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The four largest live tournament scores of Dutch poker pro Jans Arends’ career have all been recorded in the past 103. Arends, who has been ar staple in the high-stakes online tournament scene for years under the screen name ‘Graftekkel’, has cashed for nearly $4.6 million since early March. The Groningen, Netherlands native’s most recent splash saw him defeat a field of 93 entries to win the 2023 World Series of Poker $100,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em event for a career-best payday of $2,576,729.
“It’s kind of a natural transition, I think. If there are soft live tournaments running, at some point when you watch these streams, you’re like, ‘Okay, I have to jump in these, because I think I can compete.’ So, that’s basically what I did and Triton went so well, so obviously if you run well at the start, then you wanna keep firing them. So, that’s why I came to Vegas,” Arends told Card Player when asked about making the transition to live high rollers. “I’ve run so hot this year, I cannot believe it.”
Arends also took home his second career gold bracelet for the win. His first came in a $1,000 buy-in event during the 2020 WSOP Online festival, which saw him outlast 1,777 to earn $129,745. Arends doesn’t seem likely to embrace the bracelet hunt anytime soon, though. When asked if becoming a two-time WSOP champion meant anything special to him he replied, “No, not really. I like trophies, though, it is nice to get a shiny thing when you win. But no, I’m not in it for the legacy or number of total bracelets or something. Maybe I’ll start thinking about it when I have like 10 or something. I’m probably not even gonna come to Vegas every year, because it’s a pretty brutal grind out here, especially if you stay like five weeks. So no, I don’t think that’s anything that’s on my radar.”
Arends’ hot streak on the live circuit has put him into contention in the 2023 Card Player Player of the Year race. He has made four final tables and won two titles already this year, cashing for the aforementioned $4.6 million across those deep runs. His latest win added 1,080 POY points to his tally, bringing him to 3,700 total points. As a result, he now sits in 10th place in the rankings, which are presented by Global Poker.
The solid turnout for this event resulted in an $8,997,750 prize pool which was paid out among the top 14 finishers. As one might imagine, several big names ran deep including 2021 WSOP main event champion Koray Aldemir (14th), four-time bracelet winner David Peters (11th), three-time bracelet winner Kristen Foxen (10th), 2022 Triton Mediterranean main event winner Punnat Punsri (9th), top 2023 POY contender Ren Lin (8th), and poker’s all-time money leader Justin Bonomo (7th). With $362,279 earned for his deep run in this event, Bonomo surpassed $63.9 million in career earnings.
The third and final day of this event began with Arends in the lead with just six players remaining. Ding Biao was the first to fall, with his K-J failing to outrun the A-Q of three-time bracelet winner Chance Kornuth in a preflop all-in showdown. Ding earned $469,464 for his sixth-place finish. This was his eighth final-table finish of the year, with more than $2.8 million in POY earnings accrued along the way. As a result, he now sits in 17th place in the race standings as the midway point of the year approaches.
Five-time bracelet winner Jeremy Ausmus was the next player to be sent packing. He lost a preflop race for the majority of his stack and then got his last few blinds in with 10-8 facing J-9 suited for four-time bracelet winner Adrian Mateos. Ausmus picked up a flush draw on the turn, but was unable to outdraw Mateo’s flopped pair of jacks and was eliminated in fifth place ($619,919). He now has $15.7 million in career earnings after this performance.
Kornuth’s run in this event concluded when his A-9 collided with the A-J of 2019 Super High Roller Bowl London champion Cary Katz. Katz made a flush on the river with one diamond in his hand to claim the pot, knocking Kornuth out in fourth place. Kornuth’s career earnings swelled to $14.1 million after adding in the career-best $833,854 payday he secured for this deep run.
Mateos had overtaken the lead for a bit, but Arends surged back ahead thanks to winning a big pot against Mateos with a flopped full house against the rivered straight of his Spanish opponent.
Mateos was ultimately eliminated in third place when his K-J lost a preflop flip to the pocket nines of Arends. This podium finish saw him earn $1,142,147, increasing his career earnings to more than $35.6 million, which is good for 16th place on the all-time money list.
Heads-up play began with Arends holding roughly a 4:1 chip lead over Katz, who became the highest-earning tournament without a bracelet when Isaac Haxton relieved himself of that distinction by winning the $25,000 eight-max no-limit event earlier this series.
Arends was able to extend his advantage even further in the early going before Katz managed a double-up to keep his hopes of securing his first bracelet in this event alive. Not too long after that hand, Arends limped in from the button with A
K. Katz moved all-in for roughly 15 big blinds with Q
4 and Arends quickly called. The board ran out A
QJ3
K to give Arends top two pair for the win.
Katz earned $1,592,539 as the runner-up finisher to approach $38.4 million in lifetime cashes. The PokerGO founder currently occupies the 12th-place spot on the tournament earnings leaderboard.
Arends, Katz, and Ausmus are all among the top-ten-ranked players in the 2023 PokerGO Tour standings. Katz surged to second on that leaderboard with this latest showing. This was his 13th qualified cash of the season, with nearly $2.8 million earned along the way.
Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points | PGT Points |
| 1 | Jans Arends | $2,576,729 | 1080 | 550 |
| 2 | Cary Katz | $1,592,539 | 900 | 450 |
| 3 | Adrian Mateos | $1,142,147 | 720 | 400 |
| 4 | Chance Kornuth | $833,854 | 540 | 250 |
| 5 | Jeremy Ausmus | $619,919 | 450 | 186 |
| 6 | Ding Biao | $469,464 | 360 | 141 |
| 7 | Justin Bonomo | $362,279 | 270 | 109 |
| 8 | Ren Lin | $284,979 | 180 | 85 |
| 9 | Punnat Punsri | $228,600 | 90 | 69 |
Visit the Card Player 2023 World Series of Poker page for schedules, news, interviews, and the latest event results.
Winner photo credit: WSOP / Danny Maxwell.
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