PokerStars’ annual World Championship of Online Poker came to an end on Tuesday, crowning the Dutch poker player Steven “SvZff” van Zadelhoff. He managed to conquer the title and the first prize of $1,624,502.27 after topping a packed field of 2,183 entrants. Players of all calibers entered the poker field, striving to win a portion of the hefty prize pool of $10,915,000, but only the first 278 poker hopefuls had their fingers in the pie.
The newly-crowned Zadelhoff is a well-known poker player, which is often to be seen at PokerStars tournaments in Europe. Despite being the biggest winner of the day, Zadelhoff boosts an enviable bank account of more than $1.5 million from career live tournament cashes. The Main Event continued for 3 intense and exciting days, offering a qualitative poker action. Steven “SvZff” van Zadelhoff was the last standing on the poker field, after defeating his heads-up opponent joshuah333 from Canada.
Day 1 whittled the field considerably, but the money bubble was still intact. Only 3 more eliminations were needed for the bubble to burst and the players to enter the cash zone. It is interesting to note that the tables welcomed also a number of poker notables, including Team PokerStars Pro Andre “aakkari” Akkari, who exited the game in 195th place, pocketing a cash of $11,570.99.
Day 2 narrowed the poker field even more to only 100 players. At that time, it was Harrison “gibler321” Gimbel, who took the commanding chip lead. It took only a few hours until the number of poker players was even halved. Day 2 of the Main Event saw the elimination of 2 other notables, including Harrison “gibler321” Gimbel in 46th place and Team PokerStars Pro Igor Kurganov in 38th place. Just before the end of Day 2, there were only 18 survivors, who were about to enter the final stages of the event.
Dutchman’s Pathway to Victory
After 9 of the players were eliminated, the final table began with Steven “SvZff” van Zadelhoff building a massive tower of chips. The poker hopefuls managed to play exactly one hand before the game was stopped for the night. The next day all the players came back on the poker field with fresh strategies and new powers. This, though, did not change the fact that Zadelhoff was overwhelmingly ahead of his opponents. The first to leave the final table was imluckbox from Thailand, who banked $120,630.39 monetary prize. One by one all the players departed the final table, but all of them secured not a bad payday. The final table offered a fast-paced poker action, as it took around three-and-a-half hours until two-handed derby began.
Steven “SvZff” van Zadelhoff began the heads-up duel with around 2:1 chip advantage over his opponent joshuah333. A total of 7 hands were needed before the Dutchman found a cash prize of $1,624,502.27 at the end of his pathway to victory. The last hand played within the event’s heads-up battle unfolded with Zadelhoff holding [Ah][Jc] against joshuah333, who tabled [Ac][2c]. The flop brought [Jd][5h][7c], followed by [Ks] on the turn and [8s] on the river. joshuah333 walked away with a life-changing consolation prize of $1,173,712.87 for his runner-up performance.
