Congratulations to Elie Payan, Winner of Event #22 ($292,825)!
It's all over folks and another one is in the books. Elie Payan from France has earned himself victory in Event #22: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha and a whopping $292,825 in cash. Not only that, Payan now has a World Series of Poker gold bracelet wrapped around his wrist -- the most coveted prize in poker!
When the day began, Payan was right in the middle of the pack, but he was a little late to the party. Payan missed the entire first orbit of play before he showed up to the final table and played his first hand. That didn't matter though, as he was the last man standing on the felt with all the chips in front of him.
Payan defeated Rafe Kibrit heads up, but it wasn't easy. The two battled back and forth, swapping the lead a couple times. At first, Payan held the chip lead heading into heads-up play, but then Kibrit fought back to take pole position in the match. Payan never gave up though and fought his way back in front and then steadily applied the necessary pressure in order to finish off his opponent.
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Players | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elie Payan | $292,825 |
| 2 | Rafe Kibrit | $181,222 |
| 3 | David Sands | $113,383 |
| 4 | Juha Vilkki | $82,297 |
| 5 | Stephen Wolfe | $60,754 |
| 6 | Emil Patel | $45,554 |
| 7 | Cody Munger | $34,642 |
| 8 | Jeff Sarwer | $26,704 |
| 9 | Roland Israelashvili | $20,863 |
Congratulations to Elie Payan, the latest gold bracelet winner at the 2011 WSOP!