Christian Rudolph Wins World Series of Poker Online $25,000 Buy-In Event

Christian Rudulph defeated a stacked field of 407 entries to win the 2020 World Series of Poker Online $25,000 ‘NLH Poker Players Championship’ for $1,800,290 and his first gold bracelet. The German poker pro’s previous best finish in a bracelet event came when he finished as the runner-up in the €25,500 uy-in high roller at the 2018 WSOP Europe for $603,212. This time around he was able to come out on top heads-up to secure the massive top prize and his first piece of WSOP hardware.

The final table of this event was set back on August 23, but play didn’t resume until Aug. 29. American tournament superstar Jason Koon came into the final table of nine as the chip leader with 39 big blinds, looking to add to his nearly $31 million in recoded tournament earnings. Two-time bracelet winner Shankar Pillai sat in second chip position, while Rudolph began final table action on the next-largest stack.

Aliaksei Boika was the first player to be eliminated. He three-bet all-in from the big blind facing a button min-raise from Pillai holding A5. Pillai called with AJ and held through the river to send Boika to the rail in ninth place ($154,416).

The complexion of the leaderboard shifter dramatically during eight-handed play, due to high stakes regular Christopher Hunichen doubling through Koon to overtake the outright lead. The two got involved in a preflop showdown that resulted in Hunichen calling for his tournament life with QQ against the AJ of Koon. The pocket queens remained the best hand by the river and Koon slipped to fifth chip position while Hunichen moved into the top spot in the chip counts.

Paulius Plausinaitis was the next to fall. He got the last of his short stack in calling the small-blind shove of Aram Zobian with K9. Zobian had two live cards in the 108 and flopped top pair to take the lead in the hand. His pair of tens remained best after fifth street and Plausinaitis settled for the $210,079 payout awarded to the eighth-place finisher.

Jason Koon’s run in this event came to an end when he lost a key preflop race with 1010 against the AQ of Rudolph. The board ran out AJ77K. Koon earned $285,808 for his strong showing in this event, but fell several spots short of securing his first WSOP bracelet.

Rudolph climbed into the chip lead bysecuring his second knockout of the final table. He moved all-in from the small blind with A8 and received a call from Brunno Botteon, who had been dealt QQ in the big blind. Rudolph flopped a gutshot and his his straight on the turn to lock up the pot and knockout Botten in sixth place ($388,837). He kept his elimination spree alive by winning a flip with 99 against the AQ of Aram Zobian. Rudolph made a set by the river to take down the pot and eliminate Zobian in fith place ($529,005).

Aleksejs Ponakovs lost a sizable chunk of his stack when his pocket aces ran into a flopped full house for Christopher Hunichen. A few minutes later Ponakovs got all-in with Q6 up against the 55 of Rudolph. The pocket pair held up and Ponakovs earned $719,700 for his fourth-place finish.

Shankar Pillai got his last 16 big blinds in from the button with A9 and received a call from Hunichen, who had been dealt AK in the big blind. Both players made a pair of aces on the flop, but Hunichen’s superior kicker was enough to send Pillai home in third place ($979,138).

With that Hunichen entered heads-up play with 10.5 million to Rudolph’s 21.2 million. Rudoplh built an early lead, only to have Hunichen mount a small comeback. By the time the final hand was dealt, though, Rudolph had stretched his lead to more than a 9:1 advantage. Hunichen ultimately got his last five or so big blinds in with KQ from the button and Rudolph called with Q10 out of the big blind. The board ran out 109637 and Rudoplh made a pair of tens to secure the pot and the title. Hunichen earned $1,332,097 as the runner-up finisher, the largest score of his career. He now has more than $10 million in recorded tournament scores.

Here is a look at the payouts awarded at the final table:

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