WSOP $1,500 Seven Card Stud bracelet goes to Lebron

The 2021 World Series of Poker crowned a new gold bracelet winner at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino on Friday. The final day of Event #14: $1,500 Seven Card Stud came to its conclusion after just over four hours of play.

At the end of all of the stud action, it was Rafael Lebron walking away with a shiny new bracelet and a grand prize of $82,262. He topped starting field of 260 runners, which created a prize pool of $348,435.

Lebron has been on the big stage before as it was the second bracelet of his career with the first coming in the 2016 WSOP $3,000 Limit Hold'em Six-Handed for $169,337.

"I was hoping (to win a second bracelet). Didn't expect it so soon though," Lebron told PokerNews. "I felt good about last year but since it was online only last year I shifted my focus to 2021 and thought, I guess 2021 is my year".

Despite now having two bracelets to his name, Lebron does not play poker all that often as he runs a car dealership out of Puyallup, Washington.

"I literally play like three times a year besides when I come down for the WSOP," he explained. He went on to mention how he plays any event he can, no-limit hold'em first and then the rest of the games through that base.

The 38-year-old made sure to mention the people closest to him: "I have three kids. I have to make sure to bring them up because the last time I won I forgot because I was so excited. And they will really not be happy with me if I don't bring them up again!"

One of the interesting dynamics of the final table was that Lebron had mentioned previously that eventual runner-up, David Williams, was one of his poker idols.

"David and Phil Ivey were the two people that really got me into poker, along with my best friend (three-time WSOP bracelet winner) Ian Johns. Ian and I learned to play together. Then I used to watch David on TV and it really inspired me. It was a dream come true to play him heads up."

The day began with just six players remaining and the eliminations would come steadily as Nicholas Seiken hit the rail first in sixth place, unable to win his WSOP second bracelet.

Shaun Deeb began the day on a quest to win his fifth WSOP bracelet and after an initial surge; he would drop down in chips and eventually succumb in fifth place and be unable to add to his illustrious WSOP resume.

Christina Hill of Texas was the next to go as she went from bottom in chips to higher to eventually being eliminated in fourth. David Moskowitz would be eliminated in third place to set up the heads-up battle between Lebron and Williams.

Lebron began the day as chip leader and remained so throughout. He would take a commanding chip lead into heads up, where Williams was looking for his own elusive second bracelet (he won his only bracelet in the same event back in 2006). Unfortunately for him he was unable to overcome the massive chip disadvantage and instead finished runner-up for the fourth time in a WSOP event.

Final Table Results
1 Rafael Lebron Puyallup,WA $82,262
2 David Williams Las Vegas,NV $50,842
3 David Moskowitz Sunset Beach,CA $35,521
4 Christina Hill Desoto,TX $25,344
5 Shaun Deeb Las Vegas,NV $18,475
6 Nicholas Seiken Fort Worth,TX $13,766
7 Maurizio Melara Milan,Italy $10,490
8 Hal Rotholz New York,NY $8,179
9 Steven Albini Chicago,IL $6,528

(Article courtesy of World Series of Poker)