If Mitch Schock didn’t exist in real life, he'd have to be created by a fiction writer.
The man with the perfect name for a dynamic new poker champion just won the most recent World Series of Poker tournament, held at the Rio in Las Vegas. Schock electrified the record tournament field of 606 entries and created a buzz by winning his first WSOP gold bracelet. He also collected the handsome sum of $310,225 in prize money.
Schock awed the competition. He outlasted everyone in a three-day long poker test that was just as much a battle of physical and mental endurance, as poker skill. His final heads-up match took three hours, ending in a triumphant victory against runner up Rodney Brown. Schock finally ended the duel with a sledgehammer on what turned out to be the final hand of the tournament, winning on the Pot-Limit Omaha round with double-suited aces, which flopped the nuts.
Schock is a 40-year-old professional poker player from Bismarck, ND. He has been playing professionally since the mid-1990s. Schock is also a single father to three children. Perhaps his biggest source of pride from this victory is being able to lay claim to being the first WSOP winner in history from the state of North Dakota.
Meanwhile, Rodney Brown, from Brea, CA had to settle for second place. He is a 37-year-old professional poker player. Brown once worked as an insurance company executive. But he found he could make more money and manage his time better by playing poker in and around the local Los Angeles poker scene. To Brown's credit, he was but one card away from victory at one point, but missed and ultimately had to settle for a nice paycheck and some find memories.
Schock's victory came in the $2,500 buy-in Pot Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha Mixed Championship, which was classified as Event #39 at the 2011 World Series of Poker. He collected $310,225 in prize money for his victory, which comes out to barely over six-figures per day.
Rami Boukai, who won this same event two years ago, made it to the final table again. He finished in ninth place. Other former gold bracelet winners who cashed in this tournament included -- Joe Hachem (12th), Scott Clements (14th), David Williams (24th), Tom “Hot Pants” Schneider (26th), and Humberto Brenes (39th).
With this cash, Humberto Brenes is now alone in fourth place in the all-time WSOP cashes list.
For a comprehensive recap of Event #39 including the official report, please visit WSOP.com again later.