DIETER DECHANT WINS THE $365 GIANT

Local Las Vegas poker shift manager accomplishes poker dream with a bracelet win

July 9, 2017 (Las Vegas, NV) - Dieter Dechant accomplished a long-time dream of his on Sunday evening - winning a World Series of Poker bracelet.

The 56-year-old has been in or around poker for most of his life, currently working as a relief shift manager at a local poker room in Las Vegas. He accomplished what he called a '25 year dream' by defeating 10,015 entries in the $365 No-Limit Hold'em Giant event for his first bracelet and $291,240. 

The win isn't a fluke for the Dechant. He's just building on an impressive summer. Last month, Dechant made a deep run in the Seniors Championship. He made the final table, but fell just shy of the top spot, finishing in third for $281,691.

"It's surreal," said Dechant about his bracelet win. "I almost expected it. I had a summer this year that has been absolutely amazing. I had a deep run in the seniors. The stars just aligned. I played well, I didn't have too many bad hands, I didn't make too many mistakes, my good hands held up."

Dechant is a German immigrant who came over to the United States as a young child in 1968. He was raised in Las Vegas and attended college in the area as well. It was during college that he started his love affair with poker.

He dealt in the local poker rooms to help pay for his college tuition, but upon receiving his degree, he jumped into the automotive industry. He retired from the car business in 2004 which coincided with the start of the poker boom. At that point, he jumped back into the casino industry and started dealing again, eventually working his way up to a supervisor position.

Even though he worked in the automotive industry, he never lost his initial love of the game.

"I've always enjoyed poker and from the time I was 22 or 23-years-old, I used to go to Binion's and watch the World Series," said Dechant. "I didn't play my first event until 1990 or '91 maybe. Only sparingly. Maybe one or two events here or there."

Dechant took a shot at a couple tournaments when the series was still taking place Downtown, but didn't make any real money or have any deep runs. It wasn't until the WSOP moved to the Rio that Dechant took a shot at some of the Daily Deepstacks events.

"As time progressed, I didn't really do much," said Dechant. "When Caesars took over and the Deepstacks started, I did fairly well in those. And I did play the Main [Event] in 2006. I didn't do anything. For some reason, this year started out well and it snowballed from there."

One reason Dechant feels he is having success is because he took some time away from the tables. A long time away from them. 

"I didn't play a single hand of poker since the series ended last year," he said. "And I came in with a clear head and got rid of all my bad habits. It just clicked from Day 1 and it's been running non-stop since then."

After his long break from the game and a deep run in the Seniors event, Dechant earned some newfound confidence that he used to carry him through the massive field en route to his first bracelet.

"I really believe that going deep in the Seniors, it alleviated a lot of doubt that I had about my game," said Dechant. "Can I play at this level? Can I handle the pressure? My run through the Seniors was the same as it was through this tournament. I happened to get unlucky on the river just as the Canadian [Hrair Yapoudjian - his heads-up opponent] did. Sort of, the poker gods balanced it out."

The Rio was buzzing already with Day 1B of the Main Event kicking off on Sunday morning and two other final tables playing down to a winner, but Dechant's rail made up the loudest of the supporters in the Amazon room.

With every knockout he scored, and there were a lot of them, Dechant would get up from his table and go through his rail giving high fives and receiving congratulations on the latest payjump.

"It's awesome," said Dechant about his huge support system. "Not only the support that is here, but I had two or three hundred following me on Facebook. I work in a local casino, in poker, so I got a lot of people that really followed on WSOP.com They did it in the Seniors, they did it for the last two days here and the overwhelming support is just.... I'm 56-years-old. I'm not a 22-year-old kid anymore and my appreciation is just beyond belief."

Following his win, Dechant wanted to get a message out to anybody else that may be chasing a poker goal.

"Number one is never give up on your dreams. That's the first thing," said Dechant. "Perseverance and taking advantage of the opportunities as they come. Don't let them slip by. I stayed in the moment. Didn't think about tomorrow or the next day or the final table. I played one hand at a time and the next thing you know its four days later and here you are. The locals can compete and a 56-year-old man can compete with the 22 and 25-year-olds."

The final day started with 27 players, but within a four hours of play they were down to a final table. Dechant came into the final table third in chips, but dominated the table from the start.

Hrair Yapoudjian eliminated Michael Gazzardo in ninth and John Myung sent home Andrew Crookston in eighth. Dechant was a human wrecking ball from there one out. He eliminated every single player from there out en route to his win.

Dechant eliminated Marcus Laffen in seventh, Myung in sixth, Martins Kleins in fifth, John Hutchinson in fourth, and Vera Kuhl in third. He took a chip lead into heads-up play against Yapoudjian, but Yapoudjian got the best of the early portion of their heads-up match, even taking a slight chip lead until Dechant scored a massive double up that basically secured his victory.

Yapoudjian raised on the button and Dechant called out of the big blind. Dechant led out on the flop, the turn, and jammed all in on the river with a completed board of      . Yapoudjian called the whole way down with   , giving him a straight, but Dechant tabled   , good for the winning flush.

Dechant dragged the pot and Yapoudjian was left with just a couple big blinds. Dechant finished the job on the very next hand. He made quick work of the final table, finishing off the final nine players in just 76 hands.

With nearly $600,000 in winnings over the last month, Dechant is on quite the heater. He isn't planning a career change anytime soon though.

"I'm going to take it a day a time," said Dechant. "Right now, I'm still scheduled to work on Friday. Even though I've won almost $600,000, I'm not ready to retire yet."

Dechant is going to use the money to take another shot at the Main Event. He plans on registering and playing Day 1C on Monday morning. He's got big plans for it.

"I feel good about the main," said Dechant. "I don't think I'm done. I really don't think I'm done."

Full Results
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Final Table Results:

1st: Dieter Dechant - $291,240
2nd: Hrair Yapoudjian - $179,735
3rd: Vera Kuhl - $133,493
4th: John Hutchinson - $100,001
5th: Martins Kleins - $75,086
6th: John Myung - $56,856
7th: Marcus Laffen - $43,321
8th: Andrew Crookston - $33,210
9th: Michael Guzzardi - $25,610