Jani Vilmunen briefly lost his lead at the final table of the WSOP Europe 5k PLO event but never lost his confidence and finally swept past Howard Lederer to claim his first WSOP win. Along with the bracelet he walks away with £204,048.

It's a remarkable feat for Vilmunen, who's primarily known as a cash game player but started his tournament rush only a week ago with a win at the PokerStars WCOOP $2,100 PLO 6-max event.

After Vilmunen had sent his fellow countryman Aarno Kiveliö to the rail in 3rd place, heads up play started with Howard Lederer holding a 1.9m to 1.25m lead. Vilmunen quickly turned things around before the final hand came down. Vilmunen opened for a 120k raise from the button, Lederer re-raised to 360k, call. Flop came down 8h 7d 6d, Lederer followed his re-raise with a bet of 600k, Vilmunen paused briefly before shoving all-in, Lederer made the call.

Lederer Ah Qh 5c 4s
Vilmunen Qs Td 9h 7h

Both players had flopped the straight, but only Vilmunen had the nuts and his win was sealed when no heart came on the turn. "I was very focused throughout the tournament and my confidence was higher than ever," Jani said to Coinflip.com. Read more about his thoughts in a separate news article today.

Finnish players are known for their prowess in Pot Limit Omaha so it's perhaps no wonder that three of them finished in the Top 5. Home crowd favourite Ross Boatman came 4th and the 3rd Finn at the final table, Ville Haavisto came 5th.

For Howard Lederer this was his 25th appearance at a World Series of Poker final table. Two of them have ended with the bracelet being handed to him. Jani Vilmunen made the final table at the WSOP 10k PLO in 2006, but his only live tournament win before this was at the Finnish Championship PLO event last year.

1. Jani Vilmunen £204.048
2. Howard Lederer £126.134
3. Aarno Kiveliö £93.293
4. Ross Boatman £69.030
5. Ville Haavisto £51.890
6. Daniel Hindin £39.193
7. Roberto Romanello £29.830
8. Jeffrey Kimber £22.869
9. Robert Williamson III £17.772

Hand history taken from Pokernews.