Simon Mattsson Cruises to WSOP Online Main Event Victory ($2,793,574)
Sweden's Simon Mattsson capped off a rocking 2022 World Series of Poker Online by winning the most prestigious bracelet event of them all by defeating Thailand's Kannapong Thanarattrakul heads-up in the 2022 WSOP Online $5,000 Main Event to bank the whopping top prize of $2,793,574.
GGPoker guaranteed a massive $20 million on what many have dubbed the most prestigious online no-limit hold'em poker event of the year. This proved to be merely a placeholder with 4,984 entries generating a mouth-watering $23,674,000 prize pool. While the prize pool was enormous, it wasn't the biggest-ever event in online poker history. GGPoker and the WSOP already have this covered with the 2020 WSOP Online $5,000 Main Event attracting 5802 entries to create a Guinness Record $27,559,500 prize pool.
While Mattsson is a well-accomplished poker pro with more than $1.5 million in live earnings as tracked by The Hendon Mob, his roots and biggest results come from the online poker tournament arena. He is not only ranked as the top online poker player at PocketFives but also the site tracks him with the most earnings from online poker tournaments with a staggering $27.6 million in total cashes.
Mattsson came into the live-streamed final table with the chip lead and was among the leaders en route to victory in what will be one of the more memorable events in online poker history.
2022 WSOP Online $5,000 Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Simon Mattsson | Norway | $2,793,574 |
| 2 | Kannapong Thanarattrakul | Thailand | $2,094,884 |
| 3 | Feng Zhao | China | $1,570,941 |
| 4 | Samuel Vousden | Finland | $1,178,040 |
| 5 | Istvan Briski | Austria | $883,404 |
| 6 | Yanfei Chi | China | $662,459 |
| 7 | Jordan Spurlin | Canada | $496,774 |
| 8 | Oliver Sprason | United Kingdom | $372,529 |
| 9 | Tim Rutherford | Canada | $279,357 |
Final Table Recap
The final table was commentated by Jeff Platt and five-time WSOP bracelet winner Jeremy Ausmus on a 30-minute delay with hole cards exposed. Simon Mattsson entered the action with the chip lead and although didn't go coast-to-coast en route to victory he still managed to dominate throughout to win the title.
Meanwhile, the three players that came into the final table with short stacks of 11-13 big blinds in Jordan Spurlin (seventh - $496,774), Oliver Sprason (eighth - $372,529), and Tim Rutherford (ninth - $279,357) were the first to hit the rail. During this time, Finland's Samuel Vousden managed to take the chip lead temporarily before Mattsson stormed back to take control and never look back.
China's Yanfei Chi then found himself short on chips when his queens didn't hold against jacks held by fellow countrymate Feng Zhao. The rest of his stack went to Vousden after his queen-nine suited didn't overcome his opponent's ace-seven.
Mattsson then managed to make a good laydown in a hand that eliminated Istvan Briski in fifth place for $883,404. Mattsson min-raised the cutoff with ace-jack before Briski min-clicked most of his stack from the button to three big blinds with king-eight suited. Zhao woke up with rockets from the big blind and four-bet to eight big blinds. Mattsson folded his ace-jack and the final four players were each guaranteed to be millionaires after Briski called and no miracle came on the board.
Kannapong Thanarattrakul then won a flip with sixes against ace-jack suited to eliminate Vousden in fourth place for $1,178,040. Shortly after, the action was heads-up when Mattsson's ace-trey did the job against Zhao's jack-nine for Zhao to collect the third-place podium prize of $1,570,941.
Mattsson entered heads-up action with a 3:2 chip advantage against Thanarattrakul and extended it to a 3:1 chip advantage before the final hand took place as follows:
Mattsson limped with 6 5 from the button with blinds at 1,500,000/3,000,000. Thanarattrakul raised to 9,000,000 from the big blind with J 10 and Mattsson opted to call to see the 10 7 4 flop.
"Ut oh," said Ausmus as Thanarattrakul fired out for 6,171,000 with his top pair and backdoor flush draw. "There is some action brewing."
Mattsson opted to call with his open-ended straight draw and backdoor flush draw and a Yahtzee card in the 3 came on the turn to complete Mattsson's straight and give both players flush draws. Thanarattrakul bet 12,600,000 and Mattsson called.
A club on the river would have been a cooler for Mattsson as there is little chance he gets away from an inferior flush. But instead, the 7 paired the board and Thanarattrakul fired jammed his two pair for 44,633,226. Mattsson made the easy call and the rest was history. While Thanarattrakul was unable to earn the coveted WSOP gold bracelet he did go home with a huge runner-up prize of $2,094,884
Meanwhile, a massive congrats to Swedish poker legend Simon Mattsson for winning the 2022 WSOP Online Main Event for his first career taste at WSOP gold.
*Lead image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
