Astedt Out! WSOP Main Event Favorite Eliminated in Third Place
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Niklas Astedt came into Wednesday's World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event finale as a heavy favorite, but he left with a sour taste in his mouth.
The online poker legend known across the poker world as "Lena900" was the player to beat with three left in poker's world championship event. He had the biggest stack and the most experience playing at such a high level. But he'd make an abrupt exit from the tournament on Day 10, just two spots shy of the $10 million first-place prize.
Lena900 Loses Lead Quickly
Astedt made some brilliant calls at the final table, including a hand in which he correctly called off with pocket tens to the bluffing Brian Kim on Tuesday, still one of the biggest and most discussed hands of the final table.
Early in the final day, Astedt would lose his decent-sized chip lead to Jordan Griff, while Jonathan Tamayo hung tough in a close third. And then the biggest hand of the tournament — just the ninth hand dealt of the final day — would change everything.
The Elimination Hand
Astedt raised to 8,000,000 on the button with K♠J♦, and Griff three-bet to 28,000,000 in the small blind with 9♠9♣, to which Astedt called. The flop came out 10♣9♦3♦, hitting both players, although Astedt only had a gutter ball and two overs.
Griff bet 28,000,000, and Astedt called to see the J♣, a bit of an action card. Griff, who had slightly taken over the chip lead, moved all in for 159,000,000, That put his Swedish opponent into the tank, facing one of the biggest decisions of his life at the poker table. He eventually made the call only to find out he was drawing to a four-outer for a straight. That card didn't hit on the K♥ river, and "Lena900" was out in third place for $4,000,000.
"He's a bit of a wild one, so sometimes you have to guess." Astedt told PokerNews after being eliminated. "This time I was wrong,"
Moments prior to the big hand, Griff made a strong play, jamming all in preflop with AxQx, forcing Tamayo to fold the same hand. Doing so propelled Griff, a poker player from Illinois with just $47,000 in prior live tournament cashes, into the chip lead.
At the time of publishing, Griff held better than a 2:1 chip advantage over Tamayo. First place will pay $10,000,000, while the runner-up will take home $6,000,000, meaning Astedt missed out on a $2 million pay jump. You can follow the heads-up action live on PokerGO or through PokerNews live reporting coverage.
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