Jesper Hougaard Wins WSOP, WSOPE Bracelet in Same Year

Like Keeley Hazell going topless or Shannon Elizabeth changing online poker sites, it looked like a foregone conclusion that U.S. American Adam Junglen was going to capture WSOPE Event #1 (£1,500 No Limit Hold'em).

At the start of final table play, Junglen, who held the chip lead at all stages of the tourney, had over 700,000 more to his stack then Danish poker pro Jesper Hougaard, who was one of the short-stacks (eight overall).

Junglen flamed out quick though, exiting in sixth place as Hougaard, who won WSOP Event #36 this year, kept climbing.

Chipping up along with Hougaard was Fuad Serhan, who started final table play as the short-stack. While everyone else fell off, including Linda Lee, a woman, who finished seventh, Hougaard and Serhan improbably ended up playing for the title.

Heads-up play lasted all of five hands, with Hougaard taking it down and banking £144,218 for the win.

In related WSOPE news, screw Event #1 as some of poker's biggest names are among the chip leaders for Event #2 (£2,500 H.O.R.S.E.). Phil Ivey is chip leader at the end of Day 1 stacked at 59,200. He's followed by Phil Hellmuth (54,200) and WCP fave Woody Deck (37,500). Only 56 remain from the starting 110, with other big stacks including but not limited to Yuval Bronshtein (31,900), Joe Beevers (31,300), Isaac Haxton (30,800), Gus Hansen (30,600), Daniel Negreanu (30,200), and Howard Lederer (29,500).