Ben Bensimoun Triumphs at WSOP International Circuit Rotterdam

Latest stop on the WSOP International Circuit was the Holland Casino Rotterdam, with 273 players entering its €1,650 Main Event to create a prize pool of €393,120. Following four days of action, it was Swiss player Ben Bensimhon who would eventually triumph over his competitors, including Germany’s Jakob Miegel heads-up, to claim the victory, and a first place prize of €94,349 ($112,709). Commenting after capturing the title, the 33-year old Bensimoun, who works as a Country Manager for 888poker, stated:
“I never ever dreamed of it. Three to four years ago, I started playing professionally a bit more, but this is something I’ve never even dreamed of. It’s an amazing thing. It’s not about the money, actually, it’s about the title.”
After the final table of nine had been reached, Bensimoun’s pocket nines got lucky against the pocket aces of Bart Lybaert to propel him to a big chip lead. Pushing his advantage home, Bensimoun then proceeded to eliminate five finalists from the competition before meeting Jakob Miegel in the final heads-up phase.
At this stage, Bensimoun held a 5:1 chip lead over the German player, but his opponent managed to wrestle the lead for a short time, during which Bensimoun narrowly missed being ousted from the event holding pocket jacks after his opponent only flat called preflop holding pocket kings, and an ace on the flop then killed most of the action.
After that, Bensimoun went on the ascendancy once more, and after recapturing the chip lead again, the deciding hand was then played with Miegel reraising all-in preflop holding A-7, only to be called by Bensimoun with Q-J. The dealer subsequently laid out a K-10-4-J-A board to make the Swiss player a straight and secure him the victory. Commenting on his earlier close escape, Bensimoun said:
“I got very lucky there. I was very lucky he didn’t shove. I would’ve snap-called with pocket jacks.”
Final Table Results:
1: Ben Bensimoun €94,349
2: Jakob Miegel €58,308
3: Bart Lybaert $50,185
4: Teun Mulder €31,214
5: Micha Hoedemaker €23,410
6: Lawrence Bayley €17,840
7: Dwayne Sluis €13,806
8: Paul Gresel €10,850
9: Govert Metaal €8,657