German Poker Pro Wins His First WSOP Bracelet at Event #56

German poker pro Jonas Lauck finally won his first bracelet, along with the top prize of $260,335 after almost 16 hours of play in Event #56: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Super Turbo Bounty at the 2019 World Series of Poker (WSOP).

Lauck topped a field of 1,867 entries and defeated UK player Robert Bickley heads-up to claim victory in his second final-table finish of the year. The 32-year-old also collected some bounties, each worth $500. 

Lauck entered the final table as the chip leader and continued to hold on to his lead as the play progressed, eliminating seven of his eight opponents. Edward Courage (9^th, $20,793) was the first to exit after losing his pocket eights to Aaron Johnson‘s full house.

Not long after, Johnson also left the table after his AdQs failed to hold up against Lauck’s pocket kings. The Canadian player ended his bid in eighth place for $26,992.

Just 13 hands later, Lauck was able to eliminate Arron Woodcock after picking up pocket aces. Woodcock flopped an open-ended straight draw but couldn’t find help from the turn and river. He earned $35,412 for his 7^th place finish. Lauck went on to finish off Aaron Pinson (6^th, $46,951) and Anil Jivani (5^th, $62,901) to kickstart four-handed play with a huge lead. 

Markus Gonsalves moved all in for his last seven blinds with seven-five suited. Lauck called with king-queen suited from the button and held up from there to send Gonsalves out of the game in fourth place for $85,141. 

With three players remaining, Fernando Viana three-bet shoved with ace-queen from the big blind, but he could not go beyond Lauck’s nines, so he ended up in third place, taking home $116,426. 

The heads-up battle between Lauck and Bickley only lasted two hands, with Lauck holding a 3-to-1 lead. With a pair of kings in his hand, Bickley three-bet shoved on the flop and Lauck snap-called with an open-ended straight and flush draw. Bickley was ahead after the turn, but Lauck secured a straight and a flush from the river leading to his victory. Bickley won $160,820 being the runner-up finisher. 

WSOP Bracelet Special 

Lauck’s latest win felt surreal to him, as the coveted WSOP bracelet was something he always wanted to have. He came close to winning one in the $1,500 Ante Only No-Limit Hold’em event at the 2014 WSOP. While Event $56: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Super Turbo Bounty was not his biggest cash to date, the bracelet is a huge achievement for the German online grinder who won more than $1.5 million in the WCOOP Main Event in 2016.