Hecklen Spins It Up to Win £50,000 EPT London Super High Roller (£652,700)

The Day 3 finale of the £50,000 EPT London Super High Roller at the PokerStars European Poker Tour London has come to an end, with Henrik Hecklen walking away with the EPT trophy and the £652,700 first-place prize.

Hecklen defeated Day 2 Chip leader and EPT London £10,200 Mystery Bounty champion Juan Pardo in heads-up play after nearly four hours of play. The event drew 39 entries and generated a £1,891,890 prize pool.

Philip Sternheimer finished in third-place while Bruno Volkmann was fourth. Ben Heath and Daniel Dvoress rounded out the final table finishers.

£50,000 EPT London Super High Roller Final Table Results

£50,000 Super High Roller Day 3 Recap

Pardo used his big stack throughout the opening level of the day to pressure the rest of the table, but it was Hecken that made the first significant move of the day when he got it in with pocket kings against Sternheimer. Sternheimer’s ace-queen couldnt improve and Hecklen climbed out of the bottom of the rankings.

Dvoress was the first to go in sixth place when he bet big with a busted flush and was sniffed out by Pardo, who called with ace-high. Heath was out in fifth just a few moments later when his ace-queen ran into Hecklen’s pocket aces. Hecklen jumped above 2,000,000 with the elimination.

Volkmann got it all in with sixes, but Pardo made a pair with his king-queen and the Brazilian hit the rail in fourth place. Meanwhile, Sternheimer fought back with a double through Hecklen that knocked the eventual champion down near 1,200,000 chips. Sternheimer doubled again through Pardo when his eights outlasted ace-queen, but he lost a big pot to Hecklen when kings and jacks couldn’t beat aces and nines.

The Sternheimer elimination sent the tournament into heads-up play and Hecklen got to work on closing the gap with Pardo. Within a level, Hecklen had taken the lead, and he would only surrender it for a few hands before taking control for the rest of the match. The big moment came when Pardo shoved with a pair of deuces and Hecklen turned over two pair to win the tournament.

Winner’s Reaction

Hecklen and Pardo faced off earlier in the week at the end of the £10,200 Mystery Bounty. Pardo got the best of him the first time, but Hecklen had his revenge today.

“It’s funny that we ended up heads-up again, and I guess this time I was the lucky one,” Hecklen said in his post-win interview with PokerNews.

Hecklen came into the day at the bottom of the leaderboard, and Pardo had more than three times his nearest competitor. He was patient and he took advantage of an early double to give himself a few much-needed early chips.

“When he has all the chips you hope that you can ladder a few spots, right?” Hecklen said about his early strategy.

But Pardo didn’t have all the chips for long, and Hecklen climbed from the bottom to complete the underdog victory. Up next for the champ is a shot at the EPT London Main Event.

“I’m going to play the Main Event today, and I’ll probably play some of the other stuff. Maybe the £10,000.”