Tobias Schwecht Makes Superb Comeback for WSOP Circuit Win in London

In a thrilling finale, Tobias Schwecht won the latest WSOP Circuit event by beating Kannapong Thanarattrakul for the win. With a top prize of over $611,000 and the world-famous ring captures, Schwecht could reflect on an incredible comeback as the previous unassailable Thanarattrakul was overcome at the end of an epic heads-up match.

Over 900 Play Mammoth WSOPC Event

The JW Marriott Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane in London’s exclusive West End district was the venue for the latest WSOP Circuit stop. With a buy-in just over $4,000, collecting 125 times that amount for first prize was something no-one could resist. With four Day 1 flights, there was enough room to cram in 910 entries for the event, which forms part of the World Series’ efforts to step up their global travel in 2023.

Falling just short of the £3,000,000 guarantee (around $4.1 million), the final table kicked off on Day 4 of the event, where the Thai player Kannapong Thanarattrakul began play with a substantial chip lead. It would be a to-and-fro battle with the eventual winner Tobias Schwecht which would define the final table.

Toby Lewis sat down with the short stack, and despite being the player with the most experience at the final table, he lost a big coinflip when his pocket queens couldn’t hold against Romanian Catalin Pop’s ace-king of hearts. Lewis, who won seven figures when he came 7^th in this year’s Main Event only a month ago, took home $38,000 for his performance as two hearts on the flop and another on the turn sealed his fate before the river card landed.

Miscikowski Misses Out

With eight left, David Miscikowski missed out on the business end of the event, instead cashing for around $46,000. He was the first of seven players to be eliminated by either Schweckt or Thanarattrakul and was unfortunate in his position going into the hand. All-in with ace-eight, Miscikowski lost to Thanarattrakul’s suited ace-six as a second flush-related elimination came on the turn to send the American home.

Pop may have busted Lewis, but their chip stack never really climbed high in the counts and despite being fourth when the final seven stacked up, crashed out in seventh for $57,000. All-in with ace-jack pre-flop, he lost to Thanarattrakul’s ace-queen as the board came with a jack in the window but a queen right behind it. A five, ten and another five ended Pop’s run in heart-breaking style.

Chrisitan Rudolph was down to six big blinds and shoved with queen-seven of hearts, but lost to Schwecht’s ace-five as the board came A-J-T-8-5 to send the German home for a cash of $76,000 as the talented and experienced player lost out, giving everyone a huge boost after making one of the “folds of the year” in the previous day’s action according to commentator James Dempsey.

Schwecht Gets the Gold After Comeback Heroics

Down to five players, the top two had two-thirds of the remaining chips and saw the other three bust in short order. British player Philip Ward (5^th for $115,000) lost with ace-king to Thanarattrakul’s ace-jack when a jack landed on the river before fellow Brit Ravi Sheth lost with ace-nine against Schwecht’s ace-seven, a devastating seven coming on the river to send him home with $178,000 in fourth place.

Pavel Plesuv would have been dangerous but Moldovan’s biggest-ever winner dropped to five big blinds and shoved with nine-eight, losing to Schwecht’s ace-ten of spades as the board came A-Q-9-J-K to eliminate Plesuv for a result worth $268,000.

Heads-up, Schwecht – who had eliminated three out of the previous four players – still had only 19,475,000 chips to Thanarattrakul’s 34,650,000 but managed to turn it around in the final stages of battle. As heads up play lasted just short of an hour in the English capital, it took half of that time for the stacks to even up after some ‘smallball’ pots. Schwecht won a bit more with pocket jacks to take the lead and pressed that into a better than 4:1 advantage as Thanarattrakul looked down at two black jacks himself.

All the chips went into the middle, but it was Schwecht who hit with king-five of hearts finding a king on the flop to take the crown, as another on the turn and a ten on the river confirmed his victory for $612,000, with Thanarattrakul adding another $389,000 to the $2.5 million in live tournament cashes he’d already piled up before the event.

Watch the final table with James Dempsey joined by legendary co-commentator Randy ‘Nanonoko’ Lew right here: