Less than a year ago, Ben Rolle took first place in the WSOP Online Main Event, besting a field of 5,961 opponents to claim the largest prize of his career – $3.9 million.
Then, in early September on GGPoker, the online poker guru, posting astonishing results despite a noticeably reduced playing time, won his second bracelet and a seven-figure prize. It was another mega-field – the WSOP Online Millionaire Maker with a $1,500 buy-in and 5,518 entrants.
The first-place payout was $1,366,929. Ben also received a $30,000 package to the 2026 WSOP Paradise Super Main Event.
Ben only turned on his stream for the heads-up portion. He entered the final table as the dominant chip leader with a stack of 127 blinds, more than double his nearest competitor. The first knockout also went to Ben. With , he won against the of Austrian Marcel Kessler, who had 22 big blinds. A queen appeared on the turn.
And in 7th place, Ben eliminated Son Lee, who defended JTo against a raise from the button with an effective stack of 11.5bb. On the board Ben bet all the streets, Lee paid with JTo and fell to KQs.
Denis Chufarin four-bet bencb for half his stack with A8o and folded to an all-in. Ben showed three-of-a-kind, and then said he had even , and this is a pure exploit that he prepared for some opponents.
The Ukrainian player was eliminated in 6th place, for a prize of $253,995. His compatriot Andrey Derzhipilsky took 5th place for $355,612.
Ben Rolle started his match against Frenchman (albeit playing under the Austrian flag) Loris Gauthier with 76 bb against 61 bb, but Bencb's stream starts a little later with 46 blinds against 64.
Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. We got 20 big blinds to catch up.
Gauthier raises 2 bb. Ben with3-bets to 7bb. The opponent, after thinking, calls.
Flop (14.2 bb):
Ben bets 3 big blinds. His opponent calls, and the turn is the fourth spade.
Turn (20.2 bb):
We're going to triple this off. I mean, we could potentially make him fold an eight. Now he has 98 and he still has all the middling spades, right? Sevens, nines, tens.
He bets 6.5 bb, there are 29.8 bb behind. The opponent calls.
River:
Ben puts the slider all-in, but then thinks about it.
He has he doesn't have A-Q, has A-10, A-7, A-4, these three flushes. We block deuces. We need to bluff. No, he doesn't throw away royal flushes.
Is he calling any flush? He's calling any flush, right?
Uh pot size. We need to We need him to for half at least half of the combos of the flushes plus the boats. We have to give this up.
Ben checks.
We dodged it. We dodged it.
on the button, and Bencb limps. Gauthier raises to 5 bb.
We call this.
Flop (10.2 bb):
The opponent bets 2 bb. Ben calls.
Turn (14.2 bb):
The opponent bets 7 bb. Ben calls.
River (28.2 bb, effective stack 15.6 bb):
Gauthier, with 43 seconds in the time bank, goes all-in with. Ben doesn't slowroll.
Understandable jam! Very understandable jam. Good turn bet.
on the button. Min-raise. Opponent calls.
Flop (4.2 bb):
Both check.
Turn (4.2 bb):
The opponent bets 2.7 bb. Ben calls.
River (9.6 bb):
The opponent checks.
The queen-high has value at showdown, we just check.
There, the lady takes it.
in the BB. Gauthier min-raises, Ben calls.
Flop (4.2 bb):
Check – check.
This could have been the fastest stream in history. Luckily, I didn't... He also has a tricky spot with sevens, but I like his line. Good sizing on the turn, even 10bb is fine. I have a lot of overcards, so it's good to force them to fold.
Turn (4.2 bb):
Ben bets 4.2 bb, which is quickly followed by a fold.
on the button. Ben min-raises. Gauthier calls.
Flop (4.2 bb):
Check. Continuation bet 1.5 bb. Opponent calls.
Turn (7.2 bb):
Check – check.
River (7.2 bb):
The opponent bets 1.8 bb. Ben folds.
on the button. Ben min-raises. Gauthier calls.
Flop (4.2 bb):
Check – check after check.
Turn (4.2 bb):
Check. Ben bets 3.5 bb. There's a quick fold.
in the BB. Gauthier min-raises, Ben calls.
Flop (4.2 bb):
Check – check.
Turn (4.2 bb):
Two checks again.
River (4.2 bb):
Check – check. Opponent loses with.
on the button. Ben min-raises. Gauthier 3-bets 8bb. Ben calls.
Flop (16.2 bb):
Continuation bet 4.1 bb.
Without a backdoor flush, we have to fold.
Ben folds.
on the button. Ben minraises, Gauthier calls.
Flop (4.2 bb):
Check. Continuation bet 1.4 bb – quick fold.
in the BB. Gauthier min-raises, Ben calls.
Flop (4.2 bb):
Check. Continuation bet 1.4bb. Fold.
on the button. Ben min-raises. Gauthier 3-bet 8bb.
This would be a normal push, but I'll call, we'll play postflop.
Flop (16.2 bb):
Good flop.
The opponent gets into the time bank a little and bets 8 big blinds. Ben calls.
Turn (32.2 bb, effective stack 38.6 bb):
Here you will have to fold to the bet.
Gautier, however, checks.
Probably worth betting for a free showdown.
Ben takes a long time to decide on a sizing and bets 7.5 big blinds. Gauthier, after thinking a little longer than expected, calls.
River (47.2 bb):
Well, I hope for a check-check against .
? Interesting. Would he have stacked it off preflop? He's hardly 3-betting to fold to a 4-bet, right?
in the big blind. Gauthier limps. Ben goes all-in. After thinking for a moment, his opponent calls.
on the button. Gauthier 3-bets 8bb. Ben 4-bets 16.5bb. His opponent immediately folds.
in the big blind. Gauthier (with a 30-blind stack) limps. Ben cranks the slider to all-in, then makes it 5bb. His opponent quickly folds to this sizing.
on the button. Ben min-raises. Gauthier calls.
Flop (4.2 bb):
Check – check.
Turn (4.2 bb):
Check again – check.
River (4.2 bb):
Check – check, and Gauthier has . Ben wins with the fives.
on the BB. Gauthier limps, Ben checks back.
Flop (2.2 bb):
Check-call a 1bb bet.
Turn (4.2 bb):
Check. Opponent bets 3bb. Ben folds.
on the button. Ben limps. Opponent checks.
Flop (2.2 bb):
Check. Ben bets 1bb. Call.
Turn (4.2 bb):
Two quick checks.
River (4.2 bb):
Can we win against ?
Check – check, the opponent shows.
Let's go!
in the BB. Gauthier limps, Ben checks.
Flop (2.2 bb):
Check – check.
Turn (2.2 bb):
Ben bets 2.2bb and gets an immediate fold.
on the button. Ben limps. Gauthier checks.
Flop (2.2 bb):
Check. Ben bets 1 big blind. The opponent calls.
Turn (4.2 bb):
Gautier checks. Ben sighs—no hearts, mind you—and checks after him.
River (4.2 bb):
Gauthier bets 2.2 BB. Ben spends a few seconds deciding on a raise size – starting with 10 BB, then gradually working his way up to 11.5 BB. His opponent immediately folds to his raise.
in the big blind. Gauthier limps (he has 21 big blinds). Ben initially wants to isolate, then changes his mind and checks.
Flop (2.2 bb):
Check – bet 1 bb – call.
Turn (4.2 bb):
Ben checks. Gauthier goes into the time bank with just four seconds left and bets 4.2 big blinds. Ben folds.
on the button. Ben limps. Gauthier isolates to 3.5 bb and takes down the pot preflop.
in the big blind. Gauthier limps. Ben checks.
Flop (2.2 bb):
Ben checks. Gauthier thinks the time bank is down to zero, which seems to force an automatic check, but no—he checks himself, with one second left on his clock.
Turn (2.2 bb):
Ben bets 1.5 bb. Gauthier calls.
River:
He has some interesting combinations – , with one club. So, we go small, trying to induce a rase
He's going to raise a flush anyway, and he might even jam.
Ben sets the blocking size to 1.7 bb.
After waiting no more than 20 seconds, Ben goes all-in.
The call comes instantly:
Wow! He calls it off. Let's go! We did it!
Wow, he didn't believe that I can do this with the flush. Let's go.
That was an interesting spot. I think it's really good to bet small, and then people, I think, overplay their hands a bit. I mean, I don't think it's bad to raise a king, but I think you just can't step off because you also have two pairs. You have straights.
Oh, we did it. Second bracelet. Oh my god, that's insane.
Almost immediately, Ben began his usual analysis.
Online, Alec Torelli praised this side of the champion, saying "Like only an elite pro does, his mind immediately gravitates toward analyzing the bet sizing on the final hand, and the raise from his opponent. Literally not even thinking about the fact he just won $1,400,000 and 1,000x'd his investment. Really says it all. What a legend. Congrats bro."
That was a bit of a misstep by him on the river. He played really nicely heads-up, I think. Overall, I didn't know much about his game. Yeah, it was interesting.
This turn call with king-ten offsuit... actually, I missed that. Yeah, I think that's too wild.
The river raise to a fifth is not bad. But I really, I don't know. If you go pot, he's not raising two pairs anymore, right? And it's also harder for me if he has jack-ten, nine-eight offsuit, nine of clubs, eight-seven offsuit, seven of clubs, ace-eight, ace of clubs. So many nice hands to bluff-raise the river with.
That's why I want to choose the small sizing. And then I think this is where people are going to make a lot of mistakes. I'm happy I didn't go for the big sizing. But maybe it's also a timing thing.
When he snap-called, I was like, "He has the nut flush."
That's why it's always so important to play your value hands well. Usually you want to go big, but sometimes it makes sense. I mean, heads-up is a bit different.
