THEO-logy

Theo Jorgensen started the day with a stack of chips and ended the day with the bracelet after steamrolling through an extremely tough final table in Event #3 (₤5,000 Pot Limit Omaha). The 36-year-old Danish poker pro outlasted the likes of Chris Ferguson, Jason MercierMax Pescatori and finally Sorel Mizzi to take home the ₤218,626 ($402,403 US) first place prize.

When the final table began Jorgensen was the chipleader and other than a setback when heads-up with Mizzi, he carried that through the entire day. During the 90-minute heads-up battle Mizzi, with the chip lead at the time, had Jorgensen all-in on the turn. Mizzi held a straight while Jorgensen was behind with two pair. When the board paired it gave Jorgensen and full house and turned the momentum in Jorgensen’s favor for good.

Finnish chess champion Tomi Nyback was eliminated in ninth place just over two hours after the day began. That hand tripled Mizzi up and set-up his deep run. The next player to go was Mercier and he would be the first of back-to-back eliminations by Jorgensen. The American online poker pro, who has shown good results on the live circuit the past six months, was eliminated in eighth and Ferguson went out on the very next hand in seventh. Pescatori then forced David Penly to the rail in sixth and then Jorgensen went back to work.

His third victim of the day was Pescatori who moved all-in with his short stack and was called by both Jorgensen and Mizzi. The two players checked it down and Jorgensen revealed the winning hand. Mizzi then sent Sweden’s Erik Friberg out of the Empire Casino with £66,000 and a fourth place finish. The London crowd then suffered another bad beat in a string of week-long heartbreaks.

In seemingly every event so far in London at least one English player has gotten close enough to taste the victory only to have it swiped out of their mouth by the eventual champion. Eric Dalby suffered that fate Friday in London as Jorgensen claimed his penultimate scalp of the day.

When heads-up play began Jorgensen held 2.4 Million chips to Mizzi’s 865,000. The next 90-minutes saw Mizzi climb all the way back only to have Jorgensen hit his four-outer to reclaim the chip lead and move on to the eventual title.

Mizzi’s second place finish, his highest in a land-based event, earned him ₤132,000 ($243,000 US).