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March 28, 2024

Jorryt van Hoof cleaned way to chip lead with 3 players left in WSOP Main Event

Martin Jacobson and Felix Stephesen have tough task of slowing van Hoof Tuesday

1110WSOP36

Steve Marcus

Jorryt van Hoof, 31, of the Netherlands waits for play to resume after knocking out Andoni Larrabe of Spain during the 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table on Monday, Nov. 10, 2014, at the Rio.

2014 WSOP Final Table Day 1

Finalists Felix Stephensen, 24, of Norway, Jorryt Van Hoof, 31, of the Netherlands and Martin Jacobson, 27, of Sweden gather after the first night of play during the 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table early Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014, at the Rio. Play continues Tuesday night. Launch slideshow »

Main Event final table chip counts and results

  • Jorryt van Hoof: 89,620,000
  • Martin Jacobson: 64,750,000
  • Felix Stephensen: 46,100,000
  • William Tonking: $2,848,833 (4th)
  • Billy Pappas: $2,143,794 (5th)
  • Andoni Larrabe: $1,622,471 (6th)
  • Dan Sindelar: $1,236,084 (7th)
  • Bruno Politano: $1,622,471 (8th)
  • Mark Newhouse: $730,725 (9th)
  • Blinds at 500,000-1 million with 150,000 ante

During one point in the middle of the World Series of Poker Main Event final table, Jorryt van Hoof saw his big blind pass on three out of four occasions without any opponent entering the pot.

None of the other four players remaining in poker world’s championship at the time appeared interested in challenging van Hoof, and why would they? It felt futile for much of Monday night stretching into this morning at the Penn & Teller Theater inside the Rio.

The 31-year-old poker professional from Eindhoven, Netherlands, lived up to his “The Cleaner” nickname by vacuuming up chips from all directions. For several hours, including most of five-handed play, van Hoof sat behind a chip stack bigger than all of his competitors’ combined.

“I’m feeling pretty good about today,” van Hoof said after nearly 12 hours of play. “Not just the result, but I was really happy with my play as well.”

Van Hoof will enter the final day of the $10,000 buy-in tournament, which awards $10 million to first-place and the coveted WSOP bracelet, in the lead with 89.62 million chips. Second- and third-place pay $5,145,968 and $3,806,402, respectively. Play resumes this afternoon at 5:35 p.m., with ESPN slated to begin airing its slightly delayed coverage at 6.

For the fourth time in seven years since the WSOP implemented the November Nine format where the final table returns after breaking in July, an American will not win the title. For the first time in the 45-year history of the event, an American isn’t even among the final three.

Joining van Hoof is 27-year-old Martin Jacobson from Stockholm, Sweden, and 24-year-old Felix Stephensen of Oslo, Norway. Jacobson and Stephensen were able to pare down van Hoof’s advantage early in the morning in building tallies of 64.75 million and 46.1 million chips, respectively.

They’re both optimistic but aware that it’s still a chase. Van Hoof came into the final table with the chip lead, and never surrendered it aside from a few fleeting moments early on Monday.

“Jorryt used his big stack very well,” Jacobson said. “I thought he put pressure on the rest of us like he should.”

Not always, though. Van Hoof made a conscious decision to slow down at the start of the final table when more players than normal were willing to stick chips in the middle.

Aggression ended up as the downfall of the table’s most heralded player. After becoming the first person to ever reach the November Nine twice, Mark Newhouse devastatingly fell to the same ninth-place finish as last year.

Stephensen and William Tonking both wound up with some of Newhouse’s chips as they took turns briefly surpassing van Hoof. Their climb may as well have been a cue for van Hoof to cut loose.

“My game plan was mostly to be open to whatever was going to happen at the final table and be flexible,” van Hoof explained. “That worked out quite well.”

After Stephensen took out Bruno Politano in eighth, van Hoof jettisoned the next three finishers — Dan Sindelar, Andoni Larrabe and Billy Pappas. Van Hoof’s stack stood as tall as 108 million chips, leaving virtually everyone else short.

Stephensen, who began Monday in second, finally ended the reign when he staved off elimination by going all-in pre-flop with Ace-8 and beating van Hoof’s superior pocket Jacks when an Ace fell on the flop. It gave him a boost about a half-hour before Jacobson found one of his own.

Jacobson looked down at pocket 10s and called an all-in bet from Tonking, who could only muster pocket 2s in the 42 million chip pot. Suddenly, Jacobson and Stephensen both mounted significant chip stacks with the field down to three.

“They’re very tough — two good players,” van Hoof said.

A professional will win the Main Event for the sixth straight year. Stephensen is mainly a cash-game pro, as he’s competed with van Hoof in online pot-limit Omaha games for years.

Jacobson was the most accomplished tournament player of the November Nine, entering the final table with more than $4 million in career earnings and rating 13th in the Global Poker Index’s world rankings.

In eighth to start the day, Jacobson had to show off a different skill set to defy the odds and advance this far. He had to play somewhat restrained while van Hoof was relentlessly wiping everyone away.

“I got in a good gear I guess and played really well,” van Hoof said.

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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