John Racener, a Tampa, Florida-based poker pro, finally won his first WSOP gold bracelet after coming close to the achievement on several occasions over the course of his terrific career. The player claimed the $10,000 Dealers Choice Six-Handed Championship title mere hours ago, dedicating his accomplishment to his late mother to whom he had been very close.
Many may remember Racener as the player who played opposite Canada’s Jonathan Duhamel in the 2010 WSOP Main Event heads-up match. The Canadian eventually took down the Championship back then, while Racener scooped not a bad payday of over $5.5 million.
The player collected $273,962 for his triumph last night, but he told interviewers that the money did not matter as much as the gold. Racener has always wanted to win a WSOP gold bracelet, but despite his indisputable poker skills, the shiny piece of jewelry has somehow evaded him, or at least until now.
The 2017 WSOP $10,000 Dealers Choice champion may be playing predominantly Texas Hold’em back in his home state, but he has mostly come to Las Vegas for WSOP’s mixed formats over the years. Racener himself is confident in his proficiency in different poker games and that confidence paid him well in the Dealers Choice Championship, known to be one of the toughest fields throughout the annual Series.
The Florida-based poker pro emerged as the victor among the other 101 tournament entries. The player entered the event’s final day as the chip leader and in a good position to improve. He had his ups and downs over the course of final table play, sinking into the short stack position at some point, but recovering quickly to eventually scoop the title.
Racener’s time came after poker icon Mike Matusow was eliminated in fifth place. From that point on, the eventual champion took precisely ten hands to eliminate his three remaining opponents. Racener played against Russia’s Viacheslav Zhukov heads-up, denying the latter his third gold bracelet. And he did this in a notable way – within a single hand and luring the latter into a final No-Limit Hold’em all-in confrontation.
Racener moved all in with [As][Jd] to face Zhukov’s [7h][7d]. The board ran out [Js][5s][2s][5d][Jc], giving Racener a winning full house. Zhukov’s second-place finish secured him with $169,323 in prize money.
Last night’s victory brought Racener’s WSOP earnings to over $7.4 million. The player has cashed in as many as 44 WSOP events over the years, finishing second and third in quite a few of those. It is also interesting to note that he is a one-time WSOP Circuit gold ring winner. Racener won the piece back in 2007 when he took down the WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Atlantic City $5,000 Main Event.
