Yaniv Birman (35), a Los Angeles businessman who prefers cash game action to live tournament play, has emerged victorious in the World Series of Poker $10,000 buy-in Seven Card Championship, an event which attracted a stellar field of 83 entrants, creating a prize pool of $780,200 that enabled 13 players to cash.
Birman’s first prize of $236,238 came with his first WSOP winner’s bracelet.
The competition featured rounds of Hold’em, Omaha hi-lo, Razz, Seven-card stud, and Eight-or-better seven-card, a range that Birman said was well suited to his preferences.
When the final table formed Birman and US online and live poker pro Jesse Martin (38) were neck and neck in chip counts, and the duo managed to maintain that status quo through to the heads up.
Martin held a slight lead at the start of heads up action, but Birman went on a self-admitted heater that saw him quickly overtake his two-bracelet opponent and then eliminate him at second for $146,006.
Other final table cashes included:
3rd: Ben Yu, $99,540
4th: Lee Salem, $69,928
5th: Matt Grapenthien, $50,669
6th: James Obst, $37,904
7th: Joseph Cappello, $29,306
8th: Lars Gronning, $23,443