Swedish online poker superstar Simon Mattsson added another pile of cash and some hardware to his enormous lifetime stack this week by winning the international WSOP.com Main Event for $2.8 million.
Held on GGPoker outside the US, the event attracted 4,984 entrants who paid $5,000 each over 11 starting flights to generate a $23.6 million prize pool. The largest online poker tournament prize pool in history came in this same event in 2020, which saw 5,802 entries fuel a kitty worth $27.5 million.
Tuesday’s win, which marks the biggest score of Mattsson’s career, pushed the savant who plays online as “C. Darwin2” to the top of the money list for online players with more than $27 million in winnings. In live events, playing under his real name, Mattssson has accumulated another $4.4 million.
A final table filled with tough players
Mattsson started the final table as a significant chip leader with 107.7 blinds (500K/1 million/125K), but he was facing a handful of players with millions in winnings between them.
Players like Thailand’s Kannapong Thanarattrakul, who capped a stupendous September with his runner-up finish in this event for $2,094,885.
Thanarattrakul had an extraordinary three-day run at the Triton Mediterranean Poker Party. There, he finished seventh in a $25K event for $145,700 on September 6, 10th in a $30K event for $75K on September 7, and third in the $50K No-Limit 6-Max event for $646,500.
Finishing third in the WSOP.com event was Feng Zhao of China, who took home $1,570,941. It’s the largest cash for the tournament player who has been on the trail since 2006. Finland’s Samuel Vousden is another online poker specialist who already owns one WSOP bracelet he won on GGPoker in August. He came to the table second in chips with 86.7 big blinds, but stalled out in fourth place for $1,178,040.
Finishing in fifth was Hungry’s Istvan Briski, who won $883,404. He final-tabled the WSOP $10k Super MILLION$ High Roller Event in August, finishing fourth for $451,883.
China’s Chi Yanfei finished sixth for $662,460.
Canada’s Jordan Spurlin has cashed in both live and online WSOP events since 2017, but the seventh-place finish here for $496,774 beats his largest haul by $35K, when he placed second in the $10 PLO 8-Handed Championship in 2021.
Oliver Sprason was the second player to go and walked away with $372,530. Sprason is a UK-based pro who cashed several times in this online Series.
Tim Rutherford of Canada finished ninth for $279,358. Another solid online player who consistently records cashes. This is his largest WSOP.com score.
The final table took about 2 hours and 41 minutes to complete. It was shown on YouTube, and was hosted by Jeff Gross and Jeremey Ausmus.
More than 126K players across the globe generated $62 million in prize money in this online Series, according to GGPoker.
Bracelet events are now taking place in the US markets.
The sweet Swede
Mattsson should be in any conversation when talking about who might be the best online tournament poker player in the world.
He’s been at or near the top of every monthly and annual money list since 2016, and it’s because all he seems to do is play online poker and cash. According to pocketfives — where he currently sits atop the worldwide all-time money list — Mattsson cashed 7,083 times, for an average amount of $3,901.
He led the world for online cashes in nine separate months since 2016.
This September alone, he cashed 100 times. He’s also a two-time Swedish Poker Player of the Year winner.
And in reality, he’s only just getting started.
Mattsson turns 30 next year.
