Sweden's Rifat Palevic Wins WSOP $1k NLHE Super Turbo Bounty

A total of 1,868 players showed up at the Rio in Las Vegas to take part in WSOP Event #39: $1,000 No Limit Hold’em Super Turbo Bounty. The tournament subsequently featured a prize pool worth $1,681,120, and after just 15 hours of play it was Sweden’s Rifat Palevic who would eventually claim its first place of $183,903, as well as a career first gold bracelet.
The win represents Palevic’s biggest score to date, albeit just a few hundred dollars more than the victories he recorded at the 2007 EPT Prague €2,100 NLHE Freeze Out, and 2012 EPT Berlin €2,150 NLHE. As a result, Palevic now boasts $1,121,100 in live earnings, and commenting upon his latest success, stated:
“I like turbo tournaments. I also like normal tournaments, but I really liked this tournament. It was nice with the bounties. Everything was nice. I like to play tournaments over here in the United States.”
The $1,000 NLHE Super Turbo Bounty awarded 280 paid money places, and amongst those pros booking a cash was Max Pescatori in 116th ($1,374), Dzmitry Urbanovich in 90th ($1,738), Bruno Politano in 51st ($3,215), T.J. Cloutier in 41st ($3,862), and Ashton Griffin in 22nd ($5,765).
After the final table was set, Rifat Palevic then eliminated George Dolofan (8th), Rick Hollman (5th), and Dean Blatt (3rd) on his way to facing Ryan Olisar heads-up for the title. When the final battle got underway, the Swede was at a 2-1 chip disadvantage, but soon managed to turn the table before the deciding hand was played with Olisar moving all-in preflop holding J-8. Palevic, however, was holding pocket kings, and after the board ran out 5-3-3-7-9, Olisar collected $113,581 for his runner-up finish, while Rifat Palevic claimed the bracelet. Thanking his vocal supporters during the contest, Palevic said:
“It gave me a lot of energy. I’m not used to having a crowd. I’m very thankful to the guys who came over to rail me.”
Final Table Results:
1: Rifat Palevic $183,903
2: Ryan Olisar $113,581
3: Dean Blatt $82,227
4: Robert Heioorn $60,132
5: Rick Hollman $44,424
6: Joseph Monahan $33,160
7: Gavin O’Rourke $25,010
8: George Dolofan $19,063
9: Victor Kim $14,685