Tom-Aksel Bedell Wins PLO Crown as Lautaro Guerra Falls Just Short

A stunning final table packed with stars such as Tom Vogelsang, Lautaro Guerra and Maksim Shuts was topped by Tom-Aksel Bedell last night as the Norwegian won one of the biggest PLO tournaments to take place in 2025. Nine different nationalities were represented at the final table, and with a huge top prize of $456,000, everyone had to be on their game in order to battle for glory.

An Epic PLO Prizepool

With a total of 191 entries, a prizepool of $1.9 million was there to be won in the event, which cost just over $10,000 to play in Tirana, Albania. Only 23 players made the money but even claiming a min-cash of $24,000 were some poker legends. Finnish poker crusher Joni Jouhkimainen finished 22^nd, former footballer Max Kruse came 20^th for $24,500 and Eran Carmi finished 17^th for $28,500.

Dario Alioto, who has made real waves in the Pot Limit Omaha world in the past few years, came 15^th for $31,000. Lithuania’s Kasparas Klezys, who once made the final five players in the WSOP Europe Main Event, bubbled the final table, finishing 10^th for a score of $38,500.

When the final table began, Daniel Tordjman had a huge lead, with a stack of 18,300,000 chips meaning he had 229 big blinds. Dutch player Tom Vogelsang was second in chips with 68 big blinds. Everyone else was some way behind, so it was no surprise when a player busted only a few minutes after sitting down at the final table. Maksim Shuts committed his stack with A-J-8-3 but lost to Tordjman’s A-K-8-7 with neither player hitting a card. The Belarussian Shuts departed for a score of $45,250 in ninth place.

Kovalchuk Won’t Be Champion

Down to eight, the last remaining American in the field left the party for a score of $56,750. Andrew Ige was all-in with pocket aces in the hole but Tordjman once again claimed a scalp as his 9-7-6-5 met with the board of 7-4-2-3-Q to make a straight and reduce the field to seven in the process.

Hungary’s Gergo Nagy busted in seventh place for $77,500. Calling off his stack when a board of 4-4-3-7-T had landed, Nagy was wrong to do so as Tordjman – again – turned over the winning hand with 6-5-5-2 for a turned straight. The Hungarian’s departure was followed by that of Cypriot player Sofoklis Palekythritis for $104,500, as he lost to Tordjman’s pocket kings put paid to another player’s dream.

The Frenchman Tordjman was running over the final table and continued the massacre of his rivals when he took out the Ukrainian player Oleksii Kovalchuk for $135,000. Tordjman’s fifth elimination of the final table came about when he had A-6-5-4 against the Ukrainian’s A-Q-T-7 but flopped a straight on the 8-7-6 flop. After an ace o the turn and a three on the river, play moved four-handed as Tordjman further increased his control of the final table.

The Norwegian King

“I was lucky that I had the chip leader on my right. I was the only one who could play back.”

Down to four, Tordjman finally ran out of luck and took hits from Lautaro Guerra – who has won a WSOP bracelet in PLO – and the eventual champion Bedell, but still had the chips to take out Dutch player Tom Vogelsang in fourth place for $168,000. Vogelsang had K-J-T-6 with two clubs and two spades, while Tordjman had A-K-Q-9 but with three in diamonds. The flop had come A-K-3 with two spades but a ten and five in diamonds fell on turn and river, giving Tordjman the flush and taking out Vogelsang.

Despite leading with three remaining, Tordjman was the next to go. Despite having 70% of the chips in play, the French professional couldn’t win a pot as Tom-Aksel Bedell took over, winning hand after hand to lead. Tordjman lost his last to a full house for the Norwegian, who took a better than 4:1 chip lead into the final duel.

When Guerra shoved into Bedell’s pocket queens, the writing was on the wall. The board offered the Spanish player nothing and he cashed for $308,000 as runner-up, with Bedell’s win worth $456,000.

“I feel great – it’s always nice to win in PLO, as you need to have a lot of luck,” said Bedell when he spoke with PokerNews after the event. “You’re rarely getting it in with more than 65%. I never look at the pay jumps but I was lucky that I had the chip leader on my right. I was the only one who could play back.”

Bedell has fallen in love with Albania and will definitely be back after this signpost victory. “I got invited to this event for the first time and I loved the treatment they give you. The hotel, they treat my wife lovely as well. The atmosphere at the tables is also amazing.”

After an incredible win, Bedell’s success will doubtless inspire more to travel to Albania in 2026.