Alexandru Papazian is the new winner in the World Series of Poker Event 60 $888 Crazy Eights No-Limit Hold’em. The Romanian poker pro stole his first gold bracelet and went back home with the special cash of $888,888.
The theme of sixes and eights went hand in hand with Papazian’s participation in the event. The six eights in his winning set the mood of the tournament, as this is also a sixth cash for Papazian in his WSOP career. The amount he won this Wednesday adds up to his lifetime earning and swells them to $903,495.
Papazian, also known as Papa among his friends, set the stage for a short duel against Kilian Kramer from Germany during Day 4, by routing most of the final table at the end of Day 3. Tables consisted of eight players and his task was even easier. Kramer entered the table as a leader and was the sole player to survive Papazian’s rush at the end of Day 3.
At the start of Day 4, Kramer lost half of his chips in a previous hand and made Papazian’s task even easier. As a runner-up, he won $463,888, which was his 18th career cash from the World Series of Poker, and it made him a millionaire. Third place went to Harry Lodge from the United Kingdom who received $344,888 for his fair play.
The first time Papazian’s impressive name appeared on the leaderboard was back in 2016 when he competed for the big prize in the similarly themed Event 54 $888 Crazy Eights 8-Handed No-Limit Hold’em. He finished 876th and won $1,333, which is the smallest amount he has won so far. Ever since then he chases the big money and continues playing in almost every tournament in 2017. His biggest prize before this last one, came about a month ago when he entered Event 20 $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Millionaire Maker. He won $6,043 for the effort he put in it, which boosted his confidence to compete in the Crazy Eights event.
He is the first Romanian player to win a bracelet in the World Series of Poker and this leads him to the top of the country’s career tournament earnings chart. He was very enthusiastic about his gold and very proud of being the first Romanian to win it. He assured the crowd cheering for him that there will definitely be more Romanian names among the poker pros from now on. This ear the event attracted 8,120 paid entries and amassed an impressive prize pool of $6,489,504.
