Tilston wins biggest buy-in at 2019 WSOP

In the event with the biggest buy-in at this year’s World Series of Poker, Keith Tilston claimed his first WSOP bracelet.

The high roller player was the last man standing in the $100,000 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller tournament. Along his first WSOP bracelet Tilston also pocketed the largest cash of his live-poker career, $2,792,406. The win bumped up Tilston’s lifetime live-poker earnings to just over $6.4 million.

To win the big money tournament Tilston had to get through a very strong final table. Five of the eight players at the final table had previously won WSOP bracelets, and they combined for 15 overall. That included six-time WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu, who faced off with Tilston heads-up for the tournament title.

When heads-up play began Negreanu held the chip lead with 31.3 million chips to Tilston’s 28.1 million. Negreanu actually grew his stack to 42 million before Tilston took them back. The chip lead changed hand three times before all was said and done.

The key hand saw Tilston take a large chunk of Negreanu’s chip when both players ended up showing a flush. Tilston had a 10-high flush, which just beat out Negreanu’s nine-high flush with the board showing Js-7c-6s-7s-3s. The tournament was over four hands later.

On the final hand, with Tilston now holding more than a 3-to-1 chip lead, Negreanu pushed all-in preflop and Tilston called. Negreanu showed Ah-2d and Tilston had Qc-Jd. The flop helped neither player when it showed 6h-8c-7h. The turn was the 7s leaving Tilston in need of a Queen or Jack on the river. The Jack appeared, the Js to be specific, giving Tilston the hand and the win.

For Negreanu is was his 10th second place finish at the WSOP, tying the record held by Phil Hellmuth. For this second place finish Negreanu earned $1,725,838.