The Swedish poker player Rifat Palevic returns to the poker scene with a blast, by winning the WSOP $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Super Turbo Bounty event which took place in Las Vegas. He dominated the field and the 1,868 players on it, which gave him the chance to go back home $183,903 richer.
His participation in the tournament was very unexpected even for him, he shared. A fellow poker player from Houston, Texas advised him to take part in it after they had played heads-up for a long session in London and he saw his potential. The dynamic style of the super turbo event suits Palevic’s style perfectly. Each level takes only 20 minutes and in his case, it took him only 15 hours to lay his hands on the gold bracelet.
There were some critical situations during his participation. There was a moment when he lost almost everything and his stack was short, but thanks to the people railing for him, Palevic managed to get back in the game. At the final table, he doubled up a couple of times and made his way to the heads-up duel against Ruan Olisar. Olisar is a weathered poker player from Illinois, but luck and good hands were on Palevic’s side and he sent the Illinois player home with $113,581 only.
Palevic has had many cashes throughout the years from many World Series of Poker tournaments in the US and in Europe, but this was his first bracelet. The gold shiny jewelry comes after the break he took in order to help his wife in taking care of their daughter and spend more time with his family and loved ones. He spent the last six years at home, and as it seems he has had some time to practice his poker skills as well.
This was his first recent tournament located outside Europe since he took quite a break from the poker world. His last tournament was Event #7: WSOP Europe Main Event – €10,400 No-Limit Hold’em which took place in France back in 2011. He finished 35th and won €27,500. By then he has had some years experience in the poker world since his first tournament was the 2009 Event #35: $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha. At it he was 5th, defeating hundreds of competitors and proudly pocketing $86,516.
However, his biggest achievement so far was again in 2009 at the Event #57: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em MAIN EVENT – World Championship, where he played proficiently and won $90,344. This amounts his life earnings to $1,121,100 and counting because he plans on returning to the regular tournament schedule. Now that his daughter is 12 he will have more time for poker and for making more financially beneficial trips to the US and his favorite Las Vegas.
