Samuel Vousden is one of the most decorated players in online poker history. On Monday night, the Finnish poker pro added a streak of gold to his legacy as he posted an epic comeback to win Event #16 ($1,050 GGMasters HR Freezeout) to win $274,519 and his first WSOP bracelet.
Vousden started the final table with 15 big blinds and wasn’t involved in the first elimination. From under-the gun, Bernardo Granato raised to 300,000 with 
before Rushik Gandhi moved all in for his last 593,484 with 
. Granato called and then watched as the 
flop missed Gandhi entirely. Neither the 
turn or the 
river changed anything and Granato sent Gandhi to the rail in ninth.
Vousden, who came to the final table with the second shortest stack behind only Gandhi, doubled through Granato and then found a spot to put his relatively healthy stack to work. Vousden raised to 140,000 from UTG with 
before Alexander Zubov moved all in for 1,263,658 from the cutoff with 
. Vousden stayed in front through the 
flop, turn, and 
river to eliminated Zubov in eighth place.
Action continued with seven players for nearly 45 minutes before Granata re-assumed his role as executioner. Down to just eight big blinds, Fong Alexander Joseph de Guzman shoved for 840,506 with 
and action folded to Granato in the big blind and the Brazilian called with 
. The 
flop was an unfavorable one for Joseph as Granato picked up a flush draw to go with his two overcards. The turn took all drama away from the rest of the runout as it left Joseph drawing dead. The river was the meaningless and Joseph was out in seventh place.
Just two minutes later, a battle of the blinds was responsible for the next elimination. From the small blind, Vousden raised to 300,000 with and then called when Sergei Denisov shoved for 2,104,900 from the big blind with 
. Denisov could only watch as the 
runout secured his sixth place finish and gave Vousden’s stack yet another boost.
It took Vousden just 10 minutes to find his next victim and once again, it was a blind versus blind situation. Nicolo Bartolone jammed for 1,009,668 in the small blind with 
and Vousden called the additional 889,668 from the big blind with 
. The 
flop gave Vousden trip jacks. The turn was the 
and Bartolone was drawing dead to the river and was out in fifth.
Vousden kept the pressure on and three minutes later ended another opponent’s night. Vousden raised to 250,000 from the button with 
and Granato shoved for 2,252,143 from the big blind with 
and Vousden called. Granato found no saving grace on the 
runout and was eliminated in fourth place.
While Vousden had been the busiest at the final table, Qibing Wang actually took more than 60% of the chips in play with three players remaining. He used that stack to send the tournament to heads up. Wang raised to 400,000 from the button with and Zac Duce moved all in from the small blind for 3,787,067 with and Wang called. The board ran out 
to give Wang trip jacks and send Duce to the rial as the third place finisher.
Wang started heads up with 63% of the chips in play but over the 20 minutes of heads up play, Vousden once again climbed back into the lead before putting the final nail in the coffin. Wang moved all in for his last 2,984,502 
and Vousden called with . The 
made Vousden an even bigger favorite and the turn completed his flush to leave Wang drawing dead. As the completed the board, Wang was eliminated in second place to give Vousden his first WSOP bracelet and a $274,519 score.
Final Table Payouts
- Samuel Vousden – $274,519
- Qibing Wang – $205,859
- Zac Duce – $154,372
- Bernardo Granato – $115,762
- Nicolo Bartolone – $86,810
- Sergei Denisov – $65,098
- Fong Alexander Joseph de Guzman – $48,817
- Alexander Zubov – $36,607
- Rushik Gandhi – $27,452
