The room is about to fill with unemployed Germans. Deutsche Bank AG is preparing to take the mop out of the hands of close to 10,000 people as the lender rains the pox down on their heads.
So what next?
Why not give poker a shot?
Nature manufactured Manig Loeser in the cellular workshop of this mighty nation, and he seems to be doing alright.
The former Triton Champion made the final table of the $3,300 WPT UK Main Event at Dusk Till Dawn (DTD) in Nottingham, UK, finishing in seventh place for a $58,500 score.
Loeser, who used to live in the UK, has now earned $2.1m in 2019, and currently ranks #7 in the Global Poker Index (GPI) and #8 in the GPI Player of the Year stakes.
Two of Loeser’s most potent missiles landed in the following chronological order:
In January, the German star finished runner-up to Toby Lewis in the AUD 50,000 Aussie Millions Challenge for $555,014. Then in April, Loeser won the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo for $678,393.
Loeser wasn’t the only high roller running deeper than a moon crater in this one. Paul Newey won his first live title in September taking down a £10,500 No-Limit Hold’em event at the British Poker Open (BPO) for £156,400. The high stakes slot machine guru finished tenth. The former GPI World #1 Adrian Mateos finished 18th for his second-best performance of the year outside of finishing fifth in the $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller at the WSOP. Sam Trickett finished 28th on home turf, and Kahle Burns put in another solid performance finishing 43rd. The Australian has made eight major final tables this calendar year.
Wading his way through the frenzy of the 690-entrant field all hellbent on taking the most significant portion of the $2m prize pool, was Simon Brändström. In a week that has seen their King strip five of his kin of royal titles, politicians table a bill to give ‘nature’ legal rights and ban on non-medical circumcision – Sweden has a WPT Champion.
And he’s in the best form of his life.
It’s Brändström’s second major win of the year and third significant score.
In March he finished runner-up to Juan Esmoris after wading through a 1,232-entrant field in the €1,500, €1m GTD WPTDeepStacks Main Event in Barcelona for $212,536. In August, he returned to the same venue to take down the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona Main Event for $1,434,793.
Previous six-figure scores include a runner-up finish in the 2013 Master Classics of Poker (MCOP) in Amsterdam for $245,027, and a third the 2015 EUREKA Prague Main Event for $130,610.
The 37-year-old from Gothenburg, Sweden, is now a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet away from a Triple Crown.
Final Table Results
- Simon Brändström – $330,000
- Ryan Mandara – $221,650
- James Rann – $168,500
- Matthew Eardley – $128,500
- Maria Lampropoulos – $98,500
- Paul Siddle – $76,000
- Manig Loser – $58,500
- Leo Worthington-Leese – $46,000
- Paul Jackson – $36,000