Chin Wei Lim snagged a bracelet and his first career live win on Friday in the WSOP Europe €100K High Roller. (WSOP/King's Photo)

One week ago, Chin Wei Lim pulled a James van Alstyne after busting the €250,000 Platinum High Roller event at World Series of Poker Europe. As soon as the final card hit, giving James Chen the victory, Lim left quickly. On Friday, once the final table of the $100,000 Diamond High Roller finished, the 26-year-old had no choice but to stick around. He had to pose for the winner photos.

Lim beat a final table that included Ole Schemion, Matthias Eibinger, Christoph Vogelsang, Anatoly Filatov, and Phil Ivey before beating Jean-Noel Thorel heads-up to capture the first bracelet of his career. This is also the first live win of Lim’s career following four runner-up finishes.

One hand. That’s all Ivey got to play at the final table on Friday. The 10-time WSOP bracelet started with the shortest stack and decided to go for it on the very first hand of play. Ivey moved all in for 2,375,000 with Ad5c from the hijack and Vogelsang called from the small blind with 6d6c. The board ran out KsTh2dKc5s to eliminate Ivey in eighth place.

Danny Tang, who won his first WSOP bracelet earlier this summer when he beat 122 players to win the $50,000 Final Fifty event, started the day with just 16 big blinds and didn’t last much longer than Ivey. After Eibinger raised to 690,000 from UTG with JcJd, Tang shoved for 3,300,000 from the cutoff with AcKc and Eibinger called. Tang couldn’t win the race as the Qh9h3h7c8h runout kept Eibinger in front and eliminated Tang in seventh.

Down to fewer than nine big blinds, Schemion decided to make a stand and wound up having to walk away from the table. Action folded to Filatov on the button and he made it 625,000 with KdKs. Schemion moved all in for 2,620,000 from the small blind with Ad9h and Filatov called. The QcJh3s flop changed nothing but the Th turn increased Schemion’s outs. The Ah river was not one of them as it completed Broadway for Filatov and eliminated Schemion in sixth place.

Five-handed play went on for 3.5 hours before Eibinger and Vogelsang battled in a huge pot that eventually lead to one of them leaving. Vogelsang ended up all in with JdJh which put him behind Eibinger’s QcQs. The board ran out AhQh2h5c7h to give Vogelsang a flush and leave Eibinger with just eight big blinds. One hand later Eibinger was all in with Jd8c against Lim’s Qs6d and couldn’t find any help to stay alive and was sent home in fifth.

Despite winning the huge hand against Eibinger, Vogelsang was next in the line to become one of Lim’s victims. Jean-Noel Thorel raised to 1,600,000 from the button with [k][j], Vogelsang moved all in from the small blind for 12,900,000 with Ac3s and Lim called from the big blind with AdJd, forcing Thorel to fold. The board ran out Ts7s6c2dQh to eliminate Vogelsang in fourth place and give Lim the lead with three players remaining.

It took nearly an hour to get to heads-up play. Lim folded his button and Filatov moved all in for 12,500,000 with Ah3d and Thorel called with KhTh. The [c]3s2h flop moved Thorel ahead with a pair of kings and when the Jh turn or 5c river didn’t improve Filatov, he was eliminated in third place.

That pot gave Thorel a four big blind lead heading into heads up play with Lim. It took just 30 minutes for Lim to battle back and capture his first career bracelet. Lim raised to 2,400,000 with 8s4c and Thorel defended his big blind with Ad9c. After the 8c4d2c flop, Thorel checked, Lim bet 4,000,000 and Thorel called. The turn was the 3c and Thorel checked again. Lim bet 6,800,000 and Thorel called. The river was the 4s and Thorel checked again. Lim bet 19,000,000 and Thorel instantly moved all in for 45,000,000. Lim called and tabled his full house to bust Thorel and earn his first career bracelet and a career-best score of €2,172,104.

Final Table Payouts

  1. Chin Wei Lim – €2,172,104
  2. Jean-Noel Thorel – €1,342,459
  3. Anatoly Filatov – €907,301
  4. Christoph Vogelsang – €633,336
  5. Matthias Eibinger – €457,107
  6. Ole Schemion – €341,510
  7. Danny Tang – €264,440
  8. Phil Ivey – €212,504