Continuing the best traditions of talented young German players, 24-year-old Leipzig student and part time player Paul Hofer bested a field of 4,554 other players to win the $1,111 buy-in Little One for Big Drop event at the World Series of Poker Friday night.
It was his first World Series visit, yet he had already racked up three cashes prior to this $645,969 win – his biggest yet, and the lion’s share of a $4.09 million prize pool.
And the win gave the young German his first WSOP bracelet.
Hofer crushed a final table that included two bracelet holders in Brett Shaffer (9th) and John Reading (4th), and by the time three-handed action was reached he had 80 percent of the chips in play in his stack.
When Texas pro Senovio Ramirez was busted out at third for $287,620, Hofer held a massive chip lead when he faced Mario Lopez of Argentina in the heads up, which he quickly finalised, seeing Lopes off with the runner up prize money of $399,455.
Other final table cashes included:
John Reading USA $212,559
Carlos Chang Taiwan $158,404
Dustin Lee USA $119,049
Rainer Kempe Germany $90,189
Jason Caulk USA $68,912
Brett Shaffer USA $53,088