Russia's Vladimir Shchemelev Wins 2017 WSOP Bracelet

Russia’s Vladimir Shchemelev has just earned a second career gold bracelet, after taking down WSOP Event #32: $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo/ Limit Omaha Hi/Lo for $193,484. The 44-year-old St. Petersburg resident picked up his first bracelet in 2013 at the $3,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo event for $279,094, and commenting after his latest accolade, stated:
“The first bracelet was tough. It took me like nine final tables before I won my first bracelet. It was important for me to win my first bracelet, so I was kind of nervous. Today, I was very calm.”
In addition to Shchemelev 2 WSOP bracelets, the former Russian banker has also earned $2,219,541 from live tournaments, as well as a further $1,904,194 playing cash games online under the screen name GVOZDIKA55.
Event #32 attracted a total of 688 competitors to create a prize pool of $928,800. Amongst the 104 players then seeing a return on their buy-ins was John Racener in 29th ($4,752), Alan Sternberg in 19th ($7,162), Allen Kessler in 18th ($7,162), Mark Herm in 16th ($7,162), Allyn Shulman in 15th ($7,162), and Greg Jamison in 13th ($9,069).
Shchemelev subsequently entered the final table of seven in second place, and eventually made it through to heads-up play where he faced the UK’s Howard Smith for the title. At this stage, the Russian was slightly behind on chips, but soon managed to gain the upper hand before finishing off his remaining opponent to claim the victory.
Russia currently boasts 12 players with 15 WSOP bracelets between them, with Vitaly Lunkin, Vyacheslav Zhukov, and now Vladimir Schemelev leading the pack on two a piece. Other Russians who have also captured gold bracelets over the years includes Alex Bilokur, Alexander Kravchenko, Igor Kurganov, Mikhail Lakhitov, Maxim Lykov, Konstantin Maslak, Viatcheslav Ortynskiy, Konstantin Puchkov and Andrey Zaichenko.
Final Table Results:
1: Vladimir Shchemelev $193,484
2: Howard Smith $119,524
3: Nikolai Yakovenko $81,232
4: Igor Sharaskin $56,187
5: Usman Siddique $39,565
6: Yueqi Zhu $28,375
7: Erle Mankin $20,730