Eelis Parssinen is a regular on the high-stakes online poker scene, where he is best known by the screen name ‘EEE27’. The Finnish pot-limit Omaha star emerged victorious from a field of 579 entries in the inaugural running of the World Series of Poker $5,000 no-limit hold’em and PLO mixed event, earning $545,616 and his first gold bracelet for the win.
Parssinen overcame a stacked final table that included several other top online stars from Scandinavia, such as PocketFives’ second-ranked all-time online tournament earner Niklas ‘lena900’ Astedt from Sweden and fellow top Finnish player Joni Jouhkimainen.
This fast-paced event took just two days to complete. A total of 49 players advanced to day 2, with David Prociak in the lead. By the time the unofficial final table of nine was set, Parssinen sat in the middle of the pack while Noah Bronstein claimed the top spot on the leaderboard.
Samuli Sipila hit the rail in ninth place ($41,822) at the hands of Prociak, who had surged back into the lead prior to making top two pair against the top pair of Sipila that spelled the end of the Finnish player.
Vikranth Anga (8th – $53,824) was the next to fall. He ran A-K into the pocket kings of Joni Jouhkimainen for the vast majority of his stack, and lost the small remained when his A-5 suited was outrun by the 10-3 suited of Prociak.
Astedt run in this event came to an end when his cutoff shove with Q5 was looked up by Bronstein’s A6. Bronstein flopped an ace and held from there to send Astedt home with $70,367 for his seventh-place finish.
Kyle Arora got all-in preflop playing pot-limit Omaha, with his J874 facing the AA103 of Prociak. An ace-high flop gave Prociak an even-larger lead. Arora had a few outs to a straight heading into the river, but none of them materialized and he was eliminated in sixth place ($93,425).
A short-stacked Joni Jouhkimainen was the next to hit the rail. After doubling up a Bronstein to fall to the bottom of the counts, he called off the last of his few chips with 9-7 and was up against A-Q suited for Ezra Abu Gazal. With aces and queens by the turn, Gazal had a stranglehold on the hand. The river was a mere formality, and Jouhkimainen was awarded $125,940 for his deep run.
The next elimination came in pot-limit Omaha. Prociak got all-in with A1022 and was up against the KQJ5 of Bronstein. The board came down J7499 and Bronstein made jacks and nines to narrow the field to three. Prociak earned $172,332 as the fourth-place finisher.
A preflop race led to the next knockout. Abu Gazal shoved with Q-10 and received a call from Parssinen, who held pocket fives. Neither player improved and Abu Gazal earned $239,321 for his third-place showing.
Parssinen took more than a 2:1 lead into heads-up play with Bronstein. He was able to extend that advantage even further before the final hand was dealt. Bronstein raised the pot from the button, making it 3,400,000 with K1032. Parssinen called from the big blind with A665. The flop came down 652 . Bronstein lead out and was met with an all-in from Parssinen. Bronstein called and the turn brought the A, which gave Bronstein the nut flush draw. The J on the river kept Parssinen’s set of sixes ahead, though, and Bronstein was knocked out in second place. He earned $337,216 as the runner-up.
Here is a look at the payouts and POY awarded at the final table:
Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points |
1 | Eelis Parssinen | $545,616 | 1680 |
2 | Noah Bronstein | $337,216 | 1400 |
3 | Ezra Abu Gazal | $239,321 | 1120 |
4 | David Prociak | $172,332 | 840 |
5 | Joni Jouhkimainen | $125,940 | 700 |
6 | Kyle Arora | $93,425 | 560 |
7 | Niklas Astedt | $70,367 | 420 |
8 | Vikranth Anga | $53,824 | 280 |
Winner photo credit: WSOP / Melissa Haereiti.