Moritz Dietrich become the winner of the biggest prize in online poker history when he took down the $25 million guaranteed World Series of Poker Online International Main Event event this week, a $5,000 buy-in contest that attracted 6,146 entries. The 27-year-old pro and Upswing Poker coach won $4 million and his first bracelet.
All final nine players were guaranteed at least a half-milly for making it through the massive field that generated an eye-popping $29,193,500 prize pool, and they were some of the best bangers currently operating globally, including Benjamin ‘bencb’ Rolle (8th -$651,921), recent WSOP main event 10th-place finisher Diogo Coelho (5th – $1,421,478), and bracelet winners Isaac Baron (4th – $1,843,337) and Rui Ferreira (3rd – $2,390,418).
The final table, which was streamed with a delay by GGPoker, the home of the WSOP outside the borders of the United States, featured one of the wildest and most expensive bad beats in recent history — and if the hand held up, the results in the tourney would most likely be very different.
Here’s what happened: Holding only 20 bigs, Evgenii Akimov jammed with 64 offset from the button. Baron, who with this cash now has more than $8 million in tournament winnings, made the call with twin kings. He seemingly locked the hand up after hitting a set on a flop next to a J and a 7.
Right then, Baron had a nearly a 97% chance to win the hand and take a huge chip lead with three players left. It didn’t happen when a 5 on the turn and an 8 on the river fell, giving Akimov a straight and shoving Baron out in fourth.
Weirdly, Akimov again found himself all-in on the button with 6c4s, this time against Rui Ferreira’s all-red AK in the big blind. Ferreira seemingly hit disco when he flopped top two (90% favorite), but a third spade on the turn flipped the predicted result closer to 60/40. Of course, a fourth spade fell on the river and that was it for Ferreira ($2,390,418).
That hand gave Akimov a 5 to 1 chip lead heads-up, but that switched after Dietrich’s pockets fives held against Akimov’s AK, and it soon would be over.
GGPoker achieved the huge field by holding 17 starting flights fed by 100s of satellites, a feature that is sadly missing from the upcoming WSOP Online domestic series that runs in the states from Sept. 29 to Nov. 12. While satellites to the events will be held, the offerings simply aren’t as robust as what’s available to those able to play on GGPoker outside the U.S.
| Place | Player | Earnings |
| 1 | Moritz Dietrich | $4,021,012 |
| 2 | Evgenii Akimov | $3,099,896 |
| 3 | Rui Ferreira | $2,390,418 |
| 4 | Isaac Baron | $1,843,337 |
| 5 | Diogo Coelho | $1,421,478 |
| 6 | Ilya Anatski | $1,096,180 |
| 7 | Hai Pan | $845,342 |
| 8 | Benjamin Rolle | $651,921 |
| 9 | Audrius Stakelis | $502,771 |
Watch the final table stream, hosted by Phil Laak and Jeff Gross, below.
