The 23-year-old German-born poker player Jens Lakemeier defeated a field of 179 players in $2,500 Big Bet Mix to conquer his first gold bracelet and to collect a first-prize of $112,232.
Following the player’s career, Lakemeier has been close to the WSOP gold bracelet before, when he reached the final table in 2015 WSOP Europe $2,200 8-Game event, but unfortunately he could not make it up to the first prize. Nevertheless, this did not stop the player to continue his poker career, which rewarded him this year with the shiny gold trophy, the prestigious title and his first most significant cash prize.
Over the years of his poker career, the German player proved that he can play all the different variation of the game. Having in mind the mixed nature of the WSOP event, in which Lakemeier managed to emerge as the champion, it is not a surprise that the player has knowledge in the different formats of the game. The event attracted 179 hopefuls, who were competing for the top position in no-limit and pot-limit format.
On Sunday, 2nd July, the 6 survivors returned to the poker tables only to set the final table. Lakemeier was the player, who brought the biggest stack of chips to the final table. The first to leave was Kenneth Fitzgerald, who had the chance to play only 20 minutes at the final table, before being sent back home by Ashton Griffin with a $16,793 cash prize.
The five-handed match was, by all means, long and exhaustive, having in mind that it took more than 4 hours before someone was eliminated. The players were transferring the chip-lead position between each other. Eventually, Lakemeier’s stack of chips witnessed a significant drop, but the player did not lose confidence. Being very close to the edge, the player stroke it lucky against only to regain his lost chip-lead position. He managed to knock off some of the players with the biggest stack of chips to appear in the heads-up duel well-packed with 7 times bigger stack of chips than his opponent Jason Stockfish.
The cards were already in the air, but Lakemeier needed precisely 10 hands time to derail his opponent, who missed the chance to add the gold bracelet to his collection, but raked $69,359 cash prize as a consolation. It was namely Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo, which brought the victory to Jens Lakemeier. The decisive moment met Stockfish holding [Ad][Js][5h][3d] against Lakemeier’s [As][10d][4c][2c]. The dealer flopped [10h][3c][2s] to give the eventual winner two pairs.
The turn ran [Kh] on the table, which did not change the situation in any way. The river was also a blank draw for both players, as [8d] came on the board. Thus, Stockfish took the runner-up position, paving the way for Lakemeier to the victory.
The mixed event manifested the universal poker skills of Lakemeier. Even though he retreated from the chip-lead position for a while, he did not lose confidence and managed to regain his top position very fast. The German player has previous earnings from live poker tournaments, but the 2017 WSOP $2,500 Big Bet Mix is, undoubtedly, the biggest score of the player.
