Norway’s Espen Jorstad channeled his inner Thor over nine days at the World Series of Poker to conquer a field of 8,663 players, becoming poker’s reigning world champion for the coming year. The poker pro completed the massive win on Saturday after just three players returned and took home the championship gold bracelet and $10 million in the process.
The $10,000 Main Event is the most prestigious tournament in the poker world and Jorstad now adds his name among poker legends like Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, and Chris Moneymaker. Jorstad returned as the final table chip leader and rode that lead to a title.
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“It feels very good,” he said afterward on the PokerGO stream. “It’s still sinking in.”
Steady Play Rules the Day
The final 10 players battled on Friday to reach the final three. Jorstad, 34, returned as a massive chip leader with almost twice as many as Australia’s Adrian Attenborough and more than four times as much as Argentina’s Michael Duek.
At the final table, Jorstad showed patience and mixed in some aggression as needed while not getting too far out of line. He continued that early in the final day, taking several pots as the shorter stacks looked to avoid major conflicts.
However, less than a half hour into the final table, the final trio became a heads-up battle. Duek bet all but one chip on the river with top pair, and then called all-in after Attenborough shoved with a Broadway straight. Duek, 23, was eliminated but scored $4 million for third place after beginning the final table in seventh. That brought a pay jump of almost $2.7 million.
Heads-up play lasted about 90 minutes and saw plenty of back-and-forth action. Jorstad seemed to be on the ropes at one point as Attenborough, 28, took the chip lead about a half-hour into play.
However, the Norwegian regrouped and charged ahead for the win. That included an almost 18-minute tank by his opponent as Duek considered a call on the first hand of heads-up play. He eventually folded and Jorstad’s bluff got through to take the pot.
The tank heard around the world.
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Espen Jorstad strikes first in heads-up play after moving all in on the river and putting Adrian Attenborough in the cage with his bluff catcher.
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“I just took a break, did some meditation, chilled out,” Jorstad said of the big moment as he waited for his opponent to make a decision.
Poker’s World Champion
The final hand saw both players see a flop of four-deuce-deuce with Attenborough checking his jack-four to be against Jorstad’s queen-deuce. Jorstad bet 4 million and Attenborough raised to 14 million. Jorstad then three-bet up to 32 million.
In an already-swollen pot, an eight came on the turn and Attenborough checked. His opponent fired 62 million and after a minute Attenborough called. The queen on the river gave Jorstad a full house and after another check from Attenborough, he bet 131 million. A call meant Attenborough would be all in with his tournament life at stake.
“This one could be bad guys,” he said as he considered his options.
Jorstad remained cool and collected with his opponent taking around eight minutes before calling. He quickly discovered his two pair were no good and the tournament was over. Jorstad was the new champion with Attenborough winning $6 million for runner-up.
The win caps a huge summer at the WSOP for Jorstad. Along with his Main Event win, the poker pro partnered with partypoker ambassador Patrick Leonard to take down the $1,000 Tag Team event for $74,042 each. He also scored runner-up in a $320 online event for $20,638.
The Main Event brought in an $80.8 million prize pool, the second-largest in history. Jorstad’s victory marks the fourth-straight win by a player from outside the U.S. This also marked the first year that the series played out at Bally’s and Paris casinos, the former of which will be rebranded later this year.
“This year’s historic WSOP was special for the poker community,” WSOP Senior Vice President and executive director Ty Stewart said. “Against all odds, poker made its way back in a big way and for the first time to the Las Vegas Strip. To see Espen persevere through 8,662 Main Event entrants – the second most in WSOP history, was incredible. We’re looking forward to raising Espen’s banner and coming back bigger than ever in the new Horseshoe Las Vegas next summer.”
Along with the cash, Jorstad wins quite a piece of poker hardware. Each tournament awards a championship gold bracelet, the largest of which comes in the Main Event. This year’s jewelry features a new design with 500 grams of 10-karat white and yellow gold, along with 55.5 karats or 2,767 of precious stones including rubies and black and white diamonds.
With the huge money, massive bracelet, and a rail of supporters throughout the final table, Jorstad was having trouble afterward taking in the entire series. Players who can find such a deep run to the final table have battled up to 12 hours each day. Plenty of exhaustion and mental fatigue comes with the experience. The new champion, however, was pleased with the results and his play throughout the series.
“I think it’s going to mean more in a few days when it sinks in,” he told PokerGO afterward. “Right now it just feels absurd. I was just so focused on this match. I came in today to just play poker. I tried not to think too much about what was at stake here. I was just trying to play the best poker. My opponent, Attenborough, was the one guy I didn’t want to meet heads up. He’s the one who’s been giving me the most trouble for the whole tournament. On Day 6 he kept winning every pot against me.
“But I kept making good hands (at the final table), fortunately. The cards just fell in my favor today.”
2022 WSOP Main Event Top 10 Payouts
| Place | Player | Nation | Payout |
| 1st | Espen Jorstad | Norway | $10,000,000 |
| 2nd | Adrian Attenborough | Australia | $6,000,000 |
| 3rd | Michael Duek | Argentina | $4,000,000 |
| 4th | John Eames | United Kingdom | $3,000,000 |
| 5th | Matija Dobric | Croatia | $2,250,000 |
| 6th | Jeffrey Farnes | United States | $1,750,000 |
| 7th | Aaron Duczak | Canada | $1,350,000 |
| 8th | Philippe Souki | United Kingdom | $1,075,000 |
| 9th | Matthew Su | United States | $850,675 |
| 10th | Asher Conniff | United States | $675,000 |
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