Yahoo Finance Hossein Ensan wins 2019 World Series of Poker main event for $10 million
After 10 days and more than 80 total hours of play, Hossein Ensan was left standing as the champion of the 50th World Series of Poker main event in the wee hours of Wednesday morning.
Ensan, 55, takes home a $10 million grand prize to go along with the most prestigious bracelet in poker after he outlasted Dario Sammartino with a winning hand that finished at around 1:30 a.m. local time at the Rio Casino in Las Vegas.
On the final hand, Ensan held a pair of kings in his hand when Sammartino pushed his chips all-in with nothing more than a flush draw and a straight draw. Ensan’s kings prevailed.
His boisterous group of supporters in attendance erupted in celebration. Ensan is Iranian-German, and many of his friends flew in from overseas to watch the action.
“Unbelievable,” Ensan told the ESPN broadcast after his win. “I cannot understand this moment. After 10 days I am excited. This is a big prize in my career. I’m so happy. I thank my fans at home in Germany, also in Iran. And my buddies here.”
The day began eight hours earlier with just three players remaining from a massive 8,569-player starting field. With no Americans in the final three, the atmosphere for most of Tuesday night’s action resembled a high-stakes European soccer match as fans of each player chanted and sang constantly.
Sammartino, a professional poker player from Italy, had the loudest fans of all. Surely they can still celebrate his second-place prize of $6 million.
Both the field size and the grand-prize payout were the second biggest in the event’s history, trailing only the 2006 sum of $12 million.
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