There were some impressive scores created from this weekend’s online poker tournaments, especially at PokerStars. Not everyone has jetted off to Las Vegas for the 2023 World Series of Poker, as is evident by some of the stellar names going deep in high stakes online events.

Georgi “millennial” Sandev was one such name. The Bulgarian was one of 9,012 entrants in the $109 Sunday Million at PokerStars. The eagle-eyed among you will realize that number of runners resulted in a near $100,000 overlay on the $1 million prize pool!

With bounties included, all but one of the nine finalists reeled in a five-figure prize. Peruvian grinder “xino1717” was the odd one out; they collected $6,674 after busting in ninth.

Another Bulgarian, “valkataaa_bg”, busted in eighth for $10,238, Brazilian “8Sicchers8” banked $11,739 for their seventh-place finish, while “saliba99” of the United Kingdom collected $17,229 after coming unstuck in sixth.

The final five became four when “ipop0601” ran out of steam in fifth, a finish good for $23,155. The field reduced again with “Stepa552884” crashing out in fourth for $34,711 from their home in Argentina.

Heads-up was set following Ukraine’s “canchec111” bowing out in third for $47,079.

Sandev and “BlindGuy789” locked in more than $60,200 from the main prize pool, leaving a near $40,000 final bounty to play for. Sandev defeated his final opponent, and added $98,963 to his PokerStars account, leaving the runner-up to reel in a $66,716 consolation prize.

$109 Sunday Million Final Table Results

Skovsen Takes Down the Titans Event

Sixty-seven players were left in Jonathan x_zola25″ Skovsen‘s wake in the $5,200 Titans Event, as the Dane added another $80,758 to his ever-growing online poker tournament winnings tally.

A compact, stellar field of 68 entrants meant only the final nine shared the $340,000 prize pool, and what a final nine they were.

Niklas “Lena900” Astedt ($10,600) was the first to fall before Fabiano “Kovalski1” Kovalski ($12,135), “P0KERPR02.0” ($16,202), and Anatoly “NL_Profit” Filatov ($21,632) bowed out.

You would think losing such talent from a nine-handed final table would make the path to victory less bumpy. You would think incorrectly if that was the case because some of the world’s best players were among the final five.

Pedro “PaDiLhA SP” Padilha ($28,881) dusted off his stack in fifth, with “caipsa” busting in fourth for $38,560. That elimination left Skovsen battling with the flying Finn Samuel “€urop€an” Vousden and the recent Spring Championship Of Online Poker (SCOOP) Main Event champion Felipe “lipe piv” Boianovsky.

Vousden fell in third for $51,482, and the last standing duo struck a deal for the remaining prize pool. The deal resulted in a second-place finish for Boianovsky ($79,745) and another victory for Skovsen ($80,758).

$5,200 Titans Event Final Table Results

*reflects a heads-up deal

Other Notable PokerStars Results

Team PokerStars’ Lex “L. Veldhuis” Veldhuis found himself in the winner’s circle courtesy of taking down the $1,050 Sunday Warm-Up. Veldhuis banked $15,225 despite a compact field of only 49 entrants.

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Rodrigo Seiji Takes Down the PartyPoker Grand

Exactly 60 players bought into The Grand at PartyPoker for $1,050, including Brazil’s Rodrigo Seiji. The Brazil came out on top, and raked in $16,188 of the $58,420 prize pool after navigating his way through a shark-infested final table.

Team PartyPoker’s Jaime Staples ($2,449) busted in ninth, Sergio De Pedro ($2,605) in eighth, and Patrick Hyllegaard ($2,900) in seventh.

Alexandre Raymond, who last week won big at PokerStars, crashed out in sixth ($3,364) before The Grand became an all-male affair with the untimely demise of Sarah Cope ($4,042) in fifth.

Fourth place went to Jonathan Proudfoot ($5,085), and the tournament progressed to the heads-up stage when Enrico Camosci ($6,888) ran out of luck and steam, and had to make do with a third-place finish.

Seiji and Swedish online poker legend Simon Mattsson fought one-on-one for a while before Seiji finally got his hands on the title and $16,188 that came with the victory. Mattsson walked away with a $10,133 consolation prize.

The Grand Final Table Results

Drinks are on Wiskie, Winner of the Sunday Party

This weekend’s Sunday Party attracted 1,313 players to the PartyPoker tables, resulting in a $131,300 prize pool. The popular progressive knockout tournament was eventually won by “Wiskie,” who banked $15,677 for their efforts.

“Wiskie was the only player to walk away with a five-figure score thank to them cannibalizing the bounty prize pool. Indeed, “Wiskie” won $8,133 worth of bounty payments, some $600 more than the $7,544 the main prize pool awarded them!

Shout out to ninth-place finisher “TomaBadToma” and third-placed “krny78”, who both reeled in four-figure bounty payments.

Sunday Party Final Table Results

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The Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas were full to bursting on Day 14 of the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP), with seven events taking place throughout June 12. Of those seven in-play events, only concluded, with another requiring an additional day.

Jason Simon came out on top of Event #18: $300 Gladiators of Poker and walked away with $499,852 for their efforts. Only 14 of the original 23,088 entrants made it to the final day’s play, and it was Simon who had all of the chips in play once the curtain came down on proceedings.

Event #26: $800 No-Limit Hold’em almost crowned its champion, but the tournament director decided to pause the tournament during the heads-up battle between Matthew Elsby and Renji Mao. It was always going to be a tall order to reduce the 339 returning players to one, and the event was paused after a gruelling 14.5-hour day. Elsby and Mao return on June 13 to play for the bracelet and $402,588.

Lamb Leads the Final Seven in the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Championship

The plan was to reduce the field of Event #25: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship to the final five players, but the best-laid plans of mouse and men often go awry.

The very nature of split-pot games meant the bustouts did not occur fast enough to leave only five players in the mix, so the final seven will return for the final day instead.

Ben Lamb leads the way courtesy of his 2,545,000 stack. Luis Velador (2,390,000) and nine-time WSOP bracelet winner Erik Seidel (2,360,000) are only a couple of big bets behind the leader. Lamb already has a god bracelet, having triumphed in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship in 2011.

Also still in the hunt are four-time WSOP champion Brad Ruben (2,005,000), Robert Yass (1,375,000), Johannes Becker (1,090,000), while James Chen (US) (985,000) brings up the rear.

Play resumes at 2:00 p.m. local time on June 13. The final seven will complete one level before moving to the main feature table where the remainder of the action will be live-streamed.

Event #25: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship Seat Draw

$1,500 Eight Game Field Cut to 21 Players; Campbell leads

The field of Event #27: $1,500 Eight Game Mix has been cut down to only 21 players on Day2. Of those 21 survivors, eight have stacks of more than one million chips, so there is everything to play for on June 13 when this event concludes.

Chad Campbell (1,991,000) leads the final 21 back into mixed game battle, but he is flanked by some supremely talented individuals.

Daniel Strelitz (1,793,000), Robert Mizrachi (1,198,000), and Shaun Deeb (868,000) find themselves inside the top ten, while Nick Schulman (828,000), David “Bakes” Baker (444,000), and Allan Le (150,000) are also in the mix.

A champion will emerge on Day 3, which starts at 1:00 p.m. local time on June 13, with the PokerNews live reporting team providing detailed updates throughout proceedings.

Event #27: $1,500 Eight Game Mix Top 10 Chip Counts

Another Huge Field Gathers for the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout

Event #28: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout attracted 2,046 players to the tables, but only 188 of those players that began the event with high hopes remained after 16 levels of play.

Hao Zhou claimed the overnight chip lead after finishing Day 1 with 970,000 chips. Zhou raked in a 600,000 pot after turning a full house with jack-deuce, and he built on those solid foundations until time was called.

Taylor Paur (876,000) returns to the action in second place as he hunts a second piece of WSOP hardware.

Others still in the mix include Mario Navarro (810,000), Dietrich Fast (616,000), Ryan Leng (562,000), Justin Pechie (557,000), Chino Rheem (521,000), Mustapha Kanit (437,000), Upeshka De Silva (433,000), and Ryan LaPlante (175,000).

The 188 returning players sit down at 10:00 a.m. local time on June 13, and PokerNews‘ live reporting team will be on hand throughout Day 2 and until a champion is crowned.

Event #28: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout Top 10 Chip Counts

Superstars Turn Out in Force for the $100K High Roller

The $100,000 buy-in did not deter 79 players from turning out for the latest High Roller event, and it probably will not put off the 44 busted players from firing another six-figure bullet while late registration is open.

Adrian Mateos is the chip leader going into Day 2 of Event #29: $100,000 High Roller, the four-time WSOP bracelet winning Spaniard bagged up 3,650,000, a mere ante more than Chris Hunichen (3,620,000).

Chance Kornuth (3,375,000) is also in the three-million chip club, while such luminaries as reigning WSOP Main Event champion Espen Jorstad (2,200,000), 2021 WSOP Main Event winner Koray Aldemir (1,800,000), and Justin Bonomo (1,795,000) find themselves with top ten stacks.

None of the other surviving players requires an introduction due to their status and stature in the game. However, they include Brian Rast (1,520,000), Stephen Chidwick (1,405,000), Alex Foxen (1,010,000), Bryn Kenney (690,000), reigning champion Aleksejs Ponakovs (665,000), Dan Smith (615,000), Nick Petrangelo (550,000), and recent bracelet winner Isaac Haxton (440,000).

Play resumes at 12:00 p.m. local time on June 13, which is when late registration ends. Join the PokerNews team then for all the action from this star-studded event.

Event #29: $100,000 High Roller Top 10 Chip Counts

Day 1 of the $1,500 2-7 Triple Draw Attracts 522 Entrants

Event #30: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw continued the trend of the 2023 WSOP enjoying bumper fields, with 522 players turning out in force on Day 1. By the end of 15 levels, only 166 of those starters had chips requiring bagging, and nobody bagged more than Jason Gola (221,500).

Gola was the only player with a stack of more than 200,000, although everyone in the top ten overnight chip counts finished with at least 163,500.

John Monnette (189,000), Zoltan Gal (187,000), Tom Schneider (186,000), and David Prociak (185,000) make up the current top five, while such luminaries as Benny Glaser (126,500), Dan Shak (115,500), Allen Kessler (112,000), and a certain Viktor Blom (88,500) will return for Day 2 on June 13.

Day 2 shuffles up and deals on June 13 at 1:00 p.m. local time, with PokerNews bringing you all of the action from the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.

Event #30: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Top 10 Chip Counts

What to Expect on Day 15 of the 2023 WSOP

There will be two new bracelet winners to talk about on Day 15 of the 2023 WSOP. Event #25: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship, Event #26Event #26: $800 No-Limit Hold’em Deepstack: $800 No-Limit Hold’em Deepstack, and Event #27: $1,500 Eight Game Mix have both reached their final days.

Another three events will continue whittling their fields. Event #28: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout, Event #29: $100,000 High Roller, and Event #30: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw are that trio of tournaments.

Also look out for three new events entering the mix. Event #31: $600 Mixed No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack will pull in big numbers, as should Event #32: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em (6-Handed), while we expect Event #33: $10,000 Razz Championship to continue the trend of record-breaking numbers.

Once you’ve learned the basic sequence of play in a poker game, there are a few things you should commit to memory as fast as possible. The team at WPT Global, have you covered with a breakdown of the first three things you need to study when learning to play Texas hold’em poker from scratch.

When you first set out to learn the game, it is well worth starting out at low stakes (or even on play money tables). This gives you room to make mistakes without burning through your bankroll. And you will make mistakes to start with. Poker is a complex game that you can always improve at, so don’t be embarrassed when you screw up. Instead, focus on learning from your errors, and you’ll be an improving player in no time.

When you find yourself winning consistently at your current blind level, only then will it be time to move up in stakes. Here’s where to start when getting into poker for the first time.

1. Learn The Basic Hand Rankings

Hand rankings are one of the most fundamental parts of poker. After learning the sequence of play and the rules for betting, the most fundamental thing to memorize is the basic hand rankings. The vast majority of poker variants (including Texas hold’em) use the same basic hand rankings, and those that don’t (like short-deck or A-5 lowball) are still easier to lean in relation to the basic rankings.

These rankings are based on how common a given combination of cards is with a five-card hand and a 52-card deck.

List of Poker Hand Rankings In Order

High-Card: A hand with no paired cards, at least two different suits, and no run of five. The weakest hand ranking.
e.g. A♦K♥Q♠J♣2♦

Pair: Any two cards of the same rank. Better than a high-card hand, but otherwise the weakest hand. The spare cards serve as tie-breakers (aka. kickers if someone else has the same pair at showdown.
e.g. A♦A♥K♠Q♣2♦

Two Pair: Any two pairs in the same five-card hand. The spare card is the kicker.
e.g. A♦A♠K♥K♣2♦

Three-of-a-Kind: Three cards of the same rank in your hand. The spare cards act as kickers.
e.g. A♦A♥A♠K♣2♦

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Straight: Any five cards in sequence with at least two suits. Aces can be both low (for an 5♣4♠3♥2♦A♦ straight) or high (for Broadway straight of A♦K♥Q♠J♣10♦). If two players have a straight, the higher straight always wins.
e.g. 6♦5♥4♠3♣2♦

Flush: All five cards are of the same suit. The highest card of a flush determines its value (for example A♣7♣4♣3♣2♣ beats K♥Q♥J♥9♥7♥).
e.g. A♦K♦Q♦J♦2♦

Full House: A hand made up of a three-of-a-kind with a pair. If there are two full-houses, the higher three-of-a-kind wins. If the two players have the same three-of-a-kind (only possible in some poker variants — including Texas hold’em) then the pair breaks the tie.
e.g. A♦A♥A♠2♣2♦

Four-of-a-Kind: Any four cards of the same rank. In the rare case a tie needs to be broken (if the four-of-a-kind is on the board for example), then the player’s fifth card acts as a kicker.
e.g. A♦A♥A♠A♣2♦

Straight Flush: Any sequence of five cards all of the same suit. The highest card of the straight flush determines its value against other straight flushes.
e.g. 6♦5♦4♦3♦2♦

Royal Flush: A broadway straight flush. The highest possible hand in poker.
e.g. A♦K♦Q♦J♦10♦

2. Poker Positions at the Table

I poker position has two related meanings, both of which are key to one of the most important aspects of poker strategy.

The first idea is your position relative to the dealer. Broadly speaking, acting last in a betting round is a big advantage. Poker is a game of information, and the last player to act has the most information available to them. This is because when it is time for them to play, the last player knows what everyone else has done during that betting round.

The other related idea, is your position relative to whoever is left in the hand.

At the very start of the hand, being first to act after the blind means the whole table acts after you. However, if you bet and everyone except the blinds fold preflop, then you are acting last for the remaining betting rounds.

It is worth getting a broad understanding of the position as early as possible.

List of the Positions at the Poker Table

These are the positions at a standard nine-handed Texas hold’em table. We will talk about how this changes at tables of other sizes afterward.

Button (Late Position): This is the dealer, who acts last on every street after the flop. This is the best place to be at the start of a hand so you can play a lot more hands from this position.

Small Blind: Immediately to the dealer’s left. You are in for half a bet before you even see your cards. Before the flop you are second to last to act, but after the flop, you will always have to go first, placing you at a significant disadvantage.

Big Blind: Immediately to the left of the small blind and two to the left of the dealer. You’re in for a full bed before you see your cards.

Under the Gun (UTG): Immediately to the left of the big blind. This is the first player to act preflop. It is still a very early position.

UTG+1, UTG+2: These are the positions to the left of UTG. They mark a transition between early position and middle position. You’re still playing pretty tight preflop because of how many players are still left to act after you.

Lojack & Hijack: The lojack (three to the right of the dealer) and hijack (two to the right of the dealer) are considered middle position. You can begin to widen up your preflop hand selection as the number of players to act after you drops.

Cutoff: This is the player to the dealer’s immediate right. This player acts second to last after the flop and close to last before it. This is a strong position (second only to the dealer) so weaker starting hands become viable in this spot.

At Different Sized Tables

When the number of players at a table changes, some positions are removed.

The order in which this happens is as follows: for ten-handed to seven-handed tables the positions are adjusted by adding or removing the relevant UTG+X positions, you lose the lojack in six-handed or lower games, lose the hijack in a five-handed game, lose the cut-off when four-handed), and lose UTG when three-handed.

In heads-up play, there are only the big blind and dealer positions. To preserve the preflop sequence of play, the dealer posts the small blind.

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3. Starting Hand Rankings

Preflop strategy is the first thing to get down pat, when you’re looking to improve your poker game. However, before you can study that, you need to understand the concept of starting hands.

In Texas hold’em, you get two hole cards before the action starts. This is your starting hand. Because there is no advantage of one suit over another, there are effectively 169 possible two-card combinations that break down into five broad categories.

These categories are important for understanding preflop strategy and so must be learned ASAP. Once you have learned them, you are ready to start digging into more intermediate strategy materials that will explain how to use this information.

Preflop Starting Hands

Although the categories below run very roughly from strongest to weakest, their strength overlaps greatly and can vary depending on the action and position of the hand.

Within each category, a useful simplification is that the higher the ranking of the cards, the better.

Pocket Pairs: This is when both hole cards are of the same rank. AxAx is the best, down to 2x2x.
e.g. A♦A♠, 10♥10♣, 2♣2♦

Suited Connectors: Two cards of that are one rank different and are both the same suit.
e.g. 3♦2♦, 10♠9♠, A♣K♣

Suited Hands: Any two cards of the same suit, but not in sequence.
e.g. A♦2♦, 10♠7♠, 6♣2♣

Offsuit Connectors: Two cards that differ by one rank and are not the same suit.
e.g. A♦K♠, 10♥9♣, 3♣2♦

Offsuit Hands: Two cards of different suits that are not in sequence.
e.g. A♦3♣, 10♠7♦, 7♦2♣

Put Your New Knowledge To The Test On WPT Global

Now that you understand some of the basic concepts of poker, you should put it to practical use. If you load up WPT Global, you can be testing your poker skills out in no time.

The launch of WPT Global means that poker players around the world now also have the chance to win their way to WPT events, win prizes and enjoy exciting games such as Poker Flips. As one of the world’s largest cash game poker networks, WPT Global is available in over 50 countries and territories around the world.

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After four starting flights, a whopping 23,088 entries were tallied for the inaugural Event #18: $300 Gladiators of Poker, the most affordable live event in the history of the World Series of Poker (WSOP), and smashed the guarantee to create a massive prize pool of $3,603,162 to play for.

Only 827 warriors made it to the second day which saw the number tick down to just 14 contenders for the final day to return. After the dust settled, one stood above the rest.

St. Louis’ own Jason Simon was crowned the victor for his first WSOP bracelet and career-best score of $499,852. Starting the day as fourth in chips, Simon navigated a final day filled with highs and lows to take down the bracelet, supported by a rail filled with friends and family the whole time.

2023 WSOP Event #18: $300 Gladiators of Poker NLHE Final Table Results

“The Chisler”

“It was awesome,” the first gladiator of poker said. “Having your friends here with you, cheering for you in the all ins, it definitely helps.” Simon’s rail also made light of his nickname “The Chisler,” which was a nickname that he got based on how others interpreted his playing style. Little did they know he would chisel his name into WSOP history winning the second-biggest tournament field of all time.

“Your tournament life is so valuable, you have to stay alive no matter what,” the new champion continued in reference to swings yesterday. “When I fell down to 14 million, I never really panicked, found a double up, and went up from there.”

“Your tournament life is so valuable, you have to stay alive no matter what.”

Simon’s biggest lifetime cash now will more than triple his lifetime earnings. “I primarily play mixed games, mostly play No-Limit Hold’em only for tournaments, but maybe I’ll play some more tournaments after this,” he said.

The newly minted champion headed off to celebrate with his St. Louis rail at the conclusion of this tournament.

Final Day Action

It took under two hours to bring the field of 14 down to the final ten. Joshua Rothberg (14th-$23,298), Salvatore Boi (13th-$29,068), and Willie Smith ($29,068) all fell before the setting of the table.

The last player to depart the field was Tim Williams, who got in his final chips with ace-king against Wade Wallace who raised with pocket fives. Wallace called with the pocket fives and held up, leaving Williams to depart the tournament in eleventh place for $36,487.

The remaining ten players redraw for the final and play began quickly. One of the start of day chip leaders Caio Sobral was rendered to the short stack early on in the day, and seemed to be the first out the door. He got in his final chips with king-jack against Duc Bien Nguyen’s queens. A king on the turn flipped the script and gave Sobral an early final table double up and left Nguyen on the short stack.

Nguyen got in his final chips with king-jack up against Eric Trexler’s nine-eight. A jack high flop came out which gave Nguyen top pair, but Trexler flopped a straight and held to retake the tournament chip lead, while Nguyen left the tournament in tenth place for $36,487.

Thomas Reeves started the day as the second shortest stack in the room, but through careful maneuvering and timing, he was able to ladder up to the official final table. He did secure one double-up early into the final table, but shortly after he moved in his final chips over Trexler’s raise with king queen and Trexler called with ace nine and held. Reeves wished his tablemates luck and he exited the tournament in ninth place for $46,051.

Sobral would be the next to depart with an eighth-place finish worth $58,466. Despite an early double, Sobral found himself rather shallow once more and moved in his final chips with ace-jack. Wallace woke up with ace-king and called to hold and eliminate the Brazilian from the tournament.

Jonson Chatterley was rendered the short stack after the first few levels of play and he was not able to gain any momentum as the tournament progressed. With seven players left, he moved in his final chips with ace-queen while Simon called with jacks and held up for Simon to take a massive pot and Chatterley to exit the tournament in seventh place for $74,664.

The following elimination saw an explosion on Wexler’s rail dubbed “Team Torch.” Bohdan Slyvinskyi moved in his final chips with ace-king while Wexler called in the big blind with pocket nines. The flop rolled out king-high and all seemed set for Slyvinskyi to double up until the river rolled off a nine to give Wexler a set of nines and the rail went berserk while Slyvinskyi collected $95,883 for his sixth place.

Kfir Nahum opened with king-queen and called an all-in shove from Simon who held ace-king for extremely similar chip stacks. No help was brought to Nahum and he collected $123,831 for his fifth-place finish.

The four-handed battle commenced as each of the final four held the lead at some point or another. Multiple all in pots saw doubles for multiple players and a few chop pots ensured the continuing of the fight. It would be the Ohio native Wallace who would drop next as he moved in his final chips over a raise from Trexler with ace-ten, only for Simon to wake up in the big blind with pocket kings. The kings held up and “The boss with the sauce” was consoled by his supportive rail for a career-best finish of $160,818.

Wesley Cannon started the day on the bottom half of the chip counts, but the Minnesota resident found himself laddering up as the day went on and even taking the chip lead for a short while four-handed. His run came to an end as Simon moved all in from the small blind with queen nine and Cannon called in the big blind with king eight. A nine on the turn would put Simon in the lead and the river landed a blank for Simon to secure an even larger lead heads up while Cannon exited the tournament in third place for $210,024.

Heads up did not last too long as Simon held a 4:1 lead at the beginning. Trexler did manage to narrow the gap, but in the end, Simon moved all in with king-eight for roughly ten big blinds and Trexler drew a line in the sand and called with jack-ten suited. Some chop outs presented themselves on the turn, but the river brought no change and Trexler finished his run in second place for a career-best $301,097.

Few poker players ever find themselves taking home seven-figure tournament scores, and hardly any get to experience multiple million-dollar scores in the same week.

Germany’s Leon Sturm is one of them as the 22-year-old German prodigy won Event #23: $50,000 High Roller at the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) for $1,546,024 this week just days after taking down GGPoker’s Super MILLION$ $10,000 buy-in Super High Roller for $1,518,400.

Primarily an online grinder, the young Sturm is now breaking onto the live high roller scene and hopes to use his online reps and theoretical knowledge to put the live pros to the test.

Read About Sturm’s Victory in the $50,000 High Roller!

Echos of Fedor

Sturm’s early success on the live felt is reminiscent of that of Fedor Holz, Germany’s all-time money leader who rose to poker fame when he won the 2014 WCOOP Main Event for $1.3 million at age 21.

Like Sturm, Holz followed his online score with a strong World Series, finishing third in 2015’s $10,000 Six-Handed Championship for $268,463 and 25th in the Main Event the same year for $262,574. The next year, Holz won his first bracelet when he took down the $111,111 High Roller for One Drop for $5 million.

But “Rumukulus,” who with his WSOP High Roller victory now has $2.1 million in live tournament earnings, has his work cut out for him if he wants to catch up to “CrownUpGuy” with his two bracelets and $38.8 million in earnings.

The now 29-year-old Holz has yet to make an appearance at the 2023 WSOP but will likely be around for some of the bigger buy-in events. Holz finished seventh in last year’s Event #83: $50,000 High Roller for $203,107 and tenth in the 2021 $100,000 High Roller for $167,869.

Besting the American Live Pros

Sturm made his WSOP final table debut in the $50,000 High Roller an unforgettable one as he eliminated all four of his opponents who returned for Day 3. That included a pair of the best live high-stakes poker players in the world in Alex Foxen and Seth Davies, as well as PokerGO Studio regular Bill Klein.

The only other non-American on Day 3 was third-place finisher Jans Arends, who like Sturm is primarily an online player who recently started playing more live. In March, the Dutchman earned his largest live cash of $921,178 by taking down a $30,000 High Roller at the Triton Super High Roller Series in Vietnam.

While Sturm told PokerNews he believes he may be “even better theoretically” than live crushers like Foxen and Davies that “don’t play that much online and don’t get that much hands in,” he acknowledged that their discipline and table presence make them incredibly tough opponents on the live felt.

“When I am (at) a live stop I do so much wrong, I wake up way too late or go to bed too late and don’t eat clean or don’t get breakfast … don’t go to the gym regularly, and they do all of that kind of stuff,” Sturm said. “And that’s really impressive.”

Sturm’s previous biggest live cash came from a fourth-place finish in the 2022 World Poker (WPT) $5,000 Venetian Main Event for $327,000, while he also finished sixth in the 2023 Lucky Hearts Poker Open $25,500 High Roller for $83,100.

If Sturm continues to make a splash on the live high roller scene, he may be Germany’s new Young Prince.

Leon Sturms’ Top Five Live Cashes