WSOP's $3,000 Nine Game Mixed goes to Dzivielevski

Yuri Dzivielevski reigns victorious in Event #53: $3,000 Nine Game Mixed to win his fifth bracelet. The 33-year-old mixed games crusher from Brazil takes home $215,982 in prize money after an epic comeback in his heads-up battle against 2021 champion Nicholas Julia. Dzivielevski started the day fifth of 16 in chips and displayed his brilliant decision-making throughout the day on his way to the title.

Most poker players never have the opportunity to hoist a coveted WSOP bracelet. For Dzivielevski, he has been fortunate enough to experience this five times. Nonetheless, each one is significant for the Brazilian.

"I think each bracelet has a special feeling, a special memory. I cannot compare it to other bracelets. It's always an amazing feeling, I can't explain how amazing it is."

Dzivielevski finished second in the 2022 $50,000 Poker Players Championship, the most anticipated tournament for mixed game enthusiasts. His bracelet today consists of the same nine games, which gives him confidence going into this year's edition.

Dzivielevski attributes much of his success over the past 15 years of poker to his mindset and how he approaches the game.

"Each hand is a puzzle, and I just give my best with what I have. I just try to solve each puzzle."

The humble and gracious Dzivielevski described how he stays grounded through the ups and downs of tournament poker. He was at one point down nine-to-one in chips during heads-up play.

"I don't think about the past, I just focus on the future. I am human, so sometimes I feel anxious about these things, but I try to focus on the moment."

Aside from his outstanding play and focused mindset, Dzivielevski had the support of a boisterous Brazilian rail of friends and family to support him throughout the final table.

"It is very special. It can be hard for me because they are so loud!"

Loud only begins to describe the chants of "Vamos!" after each pot that Dzivielevski raked in. Dzivielevski showed appreciation for his supporters and took the time to celebrate with each and every one of them.

Joseph Couden was the first to fall after the remaining eight players combined at the final table. In a hand of No-Limit Hold'em, the 25k Fantasy selection jammed 12 big blinds from the hijack with king-queen suited and ran into the pocket queens of Masafumi Iijima in the small blind.

Shortly after, Bradley Jansen was the next to fall in seventh place. He moved his last three big blinds all-in from under the gun with queen-eight and was called in two spots. Despite having flopped top pair, Iijima held queen-jack and his kicker played to eliminate the bracelet winner.

The remaining six played for almost two hours until another elimination. The next casualty was Ashish Gupta who flopped middle pair against the top pair of Scott Bohlman in a hand of Limit Hold'em. Gupta could not improve and the Australian took home sixth place.

In fifth place was Austria's Tomasz Gluszko. He found himself in a massive three-way, three-bet pot in Stud Hi-lo and his pair of tens were no good for the high and he was unable to make a low on seventh as he hit the rail.

The final four players would go on dinner before another elimination. Scott Bohlman was the next to fall after being decimated in a hand of Stud against Nicholas Julia who made open aces on sixth. The following hand he got the rest of his chips in three-ways with buried threes but could not improve against the buried tens of Yuri Dzivielevski, which were enough to knock out Bohlman.

The final three would trade chips for over two hours before Masafumi Iijima hit the rail in third place. He got the rest of his short stack in on a hand of Razz against Julia after starting seven-four-ace. Unfortunately for him, his board bricked out while Julia made a nine-seven.

Nicholas Julia would enter heads-up play with a nearly five-to-one chip lead. He had Dzivielevski on the ropes on several occasions but could not close it out. Dzivielevski was down to 1,400,000 before he found back-to-back doubles to overtake the chip lead. Dzivielevski would take down a massive Stud hand with just a pair of fives to take a commanding lead.

A couple hands later, Dzivielevski would make two pair on fourth street and hold against the queens and open-ender of Julia to win his fifth bracelet!

Dzivielevski joins an elite group of five-time bracelet winners including Benny Glaser, Nick Schulman, and Scotty Nguyen.

Final Table Results
1 Yuri Dzivielevski Brazil $215,982
2 Nicholas Julia United States $142,182
3 Masafumi Iijima Japan $95,587
4 Scott Bohlman United States $65,654
5 Tomasz Gluszko Poland $46,094
6 Ashish Gupta Australia $33,095
7 Bradley Jansen United States $24,312