The $3,000 buy-in Six-Handed Limit Hold’em event at the World Series of Poker has been won by relative unknown Rafael Lebron despite some heavyweight competition that included last year’s WSOP main event champ Joe McKeehan, who started strong but only managed a fourth place finish.
Also in the field was triple bracelet holder Matt Matros, who finished fifth.
Lebron’s victory delivered his first WSOP bracelet and a prize of $169,337, a hefty addition to the $212,779 he won just days earlier as runner up in the $3,000 buy-in Six-Max Pot Limit Omaha event.
With a stack that positioned him around the middle of the final table pack, Lebron did not appear to constitute a major challenge, but he steadily worked his way through the competition to end in the heads up against Georgios Zisimopoulos, who held a 3 to 1 advantage in chips and looked almost certain to be the winner after a prolonged struggle at the three-handed stage.
The volatility of poker was in play, however and within the next dozen hands Lebron had equalled and then overtaken Zisimopoulos, triggering a battle in which the chip lead changed several times.
However, Lebron proved to be the more consistent player, and over the next 40 or so hands he managed to maintain a strong lead, which enabled him to send Zisimopoulos to the exit with the runner-up prize of $104,646.
It was a notable victory for Lebron, who previously had just three WSOP cashes…one of them this year.
Other final table results were:
Brad Libson, $68,896
Joe McKeehen, $46,489
Matt Matros, $32,172
Alex Queen, $22,848