Martin Jacobson from Sweden outlasted his competition to win the most prestigious tournament on the poker circuit, the main event of the 2014 World Series Of Poker. He went through a grueling 16 hours against the ‘November Nine’ before finally triumphing over Felix Stephensen to win the coveted WSOP bracelet and also $10 million.
Before winning the main event, Jacobson had written “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity”. Jacobson initially wanted to be a chef and never dreamed of becoming a professional poker player.
He planned to move to Barcelona and pursue a career as a chef at a 3 star hotel but the deal fell through and Jacobson started trying his hand at poker.
He had reasonable success when he started to play poker and decided to pursue it as a full time career. For the last 6 years, Jacobson has made his living as a professional gambler and prefers to spend his time on sportsbetting. He had an advantage of the November Nine in that he had won over $1 million in prize money and had more experience playing main events than the rest of the competition.
Unlike the typical poker player, Jacobson did not wear any hoodie, sunglasses or baseball cap. He preferred to keep things simple and sometimes would stare down his opponents in an effort to predict their next move. While many people term poker as a game of luck, Jacobson would disagree because he put in a lot of time and effort to prepare for the WSOP main event.
An avid fitness enthusiast, Jacobson spends a lot of his time working out, doing yoga and meditation to keep his body and mind in the best shape possible. Jacobson has not yet said anything about how he is going to spend his prize money but he will not be looking for a full time job any time soon.
Felix Stephensen who came in second place, took home $5.1 million in prize money and was disappointed with how things turned out in the end. He said
It’s disappointing to be so close, but I got really lucky to get this far, and it was a tough final table
Both Jacobson and Stephensen currently reside in London and have plans to meet up to celebrate their win along with van Hoof who finished third at the event.
