German professional soccer player Max Kruse has been competing at the highest levels of the sport known to much of the world as ‘football’ for more than a decade and a half. When not competing on the pitch, the current VfL Wolfsburg forward is a frequent tournament poker contender, with live results dating back as far as 2014. His first cash came in a triple draw deuce-to-seven lowball event at that year’s World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, where he finished third to fall just a few spots short of winning a bracelet. More than eight years after that debut, Kruse managed to finally close out a win in a bracelet event, defeating a field of 413 entries in the 2022 WSOP Europe €1,650 buy-in no-limit hold’em six-max event.
“I’m overwhelmed. It’s the greatest feeling to have finally won a WSOP bracelet. I’ve wanted to win for 10 years and, of course, it makes me proud,” Kruse told WSOP reporters.
Kruse was awarded $134,152 as the champion. He now has $411,480 in career tournament earnings accumulated over just 18 recorded cashes.
In addition to the title and the money, Kruse also secured 720 Card Player Player of the Year points as the champion. This was his second POY-qualified score of the year, having placed seventh in the $1,500 triple draw deuce-to-seven lowball event at the series for $14,078.
The top 62 finishers made the money in this event, with notables like Felipe Ramos (60th), Roland Israelashvili (54th), and two-time bracelet winner Oleksii Kovalchuk (13th) running deep but falling short of the official final table.
Bracelet winner Jose ‘Nacho’ Barbero finished sixth for $20,236 late on the penultimate day before play was halted and an extra day was deemed necessary. The final five returned with Dorian Melchers in the lead and Kruse in second chip position.
Orhan Sen (5th – $27,482) was the first to fall, with his A-7 running into the A-8 of Melchers and failing to improve. Leonid Yanovski was the next to be sent to the rail, with his A-8 being outflopped by the A-3 of Kruse after all of the chips went in preflop. Yanovski took home $38,010 as the fourth-place finisher.
Farid Jattin was at his 12th final table of the year, with three titles won thus far. His run came to an end when he shoved 18 big blinds from the button with K
9 and received a call from Melchers in the big blind with A
8, Melchers flopped trip aces and had Jattin drawing dead. Jattin earned $63,874 and 480 points for his third-place showing. With 5,233 total points and more than $1.3 million in to-date POY earnings, Jattin now sits in third place in the 2022 POY race standings, which are sponsored by Global Poker.
Melchers took more than a 2:1 chip lead into heads-up play with Kruse. Kruse closed the gap a bit early, only to give back some of the ground he had made up. Eventually, he won a healthy pot with top pair to edge ahead in time for the final hand of the event. Kruse opened on the button with 22
and Melchers shoved with A
Q. Kruse made the call to set up a coin flip for the vast majority of chips in play. The board ran out 1065Q2, with Melchers leaping ahead on the turn, only to have Kruse river a set for the win. Melchers earned $87,059 as the runner-up finisher.
Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points |
| 1 | Max Kruse | $134,152 | 720 |
| 2 | Dorian Melchers | $87,059 | 600 |
| 3 | Farid Jattin | $63,874 | 480 |
| 4 | Leonid Yanovski | $38,010 | 360 |
| 5 | Orhan Sen | $27,482 | 300 |
| 6 | Jose Barbero | $20,236 | 240 |
Photo provided by WSOP.
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