Dutch Player Wins Event At Pokerstars Blowout Series

There was more success for the Netherlands in the ongoing Pokerstars Blowout Series, as Gwolde claimed victory in the $530 NLHE event. The event lasted for three days, but after four hours of play on the final day, the winner was finally crowned. There was no shortage of drama on the final day, as the winner was claimed after an agreement was reached during a heads-up battle.

Gwolde has had an excellent start to the year, as the player also won a PokerStars event on the 3^rd January. It could be argued that this event was harder to claim success, as he needed to see off a field of 12,938 other players, which set up a prize pot of just under $6.5 million. That surpassed the expectations that there was going to be a prize pot of $5 million for the event.

Gwolde Claims Memorable Victory

It was an action packed final day at the event, but the most consistent players were rewarded with a spot on the final table. The only two exceptions to that were Sami Kelopuro and Sp3eady14 both dropping out of contention at the eleventh hour. Gwolde managed to cut a deal with Escapemissio in the heads-up challenge, which condemned the British player to second. Gwolde was awarded with $721,692 for the victory, while the British player got $680,231 for his second place finish in the Pokerstars event. The highest placed South American player was Mathias Duarte, and he would have been appeased with a finish in third and returns of $415,895. Meanwhile, Canadian End2End17 was the player to finish in fourth position.

The Canadian was awarded $296,465 for the excellent performance. European players dominated the final standings, with seven of the night on the leaderboard coming from the continent. Polish player DrawindDead finished in fifth place and claimed $211,331 in returns for the performance in the Pokerstars event. The second British player to finish in the top nine was Andrew Wool, and he managed to pick up $150,644 for that finish. The final three players in the top nine were also Europeans, as Germany’s Kudgel finished in seventh, while Hungary’s Andras Nemeth claimed eighth spot and Finnish player Uivelo88 claimed the final spot on the leaderboard. The Finnish player claimed $54,566 for his performance, while Nemeth took home $76,548 and the German player won $107,385.

Poker Legend Passes Away

There was also sad news revealed this week, as it was announced on Wednesday that Howard Andrew has passed away aged 86. Andrew was revered in the game, and was a common player for the best part of 60 years. During his career, he won two gold bracelets and holds an esteemed reputation of having played in ever World Series of Poker between 1974 and 2018.

Throughout his poker career, Andrew picked up just over $1.5 million in total earnings, with his biggest win during his career coming at the 1987 Grand Prix of Poker, as he claimed $250,000 when finishing second behind Jim Doman.