This hand occurred on September 23 during the WSOP Online Main Event on WSOP.com. The event had a $5,000 buy-in and drew 5,961 entrants, with a total prize pool of $28,314,750 that paid out $3,900,707 to the eventual winner.
Online phenom Ben Rolle entered the table as the chipleader with approximately 27 players remaining. This hand pitted Rolle against Andras Nemeth.
Nemeth min-raised from UTG to 1,000,000 and was sitting on a 17,488,861 chip stack. Rolle had Nemeth covered by a significant amount and called from the small blind while holding .
Watch the video above now to hear Rolle talk through his strategy as Nemeth led out on the turn.
Redemption and chill
Rolle finished eighth in last year’s WSOP Online Main Event and seemingly did the impossible by once again final tabling the prestigious online bracelet event.
He would enter the final table as the chipleader and would eventually engage in a short heads-up battle against Anatoly Zlotnikov before taking down the title and $3,900,000.
The prize money was Rolle’s most significant cash to date for the Raise Your Edge founder, who has more than $50,000,000 in career online cashes.
So, how does an experienced online crusher prepare for such a big final table? It would seem to be the most logical advice for most grinders in a big spot.
“The very first thing I do is I try not to care about the money. Obviously, with all the prestige and playing for $4 million. It's a lot harder than if you’re playing for less money, but I've also been doing this for 13 years.
"I'm used to preparing and playing for $100,000, $200,000, or $300,000 for first place, but it's obviously a different caliber of playing for $4,000,000. I do specific warm-ups, where I go through various spots using the Raise Your Edge study tool, which allows you to study for final table situations.
"Then I do the most critical part of my warmup for the final table --- I just chill. I know there's nothing else I could have done better in the moment. Now I just have to play the final table."
Last-minute cramming won’t help
Rolle shares that many players sit down to play the final table and are a bit scared, but not due to the massive payday at the top.
“I think players are not necessarily scared of the money. They're scared of making a mistake playing for so much money. And that leads them to actually make more mistakes because they play too tight or they overcompensate by being too aggressive.
"The best you can do is just have a solid preparation. And usually, the preparation occurs weeks and months in advance, as you continue to prepare for a huge final table regularly.
"A lot of people have asked me, ‘Ben, I have this final table. Do you have a tip for me?’ My tip would be just chill. You're not going to really learn anything you can apply an hour or two before the big final table. So even on the same day, if I give you a tip, you don't have the time to apply it.
"All I can tell you is just chill the f*ck out and play your game."
Follow Rolle on X.
Additional image courtesy of Neil Stoddart/Rational Intellectual Holdings Ltd.