US poker pro Sean Yu beat a field of 124 players this week to claim the honours, a World Series of Poker winner’s bracelet and the $296,941 pay day in the $10,000 buy-in Global Casino Championship at Harrah’s Cherokee in North Carolina.
Yu’s winner’s share of the $1,090,000 prize pool was his biggest pay check yet in a successful live tourney career.
The field was full of talent, reflecting a large contingent of winners in previous WSOP Circuit main events or those who qualified by finishing in the top 50 of the WSOP Circuit leaderboard.
It was second time the charm for Yu, who has played in the Global Casino Championship before. He qualified this season by winning the main event at Planet Hollywood for $170,286.
In the heads up Yu faced Russian poker pro Alexander Lakhov, who qualified for the Championship after emerging victorious from a championship event at the King’s Casino in the Czech Republic; his reward for a stellar performance was the runner up check for $183,527.
High profile international pro Jason Mercier, who made the final table, had to be content with the fifth placing prize of $69,624 after being eliminated early on.