Another blast from the past won a bracelet at the 2019 WSOP in Las Vegas. This time, Finnish pro Juha Helppi emerged victorious after outlasting a field of 118 runners in Event #72 $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship. He banked $306,622 for the win. Meanwhile, Joao Vieria from Portugal won Event #70 $5,000 NL 6-max and outlasted 815 players for his first bracelet and a sick payout worth $758,011.
The 2019 WSOP Main Event is in full swing, but that didn't stop the rest of the WSOP from continuing. Two more pieces of bling were up for grabs and they were won by first-time bracelet winners from Portugal and Finland.
Event #72 $10,000 Limit Hold'em - Final Results

Finland is known for their ice hockey goalies and poker pros. I really can't explain why that is. It must be the long, frigid winters where kids decide they want to become a hockey star and when those dreams don't pan out, they turn to poker. Both require steely nerves and require the participant to have a calm and cool resolve when things get freaky.
It took over a decade (14 years to be exact) to finally win a bracelet, but Juha Helppi stepped into the winner's circle one after a victory in 10K Limit Hold'em.
Helppi previously made six other WSOP final tables, but he was finally able to take one down.
2019 WSOP Event #72 $10,000 Limit Hold'em featured 118 runners and a prize pool worth $1.1 million.
The final table included Rob Como, Qinghai Pan, Kyle Ray, Josh Arieh, Kevin Song, Anthony Marsico, Tommy Hang, Mike Lancaster, and Juha Helppi.
Josh Arieh went deep in another event this year but hos run ended in sixth place for a $53K score. Kevin Song hit the bricks in fifth place, followed by Anthony Marsico in fourth place.
When Tommy Hang got knocked out in third place, it set up the final between Mike Lancaster and Juha Helppi. Hang earned nearly $134K for his efforts.
With two to go, they had to get comfy because heads-up took five hours to determine a champion. Lancster started with bigger stack but the two would swap the lead back and forth too many times to actually count. Ah, those pesky LHE tournaments can take a lot longer than NL, eh?
Lancaster busted in second place, which paid out $189,505. Not too shabby, eh for a runner-up?
Juha Helppi took down his first bracelet and a first-place prize worth $306,622.
Only the top 18 places paid out in this one. Jerry Robinson bubbled the final table. Also cashing were John Racener, Eli Elezra, Andrew Brown, Louis Hillman, Raul Paez, James Obst, Matt Schrieber, and Tony G.
2019 WSOP - Event #72 $10,000 Limit Hold'em
Entrants: 118
Prize Pool: $1,109,200
Payouts: 18
Final Table Results:
1. Juha Helppi (Finland) $306,622
2. Mike Lancaster (USA) $189,505
3. Tommy Hang (USA) $133,718
4. Anthony Marsico (USA) $96,272
5. Kevin Song (USA) $70,750
6. Josh Arieh (USA) $53,095
7. Kyle Ray (USA) $40,709
8. Qinghai Pan (USA) $31,902
9. Robert Como (USA) $25,566
Event #70 $5,000 NL 6-Max - Final Results
The 6-max 5K NL event is always a popular attraction among the top short-handed NL players in the world. Event #70 attracted 815 players and a prize pool of $3,789,750. Only the top 123 players paid out.
The stacked final table included Joe Cada, Joao Vieria, Jamie O'Connor, Pierre Calamusa, Olivier Busquet, and Barry Hutter. Not a weak spot in the bunch, eh?
Hutter hit the bricks in sixth place, followed by Busquet in fifth place. France's Calamus busted in fourth place, followed by Jamie O'Connor in third place.
Joe Cada and Vieria got heads-up for the bracelet. Cada could not put away the pro from Portugal and win bracelets in consecutive years.
Cada banked $468,488 for second place, which is not too shabby for a runner-up finish.
Joao Vieira won his first bracelet and a payout worth $758,011.
Notables who cashed in the event included... Chris Hunichen, Nick Schulman, Dan Shak, Scott Bohlman, Jack Salter, Dietrich Fast, Jake Schwartz, Kahle Burns, Brian Yoon, Mike Soyza, Dylan Linde, Taylor Black, Kyle Julius, Max Lykov and Ryan Laplante.