his last 8.1 million chips in with Q 10 versus the pocket sevens of Felix Stephensen and was unable to win the coin flip, hitting the rail in eighth place for $947,077.

Despite earning that knockout, Stephensen was still a distant third place behind the two towering chip leaders. After the initial surge from Tonking, it was Van Hoof who then began to build up steam. He first eliminated 30-year-old Nebraska native Dan Sindelar in seventhplace when his A 3 outran the short-stack’s pocket jacks, sending the poker pro to the rail with $1,235,862 as a consolation prize. Then he called the preflop three-bet shove of 8.3 million from small blind Andoni Larrabe with K 5 after having raised to 1.8 million from the button. The young Spaniard’s J 10 was drawing very live going into the flop, but Van Hoof quickly deflated his hopes when he paired his king on the flop. Larrabe, who was the youngest player at the table at the age of 22, was eliminated in sixth place. For his deep run, he earned $1,622,080.

With that, Van Hoof’s stack grew to more than 85 million, or more than 40 percent of the chips in play at the time. In fact, he had more chips than Stephensen (27.5 million), foosball champion and lone remaining amateur Billy Pappas (27.1 million), and short stack Martin Jacobson (8 million) combined.

With the blinds at 400,000 – 800,000 Jacobson had only ten big blinds, but the experienced Swede stayed calm despite his short stack. With $4.8 million in prior career tournament earnings, including two runner-up finishes in European Poker Tour main events and a sixth-place finish in the 2013 WSOP $111,111 Big One high roller, Jacobson had by far the most live tournament success of any of the five players remaining.

With impressive preflop play, Jacobson was able to pick his spots to take down pots and grow his stack while Van Hoof and Tonking ravaged the table.

And Then There Were Three

After getting off to the best start of any player, Tonking began to lose some steam as the night progressed. He doubled up Jacobson with king-jack versus the Swede’s ace-eight and lost a few other pots, while Van Hoof continued to climb. He was still in second place, but was slipping from his high point.

Jacobson continued to build his stack until the next key hand arose. With the blinds at 500,000 – 1,000,000 it folded to him on the button and he moved all-in for roughly 24.5 million with the 5 5. Billy Pappas, a former poker dealer and currently one of the highest ranked foosball players in the world, made the call for essentially his whole stack with A J. It was a classic race situation, with Jacobson slightly ahead for the moment, but when the flop brought the Q 6 5, he took a stranglehold on the hand. The 7 on the turn left Pappas drawing dead and he was left with less than a big blind after the hand, while Jacobson chipped up to more than 50 million, moving into second place. Pappas was eliminated the next hand, earning $2,143,174 and many admirers for his strong showing as the last amateur in the event.

After that, Tonking was left as the shortest stack, although he still had more than 26 big blinds when Pappas was eliminated. Fifteen hands later, Tonking had been whittled down to 20 big blinds. Van Hoof opened to 2.2 million from under the gun and Tonking moved all in. Jacobson, who had lost some pots after busting Pappas, moved all-in for 21.5 million and both Stephensen and Van Hoof folded. Tonking was in rough shape with 2 2 versus the 10 10 of Jacobson. The flop gave Tonking some hope, however, when it came J 5 4 to give him a flush draw. The turn was the 6, which also gave him a gutshot straight draw. The Q on the river was a total blank for Tonking though, and he was sent to the rail in fourth place, earning $2,848,833.

The final three played twenty hands together before play ended for the night at 4:30 a.m. PST, twelve hours after play began. Van Hoof had 90 million for the lead, with Jacobson in second place with 65 million and Stephensen in third with 46 million.

Deciding The World Champion

With the last American eliminated, the final three would be an all-Northern European affair, with the Netherlands, Sweden, and Norway all represented.

It took only 20 hands for Jacobson to overtake the chip lead. He won a key pot early against Stephensen when his pocket aces got three streets of value from the Norwegian’s turned top pair. Just five hands later, the Swede surpassed Van Hoof for the lead, while Stephensen’s stack dipped down to roughly 12 percent of the total chips in play.

The poker pro from Oslo, Norway didn’t have to wait too long to find a double up however, after a hero call gone wrong from Van Hoof. Stephenson flopped top pair in the hand and the Dutchman looked him up with a lower pair. Stephensen continued to lock horns with Van Hoof and get the better of the Dutchman. Less than thirty hands into play, Van Hoof had fallen from the chip lead to the shortest stack.

With the blinds at 800,000 – 1,600,000 and an ante of 200,000 Van Hoof raised to 3.6 million. Jacobson three-bet to 9.2 million from the small blind and Stephensen folded his big blind. After some deliberation, Van Hoof announced that he was all-in for 46.2 million.

Jacobson called relatively quickly with A 10, which was in a dominant position against Van Hoof’s A 5. The flop paired both player’s kickers when it came 10 5 2, leaving van Hoof needing a five to double up. The Q on the turn left van Hoof with only a five percent chance of keeping his hopes of being 2014 World Champion alive. The Q on the river secured the pot for Jacobson and sent Van Hoof to the rail in third place with $3,806,402. With that, Jacobson’s stack grew to 142 million, roughly 70 percent of the total chips in play.

Short Heads Up Battle

It took only 35 hands of heads-up play for the champion to be determined. Jacobson was able to extend his chip advantage to more than 5.5-to-1 by the time the final hand arose.
Stephensen raised to 3.5 million from the button and Jacobson raised all-in. Stephensen made the call for his last 28.3 million with A 9 and Jacobson revealed the 10 10, the exact same hand he eliminated William Tonking with. Jacobson was more than a 2-to-1 favorite to win going into the flop and was all but guaranteed to win after the first three community cards were revealed to be the 10 9 3. The K on the turn left Stephensen drawing dead and ensured that Jacobson would be the 2014 World Series of Poker main event champion while Stephensen earned $5,145,968 as the runner-up.

It seems only fitting that pocket tens be the hand that secured the $10 million first place prize for the young Swede.

“It means everything to me [to be 2014 World Champion],” said Jacobson after the win. “There is so much pressure leading up to this moment. I’ve been focusing on this since play paused in July, so for this to finally be over and to have won it all is just surreal… It’s just overwhelming.”

Jacobson also noted that, in addition to his own skill and hard work, his win also came about with the help of many of his friends in poker who were there to watch him win the bracelet and become World Champion. On his rail were a number of the game’s top young players, including Mark Radoja, Jason Koon, and Mohsin Charania, to name a few.

“Everyone’s been very helpful and I’ve learned so much. I feel like I’ve been a bit lazy the last few years, not working too much on my game,” admitted Jacobson. “The future of poker has been so unreliable and I really didn’t know how much longer I was going to play. Once I made this final table, I really got the motivation back and dedicated a lot of time to getting better and preparing myself for this day.”

Jacobson proved himself to be a deserving champion at this final table, demonstrating patience and skill with a short stack and and playing mistake-free poker when he finally was able to wield the chip lead. The respect he garnered with his play drew praise from many in the poker community, including 2011 Card Player Player of the Year Ben Lamb, who in a Twitter post called him, “probably the best player to ever win the main event.”

With the biggest title in poker, $10 million dollars, the championship bracelet, and the respect of his peers, the future could not look any brighter for the first-ever Swedish World Series of Poker main event champion. ♠