Norway’s Espen Sandvik win his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet on Friday, taking down the 2019 WSOP Europe €2,500 8-Game Mix event for €75,426. Sandvik topped a small but tough field of 71 entries, including a final table that had Phil Hellmuth and Jeff Madsen in the mix.

The event had a guaranteed prize pool of €250,000. With only 71 entries, the prize pool fell short of the guarantee, creating an overlay for the players involved.

€2,500 8-Game Mix Final Table Results

1st: Espen Sandvik – €75,426
2nd: Ville Haavisto – €46,613
3rd: Phil Hellmuth – €31,058
4th: Jeff Madsen – €21,386
5th: Thomer Pidun – €15,235
6th: Jochen Kaiser – €11,242

The two-day event saw Day 1 finish with 26 players remaining. Madsen was in the lead, but most of the eyes were on Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu. Hellmuth was searching for his 16th gold bracelet, whereas Negreanu was looking for his seventh and to accumulate more WSOP Player of the Year points.

The top 11 finishers were set to finish in the money, and Negreanu didn’t make it that far. He was eliminated by Kahle Burns before the field was cut down to three tables.

With 18 players left, notables Robert Campbell, David ‘ODB’ Baker, Eli Elezra, and Manig Loeser were still in. They were all eliminated short of the money, though, with Baker falling as the tournament’s bubble boy. After that, it was a race to the final table that saw Burns bust in ninth and Joao Vieira out in seventh.

At the official final table, Jochen Kaiser busted first and then Thomer Pidun went out next. It was Maden’s turn to go in fourth place, and he fell in a hand of limit hold’em against Sandvik. Madsen did get his money in with the best of it, but his pocket tens were rundown by Sandvik making a spade flush.

Hellmuth did what he could to fight for chips, but his run at a 16th gold bracelet came to an end short of the goal in this one. He went out in third place during a hand of 2-7 triple draw and it was Sandvik that got him as well.

Hellmuth’s exit left Sandvik and Ville Haavisto, and heads-up play didn’t last long. Sandvik had a huge chip advantage to start heads-up play and quickly disposed of his Finnish counterpart. On the final hand, Haavisto was drawing to a seven-five low in 2-7 triple draw against Sandvik’s queen-ten low. Haavisto paired his seven, though, and that was what sent him to the rail in second place.