Congratulations to Hinojas "POLALIFE!" Jerome, Winner of Event #12 for $635,576!
A tournament that had a total of 5,894 entries saw just 972 return for the Final Day of Event #12: $1,000 DOUBLE STACK during the GGPoker WSOP Online, and in just nine hours a champion was crowned as Hinojas "POLALIFE!" Jerome pulled in his first bracelet, along with a hefty $635,576 first-place prize.
Jerome started second last on the leaderboard when the final table kicked off and he managed to hover around average until six-handed began. Instantly he doubled through Stoyan Madanzhiev, who appeared unstoppable at the time, having eliminated the first three competitors from the table. From that point on, it was the Jerome show and every elimination, up until the tournament had ended, was by the champ himself, knocking out the last five players to claim glory.
Felipe Ramos managed to outlast the rest to reach a heads-up match for the bracelet, but Jerome was running too pure for Ramos to overcome. The Brazilian put it in with ace-jack, Jerome called with ace-six and both flopped a pair. Ramos had all but won the hand, and the unthinkable landed on the river, having a six spike down to give Jerome three of them and Ramos finished as the runner-up, falling just short of his first bracelet but he did manage to secure his biggest cash to date.
Event #12: $1,000 DOUBLE STACK Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hinojas "POLALIFE!" Jerome | Hong Kong | $635,576 |
| 2 | Felipe Ramos | Brazil | $476,612 |
| 3 | Sriharsha "Upswinger" Doddapaneni | India | $357,409 |
| 4 | Yi "jolen" Wang | China | $268,019 |
| 5 | Stoyan Madanzhiev | Bulgaria | $200,986 |
| 6 | Anton Yakuba | Ukraine | $150,718 |
| 7 | Xuejian "LuckyCat00" Li | China | $113,023 |
| 8 | Nethanel "natykkk" Klein | Israel | $84,755 |
| 9 | Manish "thekid" Lakhotia | India | $63,557 |
"Final Day" Action
A total of 5,894 entry slips were sold for this event throughout the Day 1's, which created a $5,599,300 prize pool, and of those just 927 found themselves taking a seat in the "Final Day" portion of this event. Just 600 of those were guaranteed at least a min-cash worth $2,626, but all had their eyes set on the monstrous $635,576 first-place money.
Once the money was hit, GGPoker Ambassador Daniel Negreanu saw a dream river to blast him near the top of the standings. He pushed his jacks into a three-way pot, only to be against queens and kings. A johnnie on the river sent both of his opponents out the door, and he took down one of the biggest pots at that time. The Canadian did grind it out, but couldn't keep the magic going as he took an exit in 83rd place for $9,015.
Having blinds of such a strong magnitude brought forth a final table at a quicker pace than expected and it was Felipe Ramos sitting on top of the leaderboard. Instantly Stoyan Madanzhiev took over as the table captain, busting Manish "thekid" Lakhotia from the table first where both flopped a set but Madanzhiev had a higher one. Just hands later, Madanzhiev ripped it in with big slick, running into the aces of Nethanel "natykkk" Klein but a runner-runner broadway sent Klein out the door, putting Madanzhiev on top of the table with the lead.
The Bulgarian wasn't done just yet, calling a shove by Xuejian "LuckyCat00" Li. Li had ace-five but failed to catch up to the ace-nine of Madanzhiev and he finished off another player, extended his lead as she hit the rail. The reign of Jerome then began, doubling with ace-jack versus the ace-nine of Madanzhiev who was now near the bottom. Anton Yakuba tried to beat the newly acquired heater of Jerome but it was to no avail and Yakuba dropped in sixth place. The final table masher was the next to receive a payout when Madanzhiev called his stack in with ace-five from the big blind after a small blind shove by Jerome with queen-six. The board came down clean until a rivered queen, hitting Jerome with enough to drop the only bracelet winner left in the field.
Jerome quickly started opening every hand and Yi "jolen" Wang seemed to have had enough, jamming from big blind over the top of a button raise. Unfortunately, Jerome had pocket aces and the king-two of Wang failed to hit enough to crack them, sending him out in fourth place. Jerome shoved the small blind just a few hands later and Sriharsha "Upswinger" Doddapaneni called from the big blind, holding ace-queen. Jerome had nine-eight and flopped a nine, Doddapaneni failed to catch anything and was eliminated.
The heads-up portion of this event did not last long, taking just a few hands to find a winner. Jerome opened and Ramos jammed his stack with ace-jack. Jerome instantly called with ace-six and both then flopped a pair. Ramos was in an optimal spot and was looking to bridge the gap with a double but an unthinkable six landed on the river, cementing Jerome as the winner. Ramos took home a respectable $476,612 for his runner-up finish, and Jerome took home the shiny bracelet.
That wraps it up for the PokerNews live coverage of this event but tune in throughout the series of live updates on all of the events.