Jesper Hougaard wins World Series of Poker bracelet
23rd September, 2008
As everyone in the poker world had expected, yesterday was an exciting day at the World Series of Poker Europe hitting its first climax as the final table of the first event played out until one player walked away with the bracelet.
After hours of fantastic poker play which had many twists and turns that nobody saw coming, it was Jesper Hougaard who took down the £1,500 no limit hold’em WSOPE event. Hougaard was awarded the coveted gold bracelet along with a prize of £144,218.
This was Hougaard’s second WSOP bracelet in three months and makes him the first person to win a gold bracelet in both the United States and the United Kingdom.
Hougaard was not the favourite, however, going into the final table of this huge event because the chip leader had about 1/3 of all the chips at the table. Everyone expected the 20-year-old Adam Junglen to cruise into victory at the final table after having the chip lead all the way from day 1b in the tournament.
However, the young poker player found himself on the rail watching the action after dropping out in sixth place for £28,598. Many are wondering if the pressure of such a big stage got to the young player, but either way he must be happy with a respectable finish.
The first tournament was full of poker professionals from all over the world, including the big names from the US, such as Mike Matusow, Howard Lederer, Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu – who made a strong run at later stages of the tournament but ended up going out after losing a coin flip.
The tournament began with 410 players and was held in the Casino at the Empire in Leicester Square in London. There will be three more events to play out and will end with a £10,000 main event. Many people have gained entry to the tournament by playing online poker, where operators have satellite tournaments running all the time.
By Michael
