For the third year in a row, a patron of Billy’s Corner Bar & Grill in Minnesota has won the Free Poker Network (FPN) Championship. Early Monday morning, Jordan Sleen took down the 2024 FPN Vegas $100k World Championship at the Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas to win the trophy and $25,000.
The event had 388 qualifiers and a prize pool of $100,000 to make it the biggest FPN championship in history. There were 36 places paid with a minimum cash being worth $720 in the qualifying event.
The final table included runner-up Joseph Fisher ($15,000) of Illinois, Wisconsin’s Dale Hjelmgren (3rd – $8,100) and Delaware’s Gary Lance (4th – $5,000).
2024 FPN Vegas $100k World Championship Final Table Results
| PLACE | PLAYER | PRIZE (IN USD) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jordan Sleen | $25,000 | |
| 2 | Joseph Fisher | $15,000 | |
| 3 | Dale Hjelmgren | $8,100 | |
| 4 | Gary Lance | $5,000 | |
| 5 | Wendy Adamczyk-D’Andrea | $4,300 | |
| 6 | Christopher Nelson | $3,400 | |
| 7 | Brian Lilly | $2,600 | |
| 8 | Brad Bellman | $2,170 | |
| 9 | Jeff Gab | $1,750 |
Reigning champion Joel Smith, another Billy’s Corner Bar & Grill regular who last year won the 2023 FPN Chasin’ Bracelets National Championship for $11,500 and his second FPN title, made the money but bowed out near the final table bubble in 11th place.
“It is really great because this is our third year in a row winning the championship,” Sleen said in a winner’s interview. “We had five finish in the cash tonight, including Joel Smith, the reigning champion. It’s been a very good week for all of us.”
World Championship Action
It took more than 13 hours to crown a winner as the field of 388 qualifiers slowly dwindled down. Some of the players who were eliminated ahead of the money include Sean Faden, Brian Kauffunger and PokerNews’ own Chad Holloway, who qualified for the event alongside Connor Richards off a sixth-place finish in the Tag Team event.
One of multiple blind all-ins cost Holloway his stack, while Richards was able to make a run into the money before the PokerNews editor and live reporter bowed out in 21st place for $800.
The final two tables went quickly as the likes of Jim Obos, Todd Edmonton and Mick Alm were eliminated. Phillip Doer fell in tenth place on the final table bubble before Jeff Gab went out in ninth place for $1,750 as his ace-jack was eliminated by Sleen’s ace-queen.
Sleen laid back as Brad Bellman, Brian Lilly and Christopher Nelson were eliminated and he also stayed out of the way Wendy Adamczyk-D’Andrea and Gary Lance hit the rail.
After reaching three-handed play, Sleen knocked out Dale Hjelmgren to enter his heads-up battle over Fisher with the chip lead. Heads-up play didn’t last long as both players got their chips in the middle with Sleen holding king-jack and Fisher having pocket sevens.
It looked like Fisher would double before a king on the river gave Sleen the winner as the floor confirmed he had his opponent covered.
As he celebrated his victory, Sleen commented that he only had to deal with the record-breaking field “eight at a time” and reflected on what to do with his newly acquired $25,000.
“Pretty good, will probably go to good use — if I get out of the casino with it.”
*Lead photo courtesy of FPN