WPT Prime was at the Grand Casino Liechtenstein last weekend and saw 1,411 entries processed, including one from Switzerland’s Marc Sen. Sen may not be a name you are familiar with, but he pulled off a remarkable achievement.
Sen finished as runner-up to David Kozma in the 2023 edition of WPT Prime Liechtenstein, outlasting all but one of the 1,664-strong crowd. He collected the equivalent of $193,200 that day, but falling at the final hurdle of a large-field poker tournament is a bitter pill to swallow regardless of the financial rewards that come with it.
With that in mind, Sen dusted himself down and headed to the Grand Casino Liechtenstein last weekend. Three days later, Sen found himself as the last player standing and became the 2024 WPT Prime Liechtenstein Main Event champion; he banked another $236,466 and a seat in the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas for his efforts.
2024 WPT Prime Liechtenstein Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize (Swiss Francs) | Prize (US Dollars) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marc Sen | Switzerland | CHF 200,592 | $236,466 |
| 2 | Leandro Dirlewanger | Italy | CHF 132,000 | $155,607 |
| 3 | Alexis Tremblay | Australia | CHF 98,000 | $115,527 |
| 4 | Nico Frenn | Switzerland | CHF 73,000 | $86,055 |
| 5 | Manfred Eberhard Frick | Germany | CHF 55,000 | $64,836 |
| 6 | Matej Michalek | Czech Republic | CHF 42,500 | $50,101 |
| 7 | Milad Sheva | Germany | CHF 32,500 | $38,312 |
| 8 | Phuong Nguyen | Switzerland | CHF 25,500 | $30,060 |
Leandro Dirlewanger sat down at the eight-handed final table with a colossal chip lead over his opponents. The Italian’s 29,350,000 stack was the equivalent of 147 big blinds. Sen was in second place with 41 big blinds.
Eight hands into the final table action, Phuong Nguyen, one of the short stacks, busted at Dirlewanger’s hands. Dirlewanger opened to 650,000 at the 125,000/250,000/250,000a level and called when Nguyen three-bet all-in for approximately 1,400,000. Nguyen turned over ace-five, Dirlewanger the jack-nine, and a jack-high board sent Nguyen to the showers.
Three players busted in the space of three orbits. First, Milad Sheva committed his tiny stack with trey-deuce of clubs and lost to the pocket tens of Nico Frenn. A couple of orbits later, Matej Michalek’s ace-trey of clubs couldn’t get there against Dirlewanger’s black queens before Dirlewanger’s ace-deuce prevailed against the queen-jack of diamonds in Manfred Eberhard Frick‘s hand.
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Dirlewanger looked to have one hand on the trophy with four players remaining as he held a commanding lead. However, Frenn doubled through him on the 72nd hand of the final table before Sen did the same two hands later. One hand after that, Sen flopped Broadway in a sizable pot, forcing Dirlewanger to make a disciplined fold.
Sen continued chipping up and snatched the lead before forging a decent gap between himself and the chasing pack.
The final four became three with the untimely demise of Frenn, who had been nursing a short stack. Frenn had doubled through Sen, but Sen got those chips back with interest when Frenn jammed for 13 big blinds with ace-seven, and Sen’s pocket tens improved to an unnecessary straight.
Australian Alexis Tremblay was left with less than a solitary big blind when his jack-ten failed to beat Dirlewanger’s dominating king-jack. Amazingly, Tremblay tripled up, then doubled up, but busted in a three-way pot where Sen’s king-five paired its five to win the hand.
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Sen went into the heads-up battle with a 48,350,000 to 8,100,000 chip lead. He was relentlessly aggressive in the opening confrontations, but Dirlewanger found pocket kings and doubled up when Sen called a shove with queen-deuce.
Try as he may, Dirlewanger couldn’t claw his way back into contention and ultimately fell in second place like Sen had last year. The 129th and final hand of the WPT Prime Liechtenstein Main Event final table saw Sen move all-in with king-nine, and Dirlewanger call off his last 11 big blinds with queen-eight of diamonds. A drama-less ace-high board was no help to Dirlewanger, and he bowed out in second place, leaving last year’s runner-up to become the latest WPT Prime champion.
No Rest for the Wicked
The WPT Prime action comes thick and fast, giving players no time to rest on their laurels. Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham, the home of British poker, hosts the WPT Prime UK festival between September 11-16. The festival features a £1,100 Main Event carrying a £360,000 guaranteed on its prize pool.