Martin Jacobson – New Poker World Champion

We've witnessed two exciting days of poker in Las Vegas, as the biggest tournament in poker has come to a conclusion. Yesterday, the dream ended for six of nine hopeful players and three of them returned today to battle for the most prestigious of all the WSOP bracelets.

Emerging victorious after more than four hours of play was Martin Jacobson. If it was just the quality that mattered, Jacobson would easily be among the top picks, but he returned for the final table nursing a rather short stack. However, playing a strong and very methodical game, the Swede overcame the chip deficit, returning for the final day second in chips and concluded his return in style – becoming the World Poker Champion for the year 2014!

The prestige of this title alone is a very big deal, but let's not forget the amount of $10,000,000 (10 million US dollars) that Jacobson will take home together with the bracelet. A truly amazing accomplishment.

Coming back as the chip leader today, Jorryt van Hoof was the man to beat. The Dutchman demonstrated an admirable level of play yesterday and both Jacobson and Felix Stephensen had a difficult task in front of them if they were going to get in position to win.

However, today things just started going wrong for van Hoof and everything he did somehow seemed wrong. After a while, it looked as though things started to get under his skin as well, and the one-time chip leader found himself short stacked.

Sometimes things just go sideways and that’s what happened for Jorryt van Hoof. His last hand in the Main Event saw him four-bet all-in with Ace-Five, but Jacobson snap-called with Ace-Ten. Although the flop brought a Five, it also brought a Ten, changing nothing. Running Queens meant curtains for the Dutchman, and his Main Event run ended in third place – his effort worth $3,807,753.

With that elimination, Jacobson entered heads-up play with about a 3-1 chip advantage over Felix Stephensen. Not taking away from Stephensen and his great accomplishment coming into the heads-up of the huge field that is the Main Event, the Swede was clearly in the zone and dominated the relatively short confrontation.

Jacobson continued chipping his opponent down and soon Stephensen found himself in shove/fold territory. A few of the shoves went through, but then Jacobson found a hand to call with. Looking down at pocket Tens, he was facing an all-in bet from Stephensen and made an easy call. Felix turned over a9

These showdowns usually have a lot of drama surrounding them, but this time it was basically a lock on the flop. Jacobson flopped a set of Tens against a pair of Nines for Stephensen, leaving the Norwegian with about a 0.4% chance to win the pot. The dealer burned and turned a King and it was all over.

So close but yet so far.. Cant complain.. Huge congrats to martin, played flawless! And again, really apreciate all the support! #wsop
— Felix Stephensen (@FelixStephensen) November 12, 2014

Felix Stephenson took home $5,147,911 for his runner-up finish in the biggest poker festival in the world. The payday and his final placement are both impressive, lacking just one thing – the title and the WSOP Main Event bracelet (and another five million $$ of course).

ICYMI - We have a winner! Congrats @Martin_Jacobsonhttp://t.co/9pVWdGUz7cpic.twitter.com/r5TCRntyFz
— WSOP (@WSOP) November 12, 2014

Masterful performance in @WSOP Main Event by @Martin_Jacobson! The best player at the FT doesn't always win, but in this case it happened
— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) November 12, 2014

Such an enjoyable final table, one of the best in a few years. Massive congrats to all, especially @Martin_Jacobson !#teamREG#WSOP2014
— Liv Boeree (@Liv_Boeree) November 12, 2014

congrats boss! @Martin_Jacobson What a performance at the final table.
— Christian Harder (@realcharder30) November 12, 2014

Martin Jacobson has played mistake free poker for 2 days truly awesome to watch as a professional poker player. #wsop
— Mike Matusow (@themouthmatusow) November 12, 2014

The poker world has clearly found a deserving champion in Martin Jacobson, the man whose live winnings up to this point were already close to the $5 million mark. An admirable player, Jacobson's victory in the 2014 WSOP Main Event has ensured his place in poker history!