Not many players can show up to the World Poker Tour Tournament of Champions and double their career WPT cashes total. Ole Schemion did exactly that on Monday night, winning the WPT TOC for $440,395 by beating Tony Dunst heads up.

Prior to the TOC, Schemion’s only cash on the WPT came when he won the WPT European Championship in January, 2018. Two cashes, two wins and $696,000 in total earnings. Schemion started the six-handed final table with over 40% of the chips in play and eliminated the final three players in his way before picking up the title and becoming just the fourth winner of this event.

Simon Lam opened to 17,000 from middle position and Nick Schulman called from the cutoff. Ryan Tosoc then shoved for 651,000 from the big blind, forcing Lam to fold. Schulman tank-called all in. Tosoc tabled which put him behind Schulman’s . The flop put Tosoc in front. The turn was no help for Schulman and he failed to connect with any of his three outs on the river and was eliminated in sixth place.

It wasn’t until nearly two hours later before the next elimination occurred. Griffin Paul raised from UTG to 25,000 and Dunst called from the button. After the flop, Paul bet 18,000. Dunst moved all in for 523,000 sending Paul into the tank. Paul called and turned over for the second nut flush draw but Dunst had flopped bottom set with . The turn was the and the river was the to send Paul out in fifth.

As if by clockwork, another two hours passed and there was a player sent to the rail. Schemion raised from UTG to 35,000 and Lam defended his big blind. The flop came and Lam check-raised all in for 178,000 in response to Schemion’s bet of 50,000. Schemion called and turned over for a monster draw while Lam was slightly behind with even though he had middle pair. The turn gave Schemion his flush but gave Lam outs to a bigger flush. The river was the however and Lam was sent packing in fourth.

Schemion continued to apply pressure three-handed and it took roughly 90 minutes for him to find another victim. Tosoc called from the button, Dunst folded his small blind and Schemion checked. The flop came and Schemion bet 40,000 and Tosoc responded by moving all in for 505,000. Schemion called and turned over which put him ahead of Tosoc’s . The turn gave Tosoc some extra outs but the river wasn’t one of them, giving Schemion the pot and eliminating Tosoc in third place.

Schemion started heads-up play the same way he started the final table; with the chip lead. Schemion had Dunst outchipped 2.1M-1.7M. It took just 17 hands a little less than an hour for Schemion to finish things off. Schemion opened to 60,000 before Dunst raised to 250,000. Schemion called and the flop fell . Dunst check-called Schemion’s bet of 200,000. The turn was the and Dunst checked again. Schemion fired out a bet of 420,000 and Dunst responded by moving all in for 785,000. Schemion called quickly and turned over for a flopped straight and Dunst showed . The river gave Dunst a meaningless two-pair, eliminating him in second place and giving Schemion his first live win since he took down the PokerStars PCA National Championship in the Bahamas in Janaury.

The first event of Season XVIII, the WPT Gardens Poker Festival, is scheduled for the Gardens Casino in Hawaiian Gardens, California in from July 20 – 25. The $5,000 buy-in event got 584 entries when it made its WPT debut last summer. Simon Lam took home $565,055 for the win.

Final Table Payouts

1. Ole Schemion – $440,395
2. Tony Dunst – $250,265
3. Ryan Tosoc – $166,845
4. Simon Lam – $115,945
5. Griffin Paul – $84,140
6. Nick Schulman – $63,890