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LAS VEGAS (9 July 2017) – Mike Wattel earned his second career World Series of Poker gold bracelet on Sunday after taking down Event #72 on the 2017 WSOP's summer slate, the $10,000 Seven-Card Stud Championship.

Wattel, of Chandler, Arizona, earned $245,451 for his triumph over a talented and largely professional field. Seven of the eight final-table players, including Wattel, were previous WSOP bracelet winners.

The large payday here swelled Wattel's lifetime WSOP earnings to $2,247,383. Wattel snapped an 18-year dry run since his first bracelet victory, in the 1999 WSOP Event #15, $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo.

Wattel's triumph denied a sixth career gold bracelet to California's Chris Ferguson. Ferguson's deep run here was worth $151,700. The 2000 WSOP Main Event winner logged his 16th cash of the series, and this result likely moves him close to the top in the Kings Casino Rozvadov Player of the Year chase entering the final events of the summer, including the ongoing 2017 Main Event. Also near or in the lead in the POY chase will be this event's fifth-place finisher, John Monnette.

Henderson, Nevada's Perry Friedman finished in third, earning $104,416.

The heads-up duel between Wattel and Ferguson stretched for roughly six hours and into an extra level of play before Wattel was able to close out the win. The final two blows in the see-saw battle were a well-hidden flush that Wattel filled on seventh street to secure the largest pot of the event, and in the next hand, two pair (kings up) that held up with ease to bust the all-in Ferguson.

An exhausted Wattel spoke briefly with the WSOP after his victory. When asked if winning his second career bracelet was better than his first, 18 years ago, he gave it some thought, then said, “I think it is, because it's been a long time. I was wondering if the second one was ever coming. Yeah, the second one's better than the first.”

“I just feel relieved,” he added. “I finally won one again.”

Wattel also commented on the six-hour heads-up duel. “That was an epic battle. He plays great. I had him, and then he had me, and then I finally pulled it out at the end.” The flush at the end, he added, “was the key hand for sure.”

Wattel, an experienced and expert player in most poker formats, had no special formula for success at a loaded final table. “I was just going to play A-B-C [poker] and try to make hands.... I didn't completely have a strategy; I was just going with each hand.”

Wattel also paid no mind to some of the controversy surrounding his final foe, Ferguson, who returned to the WSOP last year following a well-publicized, five-year hiatus. “I was trying to win for me,” said Wattel, succinctly.

Action began on Sunday with seven players, following eighth-place finisher David Benyamine's exit from the official final table late in Saturday's Day 2.

First to depart from Sunday's finale was Shaun Deeb. Deeb got the last of his chips in with four to a flush, while Amir Mirrasouli had three aces up by fifth. Mirrasouli never filled his boat, but Deeb missed on his flush as well, winnowing the final to six.

Bryce Yockey fell next, exiting in sixth in a three-way hand involving Ferguson and Friedman. Friedman folded out of the hand on fifth, when the last of Yockey's chips went in. Yockey committed himself with a split pair of sixes to start, while Ferguson had a split pair of eights. Neither player improved from there.

Fifth went to John Monnette, who fell short here in his bid to become the 2017 WSOP's third double-bracelet winner. Monnette lost the last of his chips to Wattel in a hand where both players had a split pair of aces, and seventh street would decide the pot. Wattel caught a trey to make two pair, while Monnette caught a nine that matched nothing else in his hand, giving Wattel the knockout.

Mirrasouli, the lone amateur at this final table, made it to fourth; he headed off after losing back-to-back pots to Ferguson, and he was officially eliminated by Wattel. Mirrasouli made his last stand with what ended up as two pair, nines and deuces, but Wattel rivered a wheel straight to take the pot. Mirrasouli's $73,810 payday here was just his second WSOP cash, joining a modest score in last year's Little One for One Drop charity event.

That left just three – Wattel, Ferguson and Friedman. The three started virtually even in chips, but momentum soon swung Wattel's way. An hour and change later, Friedman was on the shortest stack, and then all in on fifth street against Ferguson. When each player's board was complete, Ferguson had / / , while Friedman had / / . Ferguson's nines were the higher pair, sending Friedman to the rail.

That set the stage for an epic, six-hour, heads-up duel. Two and a half hours in, Ferguson survived an all-in moment, then surged all the way back to put Wattel in a similar spot. Needing to make at least a second pair to accompany his split pair of fives on seventh street, Wattel caught the case five (Ferguson also had a five showing) to stay in the match. From there the duel swung steadily in Wattel's favor as the blinds increasingly came into play. Wattel claimed most of Ferguson's chips in a hand where he rivered a diamond flush. Wattel then finished off Ferguson, who was all in for a single small bet, by making two pair, kings up; Ferguson opened his final card needing an ace or six to stay alive, but he caught a blank instead.

Other Notables:

Also finishing in the money, in ninth through 14th place, respectively, were Harry Thomas Jr., Randy Ohel, Jason Mercier, Daniel Zack, Todd Brunson, and Shirley Rosario.

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Final-Table Payouts (earned POY points in parentheses):