Vladimir Shchemelev Wins Russia's First Bracelet Of WSOP 2013
June 29, 2013 1:20 pmVladimir Shchemelev has won WSOP $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low 8-or-Better (Event #46), after defeating a field of 435 players over three days on his way to capturing a gold bracelet, and collecting the $279,094 first place prize.
The 40 year-old Russian said that instead of pursuing a career in his subject of choice, physics, he has been earning a living playing poker for the past 22 years, and commenting on winning his first ever WSOP bracelet, said:
“In Russia, scientists (make) no money. I played many different games. I like all games..I think if I won the bracelet before, I would be less happy than now. It was a long-awaited victory.”
With the Russian pros victory in Las Vegas, his country now joins Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria and Hungary as the only places outside of the USA and Canada, to have won bracelets at this year’s World Series of Poker.
Amongst the notable names cashing in at the $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low 8-or-Better was David Baker in 42nd ($5,617), Mike Matusow in 39th ($5,617), Gavin Smith in 32nd ($6,899), and Joe Hachem in 20th ($8,550). Vladimir Shchemelev would then go on to reach the heads-up phase of the nine seated final table against Mel Judah, where he would eventually beat the Australian legend to claim the gold winner’s bracelet.
The final table payouts were as follows:
1 Vladimir Shchemelev — $279,094
2 Mel Judah — $172,361
3 Ashly Butler — $124,645
4 Brian Hacker — $91,085
5 John Cernuto — $67,222
6 Tyler Nelson — $50,197
7 Andrey Zaichenko — $37,847
8 Allyn Jaffrey Shulman — $28,821
9 Alexey Makarov — $22,171