Aaron Steury won the latest World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet by taking down event #17. Much of the hubbub around the annual festival of poker was surrounding an epic battle between John Juanda and Phil Hellmuth over the weekend. Whether that contributed to Steury’s play or not we may never know. It was gutsy we’ll give him that. We’ll even attribute it to the word risky. Some quarters have even called it “Kreskin-like.” Steury was the one who sat in the corner looking smugger than a dog that just farted though.
Down to three players and facing fellow-pro Adam Friedman, Steury called with a queen-high hand in the hope that he’d be able to out bluff Friedman. His opponent went all-in with a nine-high hand and that was the jolt that Steury needed. It wasn’t long before the 24-year-old had taken the WSOP $1,500 HORSE event and the $289,283 prize pot.
After taking that chance, Steury told ESPN.com, “I thought there was a pretty good chance I had the best hand. I was right and I was confident the rest of the tournament. I was spot on. That was the turning point.”
He then added, “This is one of the softest WSOP fields. There are a lot of people who do not know what they are doing. As you would expect, Day 1 was easier, then Day 2 got a bit tougher, and then Day 3 was very tough.”
The event marked Steury’s ninth WSOP cash after he won significant money in the last three editions of the annual event.
