WSOP 2016: Sweden's Peter Eichhardt Wins $1,500 NLHE Event

Sweden has become the first non-US country to win a bracelet at this year’s WSOP after Peter Eichhardt took down Event #6: $1,500 No Limit Hold’em for $438,417.
A total of 2,016 players entered the tournament to create a prize pool worth $2,721,600, and after three days of action the 50 year-old pro beat US player Davis Aalvik heads-up to claim the coveted bracelet. Following a victory which now pushes his career earnings to $1,289,702, the part-time fiction writer from Stockholm commented:
“I think we have seven or eight gold bracelet winners in Sweden. Chris Bjorin has two. And, of course, there’s Martin Jacobson. But it’s still pretty unusual for us in Sweden to win a gold bracelet. It’s special for us.”
The $1,500 NLHE Event paid out a total of 303 money places, and amongst the notable pros seeing a return on their buy-ins was Steve Gross in 84th ($4,140), Yevgeniy Timoshenko in 71st ($5,508), David Vamplew in 52nd ($7,681), Mike Leah in 37th ($9,229), Justin Young in 22nd ($13,786), and Adam Geyer in 10th ($27,351).
After the final table of nine got underway, Eichhardt would eventually progress all the way through to heads-up play where he faced Davis Aalvik for the title. On the last hand of the tournament, the Swede moved all-in preflop with Kh-Jh and was called by his opponent holding Kd-9c. The dealer then laid out an Ah-3h-2h-Qc-6d board to secure the win for Eichhardt, who later reflecting back on his famous victory,said:
“A few years ago, I wasn’t good in poker, at all. I was playing in the Bahamas and I looked around and everyone at the table was like between 21 and 30 and they were so good. And I was so bad. I was like a tourist there. I just made up my mind to start taking the game more seriously and do something about it. And, I did. I started studying a lot. I worked a lot at it, and now here I am.”
Final Table Payouts:
1: Peter Eichhardt $438,417
2: Davis Aalvik $270,842
3: Michael Addamo $196,202
4: John Racener $143,563
5: Tim Farrelly $106,115
6: Bruno Borges $79,241
7: Raymond Phu $59,787
8: Anthony Zinno $45,582
9: Richard Dubini $35,121