Event #8: €25,500 Platinum High Roller No-Limit Hold'em
Day 3 Completed
Event #8: €25,500 Platinum High Roller No-Limit Hold'em
Day 3 Completed
Australian high roller Kahle Burns has added the most coveted prize in all of poker to an already outstanding poker resumé. Burns reigned supreme in WSOPE Event #8: €25,500 Platinum High Roller No-Limit Hold'em at King's Resort, quickly overcoming a final table stacked with poker royalty to win €596,883 and the WSOP bracelet.
Britain's Sam Trickett came runner-up in a bracelet event for the second time in his career. 2019 WSOP Main Event champion Hossein Ensan's attempt to win his second bracelet this year came up short as he fell in third. Hakim Zoufri of the Netherlands was fourth, Canadian high roller regular Timothy Adams finished fifth and GPI #2 ranked player Alex Foxen was the first to bust out on the final day of play, finishing in sixth place.
Unlike Robert Campbell, who burst out in emotions after his victory in Las Vegas, Burns was rather calm and focused when the final hand was over.
“Yeah, it was sort of smooth sailing: a very fast final table. I was lucky to come in with the chip lead and sort of didn’t have any all-ins myself. Other people knocked themselves out and there was one hand against Sam [Trickett] where I sort of jammed light and both woke up with hands. That changed things a bit, but everything went fast and smooth, no complaints.”
He added: “I won a lot of chips on Day 2 and managed to maintain it, this was nice. It is always good to have all the chips around the bubble.”
Place | Player | Country | Prize (EUR) | Prize (USD) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Kahle Burns | Australia | €596,883 | $644,410 |
2 | Sam Trickett | United Kingdom | €368,899 | $410,637 |
3 | Hossein Ensan | Germany | €251,837 | $280,331 |
4 | Hakim Zoufri | Netherlands | €177,062 | $197,090 |
5 | Timothy Adams | Canada | €128,326 | $142,841 |
6 | Alex Foxen | United States | €95,962 | $106,822 |
7 | Anton Morgenstern | Germany | €74,117 | $82,505 |
8 | Robert Campbell | Australia | €59,189 | $65,896 |
Sporting the sizable lead, Burns returned at 2 p.m. to play the final day of this event with 6 out of 83 left. Alex Foxen, hunting Stephen Chidwick again as the top-ranked GPI player in the world, was the first to be eliminated, shoving queen-jack into Trickett's ace-jack to cash just shy of six figures.
Trickett, one of the short stacks coming into the day, shot up the leaderboard after also taking out Timothy Adams in fifth place by winning pocket eights versus ace-king. Holding pocket aces, the Brit had a shot to knock out Hakim Zoufri next but the Dutchman survived with nine-eight making a straight.
Trickett then got it all back and more in a three-way all-in clash which left Zoufri empty-handed and allowed the Brit to jump over Burns to take the lead.
Not to be denied, the Aussie reclaimed the lead right back after winning a big showdown with ace-ten versus the king-queen of Hossein Ensan, poker's reigning world champion. The German champ saw his attempt to win a second bracelet this year come up short after the board ran out five blanks, and he added nearly $300,000 to the $10,000,000 he earned in July for winning the Main Event.
The heads-up with Trickett became a short affair after both players picked up a monster to get it in for a pot of 98% of the chips in play. Burns limped in with pocket queens while Trickett found ace-queen to put in a raise. Burns reraised, Trickett shoved, and Burns called to leave Trickett with dust after the board brought only low cards. The next hand, Burns took the remaining two bigs from Trickett to capture his first career gold.
While already having racked up $6 million in lifetime winnings, as well as being heralded as one of the most dangerous players from Down Under, Burns' elite poker resumé was lacking one important accolade until today: a WSOP gold bracelet. Certainly, the windfall of over $600,000 is nothing to sneeze at either. In regards to whether the money or the prestige was more important to him, Burns said:
"For me, the bracelet is definitely a bucket list thing. I definitely didn't want to exit poker and not win one, but in terms of the prestige of a bracelet, I feel like it is great to win one. But at the same time, anybody can win one too and it doesn’t necessarily mean you are a fantastic poker player. Obviously, in this instance, since it is a 25k, there are some very strong players.
Whether or not it had a bracelet attached to it, against strong players and a strong competition means something to me and I haven’t had a good start to the series, so to recoup some of that money is obviously quite nice," he added.
With the win, Burns follows in the footsteps of Michael Addamo who won the same event last year. "Back to back for the Australians, great, bringing it back to the Commonwealth," Burns laughed.
While Burns definitely plans to play in the Main Event and the 100K, he'll be traveling back to his homeland after the WSOPE has wrapped up.
“I am from Melbourne and one of my best friends is getting married, so he is having a Bucks Party in Australia or Bachelor’s Party in the United States. I am the best man for the wedding and need to get back there and take control of that; it’s gonna be a fun time with the boys,” Burns explained.
Speaking of fun times, with the likes of Campbell, Michael O'Grady, and Sam Higgs also in Rozvadov, one might expect some shenanigans at the bar or in one of the local establishments around town, but Burns doesn't plan on partying with them until everything is over.
“I am not much of a celebrator, maybe just go out for dinner and have one beer. Maybe after the series, if the boys want to have a drink then I will be down.”
Left with just two big blinds after the monster clash, the remaining dust of Sam Trickett's stack was in the middle in the next hand.
Sam Trickett:
Kahle Burns:
The board ran out and that was it for Trickett, who came up one spot shy for a bracelet for the second time in his career. The British high roller walked away with €368,899 and surpassed $21M in lifetime winnings.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Kahle Burns |
83,000,000
2,000,000
|
2,000,000 |
|
||
Sam Trickett | Busted |
Sam Trickett won two small hands to draw the stacks nearly equal, before the players both picked up monsters to get 98% of all the chips in play in the middle.
Kahle Burns limped in and Sam Trickett bumped it to 5,000,000. Burns limp-raised to 12,500,000, Trickett shoved all in for 42,000,000 after some thought and Burns snap-called all in for 40,000,000.
Kahle Burns:
Sam Trickett:
The flop kept the Australian in the lead, and neither the turn nor river brought the ace Trickett needed. The Brit was left with just two big blinds.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Kahle Burns |
81,000,000
33,000,000
|
33,000,000 |
|
||
Sam Trickett |
2,000,000
-33,000,000
|
-33,000,000 |
Sam Trickett raised to 2,500,000 with the and Kahle Burns defended . The flop went check/check. Burns check-called 4,000,000 on the turn before both players checked the on the river.
Burns showed his trip sixes and took the lead from Trickett.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Kahle Burns |
48,000,000
14,000,000
|
14,000,000 |
|
||
Sam Trickett |
35,000,000
-14,000,000
|
-14,000,000 |
Level: 27
Blinds: 500,000/1,000,000
Ante: 1,000,000
Sam Trickett raised to 1,600,000 holding and Kahle Burns defended . The flop was and Burns check-called 1,600,000 from Trickett.
Trickett caught gin on the turn; two pair for Burns but a straight for him. Burns opted to lead out for 2,400,000 and Trickett called.
The river was the and Burns fired a hefty 9,000,000. Trickett shoved all in for 28,000,000 and Burns instantly asked for a count. He burned through several time bank extensions, revealing he had two pair along the way to try to get a read, before eventually making the correct laydown.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Sam Trickett |
49,000,000
15,400,000
|
15,400,000 |
Kahle Burns |
34,000,000
-15,400,000
|
-15,400,000 |
|
The players are back and the heads-up has begun.
Kahle Burns and Sam Trickett are taking a short break before commencing the heads-up.
After chopping the previous hand with ace-eight versus ace-eight in a blind-on-blind hand, Hossein Ensan and Kahle Burns got it all-in again. This time, Ensan raised to 2,000,000 on the button and Burns three-bet shoved all in for 27,775,000 from the small blind.
"Good luck," the 2019 WSOP Main Event champ said before calling it off for 20,025,000.
Hossein Ensan:
Kahle Burns:
Ensan was at risk with the smaller stack and caught no help during the rundown to end his attempt to win a second bracelet this year. The German was still all smiles when he left the stage, off to collect €251,837 for finishing third.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Kahle Burns |
49,400,000
19,600,000
|
19,600,000 |
|
||
Sam Trickett |
33,600,000
-2,000,000
|
-2,000,000 |
Hossein Ensan | Busted | |
|