Linus Loeliger Wins Poker Masters For $1.1 Million

Linus Loeliger added to his already glowing reputation by winning the Poker Masters Online Main Event for $1,097,250.

The Swiss grinder start his online poker career in 2013. Loeliger embarked on a bankroll building challenge like many new players do. He started with $150 and played $0.05/$0.10 with the aim of climbing to $0.50/$1 by year-end.

Loeliger posted his plans on the Two Plus Two forums and kept a blog detailing his progress. His later updates were sporadic and Loeliger removed some others, but it’s fair to say he achieved his goal.

He became a regular in the $10/$20 games by 2016, taking shots at $25/$50. A year later, Loeliger could be found playing $200/$400 where he became feared as much as respected.

Cash games were kind to him and he racked up more than $1.5 million in profit. It didn’t take long for high stakes tournaments to come calling.

Loeliger Bursts Onto Super High Roller Tournament Scene

The Swiss star cashed in two tournaments in Malta in 2015. Neither was particularly impressive, but a victory in London was. Loeliger was visiting friends in London when he decided to enter a £2,200 on a whim. £55,650 found its way to Loeliger’s bankroll after he topped a field of 114-entrants.

Loeliger focussed on cash games again for the next three years before jumping in some huge live events. He finished third in a Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Montenegro for $219,262. Victory in a £25,000 buy-in 6-Max event two months later yielded $840,039. Another $720,288 hit his account a couple of days later.

Loeliger Wins $51,000 Buy-in Online Event

The Poker Masters Online series concluded at partypoker on April 26 with a $51,000 buy-in Main Event. $2 million was guaranteed, but a $3,850,000 prize pool was created thanks to 77 entries.

Some of the world’s best players bought in, which made for an extremely tough event. The likes of Jason Koon, Dario Sammartino, Fedor Holz, and Justin Bonomo busted before the money. As did Isaac Haxton, Sam Greenwood, and Sam Trickett.

Lebanon’s Karim Khayat burst the money bubble when he bust in 11th place. Khayat’s exit locked up at least $154,000 for the 10 surviving players.

Vicent Ramon and Conor Beresford busted in the money, the latter falling in ninth-place this setting the final table.

Star-Studded Final Table Set

Australian superstar Kahle Burns was the final table’s first casualty. Eighth-place weighed in at $163,624. David Peters joined Burns on the rail, doing so with $182,875 in his partypoker account.

Sixth-place and $211,750 went to Elias Talvitie before Ole Schemion crashed out. Schemion got his hands on $269,500.

Then came the exit of Steve O’Dwyer. The Netherlands-based American is more used to playing these stakes in a live setting. O’Dwyer proved he can still mix it up online by claiming the $346,500 fourth-place prize.

Heads-up was set when Chris Kruk fell by the wayside in third place. Kruk saw $519,750 head his way. Imagine winning more than half a million dollars and still being upset. That’s poker.

Loeliger locked horns with Giuseppe Iadisernia, a rich Venezuelan. The battle between old school and new breed ensued but there was only ever going to be one winner. Loeliger was that winner, turning his $51,000 into a colossal $1,097,250. Iadisernia collected $750,750 for his impressive second-place finish.

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Linus Loeliger	Austria	$1,097,250
2	Giuseppe Iadisernia	United Kingdom	$750,750
3	Christopher Kruk	Canada	$519,750
4	Steve O’Dwyer	Netherlands	$346,500
5	Ole Schemion	Austria	$269,500
6	Elias Talvitie	Finland	$211,750
7	David Peters	Costa Rica	$182,875
8	Kahle Burns	Mexico	$163,625

Going Full Circle

We’d like to say that completes Loeliger’s journey, but there is surely more to come from the young Swiss star. It’s amazing to think he was playing $0.05/$0.10 cash games only seven years ago. Now he’s winning $1.1 million prizes. Amazing.

Matthew Pitt

If it’s something you can play online for real money, chances are Matthew knows a bit about it. He’s been writing about slots, craps and poker for the better part of the last decade. He’s written for PokerNews, PartyPoker and many other respected online gambling websites during the last nine years.

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