Ray Dehkharghani, an Iran-born player now residing in Kansas, has just joined the elite club of WSOP gold bracelet winners after a spectacular heads-up against popular poker pro Jason Mercier in the $10,000 Seven-Card Razz Championship. Apart from capturing the precious gold piece and the honor to defeat an opponent who has won four such gold pieces, Dehkharghani also collected the amount of $273,338.
When asked by interviewers what was to be winning a gold bracelet, the WSOP’s most recent champion said that it meant a lot to him as it was his main goal to win a WSOP event this summer.
Dehkharghani is a former medical student. However, he fell in love with the game of poker and left the medical school at the University of Kansas to pursue a career in poker. The player took frequent road trips to Las Vegas, playing high stakes games at The Mirage. Mixed-game formats are also his specialty.
Razz poker events traditionally do not attract huge fields but always tend to draw the attention of some of the world’s most renowned players. There were as many as 100 entries to take part in the 2016 WSOP $10,000 Seven-Card Razz Championship. The generated prize pool of $940,000 was distributed to the top 15 players. And the list of those to be paid out included big poker names like Phil Hellmuth, Max Pescatori, and Jason Mercier, of course. It is interesting to mention that Hellmuth captured his record 14th gold bracelet last year after winning this same event.
The tournament’s final table was played on Wednesday, with Mercier leading the eight remaining players. It was only a few days ago when the Florida resident won his gold bracelet number four after taking down the $10,000 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship. And although he dominated the final table of the Seven-Card Razz Championship for the greater part, the player did not have the odds in his favor and eventually had to settle for the runner-up finish.
Two-handed play between Dehkharghani and Mercier started with the former holding the chip lead. This was not the Iran-born player’s first heads-up match in a Razz event. Almost two decades ago, he faced living poker legend Doyle Brunson in a $1,500 Limit Razz. Back then, it was Brunson who took down the event and collected the gold bracelet.
This time, Dehkharghani defeated his heads-up opponent after a longish and difficult match, during which he lost his chip lead and then regained it to eventually send Mercier to the rail, securing him with a payout of $168,936 for his runner-up finish.
Yueqi Zhu from China cashed $116,128 for finishing 3rd in the event. Brian Hastings from Hanover Township, Pennsylvania collected a payout of $82,078 for taking 4th place. Australian Robert Campbell took 5th place for $59,694.
John Racener from Tampa, Florida finished 6th, good for $44,712. Bart Hanson from West Hollywood, California scooped $34,521 for taking 7th place. Jyri Merivirta from Finland received $27,499 for finishing 8th.
