Day three has ended here at the Rio All Suites Hotel and Casino with Max Steinberg being crowned champion of Event 33: No Limit Hold’em. Steinberg bested 2,779 other players and walks away with $440,238. Steinberg will also receive his first World Series of Poker bracelet.

Fourteen people came in today with the aspirations of winning poker’s top prize. The afternoon went quickly with players being eliminated right in the first level of the day. With the elimination of Vincent van der Fluit and Mikhail Timoshin who were each at different tables, but got eliminated at the same time as each other we went straight to our official nine-handed final table. Once the final table was reached the action stayed at the same fast pace with Christopher Shaw being eliminated 20 minutes into the final table.

Soon play slowed down though with the majority of preflop raises stealing the blinds and antes. Eventually though the game sped up and we saw a slew of eliminations; Vitaly Meshcheriakov, Ryan Laplante, David Nicholson, and Joseph Marzicola all dropped off. After some more intense game play Dylan Hortin was knocked-out. The former chip leader continued his aggression and ultimately paid the price for it .

Then it was down to the final three. Matt Stout, Steinberg, and Samuel Gerber. Matt Stout was the first to leave after having a yo-yo of a day finishing in third.

The two remaining players both knew what it was like to be where they were. Both Steinberg and Gerber have been runner ups in WSOP events, and both players did it in the same year. Heads up play began with both players fairly even in chips, but a couple of hands put Steinberg in front, and he was able to ride that all the way to victory.

Steinberg didn’t just win the bracelet, he earned it by making great calls, coming back from being down, and just playing great poker in general. Congratulations to Max Steinberg on winning his first WSOP bracelet.