Keith Tilston has won Event 83: $100,000 buy-in NLH super high roller event of the WSOP 2019, after beating a field of 99 entries to claim his first gold bracelet and the top prize of $2,792,406. This win was his first seven-figure score and it took his live tournament earnings to more than $6.4 million.
“I do play a lot of high roller events and I feel good to know I can at least hang with these guys. Obviously there’s a lot of luck in each individual tournament and you gotta run well. I certainly don’t claim to be as good as a lot of these guys, but it feels good I can at least hang with them,” said the eventual champion.
After a sixth-place finish in the $50,000 High Roller of the series for $275,874, Tilston entered the final day of the event as the chip leader, while Negreanu had come into the final table as the short stack. However, the latter doubled up through almost everyone at the table, apart from Tilston.
The well-known Canadian pro Negreanu had taken a slight lead into heads-up play with Tilston after he eliminated Nick Schulman in third place ($1,187,802). Pre-flop, Negreanu made it to 1,600,000 and Keith Tilston called, while Schulman was all in for 1,325,000 in the big blind, which created a small side pot. Negreanu held K9 for two pair on the runout of K 10 10 9 6, while Schulman showed 85. The former won both pots to eliminate Schulman in third place.
The six-time bracelet winner – Negreanu, who had finished sixth in the 2019 WSOP $10,000 super turbo bounty NLH event, second in the $10,000 seven-card stud championship and fifth in the $10,000 razz championship, was able to extend his lead during the heads-up before Tilston holding KQ hit trip kings against Negreanu’s top pair. Negreanu had regained the lead for a while, but Tilston rivered a flush to take nearly a 4-to-1 advantage by the time the final hand arrived.
On the final hand, Negreanu finally got his last chips in with Ah 2d and Tilston called with Qc Jd. The board ran out 8c 7h 6h 7s Js. Tilston got a pair of jacks and it was enough to earn him the pot as well as the title. Negreanu earned $1,725,838 for his runner-up finish, taking his live tournament earnings to a whopping $41,852,649. The player now holds second place in poker’s all-time earnings list, behind only Justin Bonomo ($45,012,929). As for Canada’s ALL TIME MONYE List, he tops the list.
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Payout |
| 1 | Keith Tilston | $2,792,406 |
| 2 | Daniel Negreanu | $1,725,838 |
| 3 | Nick Schulman | $1,187,802 |
| 4 | Igor Kurganov | $840,183 |
| 5 | Brandon Adams | $611,258 |
| 6 | Dominik Nitsche | $457,772 |
| 7 | Sergi Reixach | $353,202 |
| 8 | Christoph Vogelsang | $281,025 |
