Deuxième bracelet pour Maximilian Klostermeier, Joukhimainen runner-up
At the end of play on Day 2 of Event #7: €5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha, Maximilian Klostermeier walked away as the champion after a dominant final table display. He defeated Joni Jouhkimainen heads up for the €204,010 and his second WSOP bracelet.
The third and final PLO tournament of the 2021 World Series of Poker Europe registered 184 entries to create the €830,300 prizepool, which Klostermeier took the lion’s share of. Jouhkimainen also took home a six-figure payday, cashing for €126,091.
Klostermeier won his first piece of WSOP hardware at the 2019 World Series of Poker. He bested the 1,130 strong field to triumph in Event 78: $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha – Bounty. For his efforts in Sin City, he walked away with the WSOP bracelet and $177,823.
The Netherland’s Bjorn Verbakel also reached the “unofficial” final table but was unable to make it two bracelets in a single a series. He bowed out in ninth-place for €17,669.
Event #7: €5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Final Table Results
| PLACE | WINNER | Country | PRIZE (EUR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maximilian Klostermeier | Denmark | € 204,010 |
| 2 | Joni Jouhkimainen | Finland | € 126,091 |
| 3 | Ermanno Di Nicola | Italy | € 88,520 |
| 4 | Armando D'Avanzo | Italy | € 63,613 |
| 5 | Nikola Minkov | Bulgaria | € 46,821 |
| 6 | Jaroslav Peter | Czech Republic | € 35,317 |
| 7 | Vasil Medarov | Bulgaria | € 27,317 |
| 8 | Veselin Karakitukov | Bulgaria | € 21,681 |
Winner's Reaction
"I think I would have won less if it was a bounty tournament except it it was a progressive knockout," the eventual champion joked as his previous WSOP victory came in a bounty event two years ago. This time, he certainly did the lion's share of the duty to reduce the field and went through the final table like a wrecking ball after knocking out five of his eight opponents once the field combined to one table.
There were plenty of Danish flags in the winner shot in Las Vegas for a specific reason. Klostermeier was born in Germany but calls Denmark his home as he has been living in Copenhagen for the past 15 years. Some Danish friends were on the rail during the final stages as well even though his "best friend is sitting there playing cash and couldn't even be bothered to watch" as he admitted with a grin on the face.
In 2019, he didn't consider himself a PLO player but that has since changed as he only plays PLO these days, be it with four or five cards. He skipped the in-person festival in Las Vegas due to the international travel restrictions and had a coin toss between attending the now postponed EPT Prague or a trip to Las Vegas after. Especially the promising cash games played a pivotal role in his switch and he had already planned in advance to attend the series at the King's Resort in Rozvadov.
"Especially live, all the good games are PLO and nobody really wants to play No-Limit Hold'em anymore." That will also be his main focus for the next few days before jumping into the upcoming €10,350 WSOPE Main Event. "I will probably be playing cash, that was the main reason to come here. Tournaments are mostly for fun and this was an extra bonus,"
The Action of the Final Day
The final day brought back 62 hopefuls in pursuit of the elusive WSOP gold bracelet and many players had entered at the very last minute before Day 1 concluded and the registration closed. During the first two hours, the field was cut into more than half and the money bubble was looming already.
Among those to bust before the money were the WSOP bracelet winners Stoyan Madanzhiev, Eelis Pärssinen, Julien Martini, Jack Sinclair, and Tomas Ribeiro. Day 1 chip leader Dorel Eldabach suffered a similar fate as in previous events and went from big stack to bust after being involved in a lot of multi-way hands. On the money bubble itself, it was Jonas Kronwitter who came up short and that triggered a frantic period of eliminations thereafter.
En route to the final table, Klostermeier consistently increased his stack and sent several opponents to the rail. He entered the nine-handed unofficial final table just one big blind ahead of Joni Jouhkimainen. However, from there on his lead was never threatened anymore as one opponent fell victim to his hot run.
Another two WSOP bracelet winners were among the finalists and it was Italy's Armando D'Avanzo who drew the first blood after knocking out Verbakel and PLO specialist Veselin Karakitukov. Event #4: €2,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 4th place finisher Vasil Medarov was the next to fall all the while Klostermeier was busy to accumulate chips left and right.
His domination culminated in the knockouts of his final five opponents in fewer than 90 minutes to wrap up the victory. For runner-up Jouhkimainen, it was the fourth WSOP final table but he was unable to overcome the massive chips disadvantage in a one-sided duel for poker's most coveted prize.
That concludes the PokerNews updates for his event but the live reporting team is on the floor throughout the entire 2021 World Series of Poker Europe festival until all 15 gold bracelet winners have been crowned.