Espen Jorstad Gears Up for WSOP Main Title Defence with Huge SCOOP Victory

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May 17, 2023 4 min read Last updated May 18, 2023

Only four players in history have managed to win back-to-back World Series of Poker Main Events, and it is a feat that has not been managed since 1988. Espen Jorstad is hoping to become the fifth person to win consecutive WSOP Main Events, joining Johnny Moss, the late Doyle Brunson, Stu Ungar, and Johnny Chan.

Players want to head into the WSOP in good form, and that is certainly the case of Jorstad, who this week triumphed in the PokerStars Spring Championship Of Online Poker edition of the $5,200 Titans Event. Jorstad's reward? A cool $165,317 plus a significant confidence boost. The victory was Jorstad's second of the series, with the UK-based Norwegian winning the $215 NLHE 7-Max Turbo PKO for $35,543 at the start of the 2023 SCOOP.

SCOOP 39-H: $5,200 NHE Titans Final Table Results

The $5,200 Titans saw 164 players create an $820,000 prize pool that the top 20 finishers shared. Day 1 concluded with only nine players in the hunt for the title and the six-figure top prize, with Day 2 commencing under the watchful eyes of the PokerStars Twitch stream on May 15.

Daniel "SmilleThHero" Smiljkovic sat down with less than three big blinds, and was eliminated on the first hand.

Ilya "Leqenden" Anatsky busted soon after Smiljkovic when he committed his last 6.5 big blinds with ace-six of diamonds, and lost to the dominating ace-ten of Renan "Internett93o" Bruschi.

The final seven became six when Latvia's Daniil "NVoskob1986" Kiselev crashed out. Espen "Hym2Ninkasi" Jorstad made it 154,000 to go from the button with pocket tens, and called when Kiselev three-bet all-in for ten big blinds from the small blind with king-queen. The tens held on an ace-high board, and Kiselev was gone.

Team PokerStars' Sam "SamSquid" Grafton sent bruschi to the rail in sixth place half an hour after Kiselev crashed out. Bruschi min-raised to 140,000 in the cutoff with ace-seven of hearts, Grafton three-bet to 420,000 in the big blind with pocket tens before calling the 1,237,292 jam from Bruschi. Grafton's hand remained true, and Bruschi bowed out.

Grafton then sent "DNegs98" to the rail in fifth, a finish good for more than $60,000. Grafton opened with pocket queens, DNegs98 shoved 11 big blinds with pocket deuces, and Grafton called. The five community cards provided no drama, and the Titans Event was left with only four players.

Pavel "silentm0de" Plesuv was the chip leader going into four-handed play, but he was the next player heading to the showers. Plesuv lost a chunk of his stack with pocket eights against Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira's ace-ten — Ferreira turned a boat – and nothing much went right for the Plesuv from that point on.

Plesuv's final participation in the PokerStars SCOOP Titans Event saw him all-in for 12 big blinds with pocket nines, which lost to the ace-eight of diamonds in the hand of Jorstad.

The tournament progressed to the heads-up stage when Grafton ran out of steam. Grafton was short-stacked at the start of three-handed play, and he made a move with pocket queen for his 6.5 big blinds, and lost to the hot-running Jorstad's ace-nine.

Jorstad held a substantial two-to-one chip lead over Ferreira at the start of the one-on-one battle and it took less than 20 minutes for Jorstad to get the job done.

The final hand saw Jorstad rip it in with king-jack, and Ferreira call off his short stack with jack-six of diamonds. King-high was good enough to bust Ferreira and crown Jorstad the SCOOP Titans champion.

Daniel Aziz Crowned SCOOP Sunday Million Champion

A $530 buy-in SCOOP edition of the ever-popular PokerStars Sunday Million saw Brazil's Daniel "dani aziz" Aziz come out on top of a 2,580-strong field to bank $166,765 after a heads-up deal with Bulgaria's "vladulaNko."

Navigating your way through such a massive field is no mean feat in its own right, but more impressive when you consider Aziz contended with the likes of Patrice "pAtcAsh83" Brandt, Donald "donald0404" Duarte, and Domenico "ziototo94" Gala at the star-studded final table.

The Sunday Million ended in a heads-up chip between Aziz and vladulaNko. Both players locked in $156,765 – despite Aziz holding a two-to-one lead — and played on for $10,000 and the title. The final hand saw Aziz shove with ace-five, and vladulaNko call off their 13 big blinds with king-eight. Aziz's hand held, and he scooped the Sunday Million title.

SCOOP 39-M: $530 NLHE Sunday Million Final Table Results

*reflects a heads-up deal

Matthew Pitt hails from Leeds, West Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom, and has worked in the poker industry since 2008, and worked for PokerNews since 2010. In September 2010, he became the editor of PokerNews. Matthew stepped away from live reporting duties in 2015, and now concentrates on his role of Senior Editor for the PokerNews.

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• Tags Doyle Brunson Espen Jorstad Johnny Chan Johnny Moss Online Poker PokerStars SCOOP Stu Ungar WSOP
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• Related Players Johnny ChanDoyle BrunsonJohnny MossEspen JorstadSCOOPStu Ungar