WSOP Main Event Champion Espen Jorstad Earns First Triton Poker Title

2022 World Series of Poker main event champion Espen Jorstad secured the second-largest score of his tournament career on Sunday, July 30. The 35-year-old poker pro from Norway outlasted a field of 133 entries to win the 2023 Triton Poker Super High Roller Series London $40,000 mystery bounty event for his third career live tournament title and the top prize of $639,000.

Jorstad overcame a stacked final table on his way to this victory, with a particularly tough final three that included the likes of two-time Card Player Player of the Year award winner Stephen Chidwick (3rd – $287,000) and ten-time bracelet winner Phil Ivey (2nd – $434,900).

This was Jorstad’s first tournament victory since he took down the WSOP main event just over a year ago. That win saw him top the third-largest field in the history of the tournament (8,663 entries) to earn his second WSOP bracelet and $10,000,000 in prize money. Jorstad now has more than $12.1 million in lifetime tournament earnings.

The win saw Jorstad secure 924 POY points. This was his first qualified score of the year, but it alone was enough to move him within striking distance of the top 500 in the 2023 POY standings presented by Global Poker.

Day 2 of this event began with 38 players remaining from the 133-entry field. Only 20 made the money, with notables that cashed but fell short of the final table including bracelet winner Brian Kim (18th), high-stakes regular Dan Shak (14th), Super High Roller Bowl winner Christoph Vogelsang (13th), bracelet winner Ben Heath (12th), and two-time WSOP main event final tablist Antoine Saout (10th).

The final table began with Johannes Straver in the lead, with Ivey, Jorstad, and bracelet winner Daniel Dvoress also among he top half of the leaderboard. Chun Keat Liu (8th – $82,500) and Aliaksei Boika (7th – $111,500) were the first to fall. Then, Dvoress’ run came to an end when his A-2 from the big blind was unable to beat the small-blind shove of Ivey, who had pocket fives. Dvoress secured $149,000 as the sixth-place finisher. The Canadian poker pro now has more than $26.7 million in career earnings after this latest strong showing.

Eric Wasserson was knocked out via a brutal preflop cooler, with his pocket kings running into the pocket aces of Straver in a battle of the blinds. The larger pair held up and Wasserson was eliminated in fifth place ($190,000).

There were a lot of swings during four-handed action, but it was ultimately Straver who was sent home with $236,500. In his final hand, the Dutch player got all-in with pocket nines trailing the pocket jacks of Ivey and bricked ut to finish fourth.

With that, a final three with more than $99.3 in prior tournament earnings between them set to play down to a winner. Eventually, Chidwick’s stack was whittled down to the point that he called all-in from the big blind with 10-5. Jorstad had shoved with just Q-3, which improved to quads by the end to eliminate Chidwick in third place ($287,000).

This score increased Chidwick’s career tournament earnings to just over $50 million, making the 34-year-old British poker pro just the fourth player in poker history to have surpassed that earnings milestone behind Justin Bonomo ($63.9 million), Bryn Kenney ($58.2 million), and Daniel Negreanu ($50.3 million). Chidwick remains in fourth place on poker’s all-time money list, trailing only those three players.

Ivey had just better than a 3:2 chip advantage over Jorstad to start, but the Norwegian quickly battled his way into the lead. In the final hand, Jorstad raised from the button with KJ. Ivey three-bet shoved from the big blind with K2 for around eight big blinds and Jorstad made the call. Ivey picked up a flush draw on the turn with the board showing 9876, but the A on the river locked up the pot and the title for Jorstad.

Ivey earned $434,900 as the runner-up. The 46-year-old Poker Hall of Fame member now has more than $38.5 million in lifetime earnings after this latest cash.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Photo credits: Triton Poker / Joe Giron.

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