France’s Theodore McQuilkin wins the six max event and scores his first career WSOP cash.
ROZVADOV, Czech Republic (Oct. 28, 2017) – The fourth bracelet of the 2017 World Series of Poker goes to France. Theodore McQuilkin defeated Jan Bednar in a brief heads up battle to take down the gold bracelet and €88K top prize. It was McQuilkin’s first WSOP cash and largest live cash ever. McQuilkin is the first amateur player to win a bracelet at the series. The 24-year-old is part owner in a real estate company and resides in Strasbourg, France.
“I’ve been playing a bit on the circuit for like a year and I’ve been running bad. I am not poker professional, but I love playing poker. It’s a real passion,” said McQuilkin.
McQuilkin kept his belief strong that things would turn around for him. He said he had special feeling about this tournament and made his way to Rozvadov with a friend. His friend originally said no to joining McQuilkin to Rozvadov, but he convinced his friend to come by offering to pay for the hotel. The small hotel investment paid off handsomely as he went on to win the six max for €88,043.
McQuilkin said that he plays in a private game about twice a week. He also plays in tournaments and enjoys traveling to tournaments. This was the first event he had played in this series and may be the last.
“I have to work on Monday. I might come back for the Main Event,” said McQuilkin.
If McQuilkin decides to return for the Main Event he will have the chance to become the first Frenchman to win a WSOP Europe Main Event bracelet. With this victory, he becomes the first player from France to win a bracelet since Hugo Pingray did in 2014, when he won inaugural $1,500 Monster Stack in Las Vegas.
Event #4 was the only six-handed event of the series. Generally the six-handed events create some of the toughest tournament fields and bring out some of the best players. The action is constant and tough decisions are around every corner. It's not for the feint of heart. McQuilkin acknowledged that he knew it would be tough, but wanted to play regardless.
“It was like the toughest field I have ever played,” said McQuilkin. “Every table was very hard, each decision was very very hard.”
McQuilkin was happy with his decision making throughout the tournament and said that he ran good. He said he plans on celebrating the victory with his friend over a nice bottle of whiskey. Then he will head back to France tomorrow to show off his brand new gold bracelet.
Finishing in 3rd place was the red hot Andrej Desset. Desset, who hails from Slovakia, has won three tournaments for €90K plus since the beginning of April. One of those victories came here at King’s casino earlier this month in the €299 Oktoberfest Circuit event. He defeated a 2,085-player field to earn €94K and his first Circuit ring.
The six max drew 240 players to generate a €345,420 prizepool. The top 36 players cashed. Notables to cash include player of the year contenders Chris Ferguson (26th) and Ryan Hughes (32nd), Anthony Zinno (8th), Erik Cajelais (13th), Vincent Moscati (14th), Sander van Wesemael (21st) and Viliyan Petleshkov (29th).
Final Table Results:
1st: Theodore McQuilkin - €88,043
2nd: Jan Bednar - €54,410
3rd: Andrej Desset - €35,714
4th: Jerry Odeen - €24,046
5th: Petr Setka - €16,618
6th: Maksym Shulga - €11,797