Astedt stands to add even more cash to his all-time leading online poker resume this week
Niklas Astedt’s career online tournament earnings stand at just under $22 million as of Tuesday, according to the PocketFives database. That total includes results under Astedt’s ‘Lena900’ screen name at PokerStars, but doesn’t include GGPoker cashes scored under Astedt’s real name.
Astedt continues to crush on both of those sites. The Swedish poker pro is putting on a master class of online tournament acumen this week, and could add more than $1 million to his career earnings at today’s GG Spring Festival Sunday Five Million final table.
Astedt goes into final table play with the chip lead but will have to navigate against as tough of a final table as could be imagined in 2021. Event H-41: $25,500 Sunday Five Million drew 202 entries, creating a $5,050,000 prize pool and a $1,095,741 prize for the eventual champion.
Astedt comes into Tuesday’s final table with 90 big blinds, while short stack Wei Zhao is barely hanging on with three big blinds. The other seven players in the hunt all have relatively even stacks, and include a collection of names that stand among poker’s elite tournament class.
If Astedt claims the Sunday Five Million title, he’ll have to do so against the following competition:
GG Spring Festival Event H-41: $25,500 Sunday Five Million final table
| Place | Player Name | Country | Chip Count* |
| 1 | Niklas Astedt | Sweden | 4,519,808 |
| 2 | Sami Kelopuro | Finland | 2,670,494 |
| 3 | Joao Vieira | Portugal | 2,475,464 |
| 4 | Shawn Daniels | United States | 2,296,836 |
| 5 | Jason Koon | United States | 2,188,452 |
| 6 | David Yan | New Zealand | 2,140,920 |
| 7 | Pedro Garagnani | Brazil | 2,075,793 |
| 8 | Sam Greenwood | Canada | 1,692,347 |
| 9 | Wei Zhao | China | 139,885 |
Is Niklas Astedt poker’s current tournament end boss?
None of the remaining players mark easy eliminations for Astedt, and the Sunday Five Million will wrap up with one of the toughest tables seen this year on the high-stakes tournament scene.
It’s tough to find much of a distinction on the skill levels among the players at the Sunday Five Million final table. All are among the world’s best tournament players, and Tuesday’s tournament finale plays out as a display of competitors at poker’s highest level.
Trying to call any one player the best from the high-stakes tournament scene might be a futile task. Astedt’s resume makes a strong case, however, for putting the Swedish crusher at No. 1.
Astedt’s week already includes a championship in the 2021 PokerStars SCOOP. Astedt took down SCOOP 31-H: $1,050 NLHE 8-Max on Monday, adding another $85,430 to his bankroll.
Astedt now has eight Championship of Online Poker titles to his name, and he’s on the brink of a potential million-plus payday at the GG Spring Festival. The margins are razor thin among the world’s top-tier players, but Astedt makes a legitimate case to call himself poker’s top tournament player.
Featured image source: Flickr/World Poker Tour
