At the very beginning of the broadcast, Hellmuth recognizes Bencb's nickname and asks his colleague, "But wait, did Bencb make the final table last year at this same event?!" After hear Ben made 6th place, Phil was generous with praise:
"Incredible. Hats off to him. These are massive fields."
Finalist stacks:
Seating arrangement:
As a reminder, the finalists take turns choosing their seats at the table, with short stacks going first and the chip leader last. Ben didn't take a seat directly beside the next largest stack, Anatoly Zlotnikov, but chose to sit to the left of the mid-stacks.
Benjamin Rolle starts by winning small pots, raising preflop, hitting the flop, and picking up chips with a small continuation bet. Then he opens Q3s from third position—a steal that works preflop. Phil smiles:
"Nobody wants to mess with the chip leader. Easy as pie! Here we go again!" Ben shows K8s from UTG+1, and everyone folds. He only decides to check A6o from UTG.
"Well, that's right. Winning twice in a row—great. Let's not go crazy," Hellmuth approves, eating avocado with a fork. "By the way, did you know there's a channel where you can watch people eat? It's a bit weird for me! But some of my most popular videos are of me eating cheeseburgers and stuff. Maybe there's something to that."
A small pot in the blinds, in which Santiago Plante limped and checked every street, Ben takes down on the river.
"I like to fold here," Phil shares, "because other players will watch the stream, see me check back with 8-high, and say, 'Oh, Ben's not trying to win every pot, okay.' I like to build a super-tight image that allows me to bluff later."
Ben's first small setback comes when he opens three-handed pots into four players and gets three-bet by a Chinese player named Chen on the button. He's forced to fold.
"The crowd at home is probably wondering why he didn't call with a pair," Phil says suddenly. "He had trips, right? He could have hit a set. Well, the problem is, only a set would save us. After all, our opponent will continuation bet any flop. If we knew in advance that he was going to check a lot, then calling with trips would be really easy."
While Phil and Jeff discuss the incident, Ben opens J9o in six and again takes the blinds and antes without a fight.
On the button, Ben calls under a raise from Daniel Smiljkovic with , checks the flop following GTO Wizard's recommendation (which the broadcast director occasionally displays as infographics), and makes a small bet on the turn.
Solver, however, was very enthusiastic in recommending an overbet, not believing that such a small hand could knock out A-high... but it turned out that it could – Smiljkovic folds quite quickly.
CoinPoker ambassador Ben keeps pouring it on. It seems like his opponents are tired of having to endure two light raises from the chip leader in a row being called and shoved all-in—but no, they're just getting premium hands. in the first case and in the second. So in the next hand, when Ben gets K7s in the middle, he doesn't miss the chance to open-raise again—and this time, he takes the pot without a fight.
Soon Anatoly Zlotnikov decides on the biggest bluff of the final table so far:
“It’s just incredible!” Phil marvels. “And he pushed so quickly, almost instantly. It’s as if he’s saying: what’s there to think about, I have . Wow!
It's time for Ben to play a slightly larger pot than usual. He limps the small blind with KJo, flops top pair, and sneakily checks back. He makes a delayed continuation bet of about a quarter of the pot on the turn and follows up with a big bet on the river:
"It's so hard for Santiago to fold!" Hellmuth sympathizes. "The check after the flop was simply brilliant."
With that, Santiago calls, and Ben wins the pot for 28.5 million, strengthening his lead and crossing the 100 million mark for the first time. However, it doesn't last long – he soon doubles Rabas's shortstack in an all-in preflop move. < .
The first knockout of the final table is made by Anatoly Zlotnikov: after opening AT0, he calls Chen's all-in short stack with odds and beats the big hand on the river:
Ben-Yakov is next to go, having decided at the wrong moment to out-raise Rabas's open with AJo, not with a small three-bet early, leaving the option to fold, but with an all-in. Rabas happily calls with aces and makes a set.
"Jeff, did you notice how many blinds he shoved in with ace-jack?" Hellmuth asks. "I'm genuinely curious."
“Not that many – about 15,” Gross replies.
– "Okay, fine. But I still don't like it. The guy opened from UTG, and you immediately shove him ? At a time when you can just wait and, if the opportunity arises, move up a couple of places and earn a ton of money?"
Phil doesn't approve of this kind of game!
Then we're shown the hand from the blinds, with Ben's cards hidden. Limp-check preflop, check-check flop, 75% and call on the turn, and Santiago bets a little over a third on the flush draw and gets all-in:
"I don't know what Ben has, but I'm calling instantly, instantly!" Hellmuth gets excited. "I really like Santiago's sizing; it's quite creative and inviting bluffs."
Santiago calls and looks at .
"Gotcha," Hellmuth sighs. "There's no way Ben would check a flush draw on the flop. He was cleverly bluffed."
Bencb has 52 million remaining, which is the third stack.
Having almost reached 100 million, Anatoly Zlotnikov puts three barrels into the former chip leader's big blind:
Ben thinks for a long time and goes all-in, contrary to the solver's recommendation.
"What a mistake from Anatoly," Hellmuth laments. "But I don't like the all-in at the end either."
Having regained the chip lead, Ben takes the initiative again and starts to play. However, he open-raises again from the button with ... and gets all-in from Andreas Christoforou in the small blind!
The turn and river do not change the situation, and six remain in the game.
Stacks in the second break of GGPoker's Online WSOP Main Event:
Returning from the break, Ben limps from the small blind, checks a monotonous flop with two pair, makes a big bet on the offsuit turn, and, after improving on the river, bets almost the full pot:
“I’d bet 8-9 million so the king could comfortably call,” Phil says.
Felix folds.
"Good fold, Felix! But I'd have to pay 10 million. Maybe even 15. I'd definitely choose the bet that gets paid."
Jeff Gross points out that each of the remaining players has guaranteed themselves a million dollars, having invested only 5 thousand to participate in the tournament!
Santiago Plante has less than 10 blinds left when it's his turn in the small blind. With K7o, the Canadian moves all-in into Ben Rolle's big blind. Ben has ATo, and a simple call follows. The flop comes a ten, leaving five players left after the river.
Smiljkovic defends BB 43s against Perez's kings and finds a way to win the hand!
On the flop, Perez continuation-bet 1/5 the pot, then checked... and the solver, starting with the turn, demanded Smiljkovic bet! Daniel didn't listen on the turn, but on the river, he finally found the required half-pot – and won!
"Well done, I have to give him credit! He's bluffed several times and still managed to survive," comments Hellmuth.
Perez is left with a short stack after this hand, and when he's in the big blind and the second chip leader shoves all-in from the small blind, K7s is enough to call. Rabas is behind with Q9o, but the flop comes a nine, and the Argentine player is eliminated in 5th place.
The next blind clash involves Zlotnikov and Smiljkovic. Anatoly shoves with 13 big blinds, KQo, and his opponent calls with 11 big blinds with sixes. The flop comes a queen, deciding the hand in the Russian player's favor. Out—three players remain in the hand.
"Wow, how quickly things change, wow!" Phil said, impressed. Or maybe he was disappointed – for a tournament with the grand name WSOP Online Main Event, there wasn't much postflop action.
Anatoly 3-bets Ben:
"It's a difficult decision," Hellmuth shrugs. "Or rather, a simple one—it's difficult to play correctly against your opponent's hand. And so, passing seems very simple to me. You have ace-ten, and the second stack is raising you!"
Ben agrees with Phil and passes.
He then defends 65s in the big blind, pays a small continuation bet on the ace flop with third pair, checks the turn, and after his opponent checks, decides to bluff the river:
Unfortunately for him, Rabas has nothing to think about—a quick call follows. Meanwhile, Phil explains how the poker world has come to love him, even though everyone used to hate him.
Anatoly punishes Rabas for excessive aggression:
"That's not a random raise!" Phil explains. "Felix's been raising like crazy from the small blind, bluffing a lot. This information isn't lost on the other players, and they're adjusting."
In a limped pot with the blinds, Ben passes up the opportunity to bet on the flop but makes a big bet on the turn:
Rabas calls.
River – There are 22.5 million in the bank, Rabas has 75 million. After a pause, Ben bets 8.75 million. Rabas responds:
Ben folds. A worthy battle!
If Rabas didn't get it, let's try bluffing Zlotnikov! Ben raises QJo on the button and fires two hefty barrels with queen-high, but Zlotnikov stubbornly calls. And the river brings an ace!
After spending a considerable amount of time thinking, Ben finally resigns. And, having won the pot by matching three of a kind, Anatoly Zlotnikov becomes the chip leader!
Rabas immediately takes some of Zlotnikov's chips with an expensive rebluff:
But over-the-top aggression doesn't always yield the desired results. It seems this is the first time in a final table that Ben has limp-raised preflop, and with such an enticing sizing, inviting his opponent to play postflop in position:
But Rabas still goes all-in!
"Wow!" Hellmuth says when he sees this all-in, and when the flop comes, he jumps out of his chair closer to the screen!
But the turn and river come out blanks, and Ben Rolle is back on top.
"But you could have just fallen, Ben played like that for the first time!" Hellmuth says admonishingly. "Why replay like that?" Ben certainly tried his best, played a really scary line, found the only way to give his opponent a rebound, but still ended up with a full double.
After a series of checks, Ben bluffs Anatoly.
But he refuses to be bluffed and calls with fifth pair!
"What a magnificent call! Anato-o-o-oly! It seems like nothing beats it, but still – fifth pair, call. Beautiful!" Hellmuth is simply delighted.
And now Anatoly is bluffing Ben:
Ben raised preflop, made a small continuation bet on the flop, and checked the turn. Anatoly's story probably isn't the most reliable, and bencb calls with king-high!
"And now Ben makes a great call!" Hellmuth said, sounding very good-natured. "That was powerful."
Rabas's karmic elimination – he limps A3s and goes all-in for a raise. But the timing was not the best.
The $900,000 HU is off to a good start for Anatoly.
But everything changes very quickly:
“I didn’t expect that,” Phil says. “I didn’t expect that. What are you doing, Anatoly? Too many chips with ! It's heads-up, you can play and play. Why, why?.. In my opinion, it's very bad.
Ben calls and wins the all-in bet.
In a couple more minutes it's all over.
To the applause of Phil Hellmuth and the enthusiastic congratulations of Jeff Gross, the WSOP Online Main Event bracelet goes to one of poker's most hard-working and dedicated regulars.
Hellmuth's summary:
– Other than the one misstep that Ben made where he had and he went all-in on his opponent with a straight—you look at the hands he played after that: – collected a full house. Put it out against . Posted against For me, a good player is someone who has a huge edge in key hands. That's exactly what Ben showed today. Felix gave away a few times, and Anatoly made a mistake towards the end—his hand was I didn't like it at all, too many blinds to put in! Of course, any of Ben's opponents could have gotten lucky ad won, and the result would have been different. But Ben kept pushing all-in with the best hand, playing in excellent style. My hats off to Bencb! Congratulations! Great play.
The GipsyTeam editorial team is also pleased to congratulate Ben Rolle on his huge victory!
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