France's Hairabedian Becomes Country's First WSOPE Winner

Frenchman Roger Hairabedian has won WSOPE Event#3: €5,300 Pot-Limit Omaha, after defeating a field of 96 players over three days to capture a prestigious gold bracelet, and collect the €142,590 ($183,272) first place prize.
With his latest victory in Cannes, Hairabedian takes his live tournament earnings to an impressive $3,650,591, whilst consolidating his position at number five in France’s ‘All Time Money List.’ In addition, the 60 year-old pro has now become France’s first ever WSOPE winner in the six year history of the tournament series, a fact that seemed to come as a bit of a surprise to Hairabedian, who commented:
“I am first? For one time I’m first in something! I am very happy to represent France in this WSOP because Barriere is making this a big event. Now it’s the biggest event in Europe and it is good that a French man won a bracelet.”
The €5,300 Pot-Limit Omaha event attracted a whole slew of top pros to the tournament creating a small but tough field. Notable names taking part included David Baker, David Benyamine, Andy Frankenberger, John Juanda, Jeff Lisandro, Phil Helmuth and Vanessa Selbst, who finished 12th for €9,929.
By the time the final table of nine had been reached, many big names still remained in contention with Jason Mercier eventually eliminated in 9th (€12,245) and Joe Hachem in 6th (€25,490). With three players left, Roger Hairabedian dispatched Michael Mizrachi to the rail in 3rd (€62,749) to go heads-up against Ville Mattila. Then after a total nine hours of final table action Roger Hairabedian defeated his Finnish opponent to be crowned the 2012 WSOPE Pot-Limit Omaha champion. Recalling how Mizrachi helped deny him a WSOPE bracelet last year at the €10,000 Mixed Max event final table, Hairabedian commented:
“For the whole [of last] year I thought every day of how I lost the bracelet. I didn’t want to make the same mistake this year, because last year I made that big mistake, I gave a big pot to Michael. If I waited, if I played last year like I did today perhaps I would have won.”
The final table payouts were as follows:
1. Roger Hairabedian – €142,590
2. Ville Mattila – €88,130
3. Michael Mizrachi – €62,749
4. Jussi Ryynanen – €45,581
5. Jussi Nevanlinna – €33,765
6. Joe Hachem – €25,490
7. Michel Abecassis – €19,606
8. Michael Schwartz – €15,357
9. Jason Mercier – €12,245