July 2, 2017 (Las Vegas, NV) - Jens Lakemeier continued the trend in recent years of success for German poker players. Lakemeier, at just 23 years old, won his first bracelet on Sunday evening in the $2,500 Big Bet Mixed tournament.
He defeated a field of 179 players to win $112,232 along with the title. It was the biggest score the young pro's WSOP career and his second final table. Lakemeier, who preferred not to be interviewed after his win, made the final table of 2015 WSOP Europe $2,200 8-Game event, which was his only other WSOP final table.
Despite such a young age, Lakemeier has shown ability to play a plethora of different games throughout his career. He has cashes in no-limit hold'em, pot-limit Omaha hi-lo, 8-game, Dealers Choice, HORSE and now big bet mix.
This was a brand new event to the WSOP and the mix consisted of games in either no-limit or pot-limit formats. No-limit hold'em, pot-limit Omaha, pot-limit Omaha hi-lo, Big O, no-limit 2-7 single draw, pot-limit 2-7 triple draw, and no-limit five card draw made up the mix of the inaugural event.
The final six players came back for the final table on Sunday at 2 p.m. with Lakemeier in the chip lead. Kenneth Fitzgerald was eliminated about 20 minutes into the day in a hand of no-limit hold'em against Ashton Griffin. Griffin won a race with his pocket eights against Fitzgerald's ace-queen to chip up and leave the table five-handed.
Over the next four hours, nobody was eliminated and the chip lead changed hands multiple times. But one thing was constant - Lakemeier's steady drop in the chip counts for most of five-handed play.
As Lakemeier bled chips, it was Griffin and 2016 November Niner Jerry Wong who ascended up the leaderboard. Wong and Griffin battled for the chip lead for most of the day until Lakemeier scored a fortunate double up against Wong in no-limit 2-7 single draw.
Lakemeier got all in before the draw against Wong. Wong stood pat and Lakemeier thought for a while before breaking his hand and drawing one. Wong showed 10-8-7-6-4 and Lakemeier tabled 7-6-5-4. Lakemeier was in need of a deuce, nine or 10 to stay alive. He peeled the deuce after the draw to made a 7-6 low and double up.
After a break, Lakemeier regained the chip lead that he had at the outset of the day after doubling through Wong again, this time in Big O. On a flop of Ts8h4d, Wong and Lakemeier got all the chips in the middle. Wong showed and was up against Lakemeier's .
The turn was the and the river was the . Neither player made a low and Lakemeier's aces held up for the whole pot. Lakemeier doubling back into the chip lead set the stage for what seemed to be the turning point of the tournament, a three-way all in double knockout in five card draw.
Griffin raised from the cutoff and Wong moved all in out of the small blind. Lakemeier called out of the big blind and after getting out of his chair and studying the table for quite some time, Griffin eventually called as well. Wong took three cards, while Lakemeier and Griffin each took one.
Griffin showed aces and kings, Lakemeier showed queens and fives, while Wong was in terrible shape with his aces. Wong improved to aces and eights, which were no good, Griffin didn't improve, but Lakemeier peeled the after his draw to make a full house and knock out both players.
Wong had the bigger of the two stacks that were eliminated, so he took home fourth place money, while Griffin earned fifth place money.
On the very next hand, Lakemeier eliminated Andrew Kelsall in third place. On a flop of , Kelsall got the last of his chips into the middle with against Lakemeier's . Lakemeier turned the nut straight to leave Kelsall drawing dead and left Lakemeier heads-up with Jason Stockfish.
Lakemeier started heads-up play with a 7-to-1 chip lead and it didn't take long to finish the job. Stockfish got all in in pot-limit Omaha hi-lo needing some help. On a flop of , Stockfish showed and was up against Lakemeier's . Lakemeier flopped two pair and the nut low draw against Stockfish's second pair and the second nut low draw.
The turn was the and the river was the . Lakemeier scooped the pot with two pair and the nut low to eliminate Stockfish in second place. This was Stockfish's second runner-up finish of the summer and he took home $69,359 for his efforts. His previous runner-up spot came in the $565 pot-limit Omaha event, where he earned $138,655.
Full Results
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Final Table Results:
1st: Jens Lakemeier - $112,232
2nd: Jason Stockfish - $69,359
3rd: Andrew Kelsall - $47,239
4th: Jerry Wong - $32,804
5th: Ashton Griffin - $23,235
6th: Kenneth Fitzgerald - $16,793