Fifth Brit wins WSOP title, $245,871

Steve Jelinek of Birmingham, England, became the fifth English player to win a World Series of Poker bracelet this summer, topping a field of 847 players in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha High-Low Split event to claim the $245,871 first-place prize on Friday morning.

With Jelinek's win, players from Great Britain have won more gold bracelets in 2010 than any other nation within a single year at the WSOP, other than the host nation United States.

"There are a great number of very fine players from the U.K.," said Jelinek. "I am part of the old school. But these new young players, so many of them are doing quite well. I am not surprised at all. Of course, I take great pride in being English – but it does not mean I am anti-everyone else."

Jelinek, a 39-year old professional poker player, once worked as an IT manager. He has more than 50 cashes at major tournaments held throughout Europe and Great Britain.

"It's not quite sunk it yet," said Jelinek. "I've been down on my luck, maybe through poor play, maybe through a bit of mismanagement, or picking the wrong games. My bankroll was down a bit. I decided to come to the WSOP this year and try and get a gold bracelet to try and continue my poker career and that's what it means to me – not only to win the biggest prize in poker, in the best setting, in the best tournaments, against the best players – but to be able to continue my poker career as a winner."

The runner up was John Gottlieb, from Houston, Texas. He collected $151,884 for second place.

Anders Taylor, from Las Vegas, Nev., was third, Michael Chappus, of Windsor, Ont., was fourth, Ben Lamb, of Las Vegas, Nev., was fifth, and Mandy Thomas, of Niagara Falls, Ont., was sixth.

Eleven-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, from Palo Alto, Calif., finished in seventh. A 12th WSOP victory for Hellmuth remains elusive, and he still has yet to win a bracelet in a non-Hold'em event. Hellmuth's cash moved his record number of in-the-money finishes to 78, eight ahead of Men "the Master" Nguyen, who holds second place. His final table appearance was the record 41st of his career, two ahead of second-place Nguyen.

Ryan Karp, from West Chester, Pa., finished eighth, while Jeffrey Baker, from Goleta, Calif., was ninth.

The top 81 finishers collected prize money. Former WSOP gold bracelet finishers who cashed in this event included Hellmuth (seventh), Barry Greenstein (12th), Richard Austin (22nd), Mike Matusow (49th), and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson (75th).

Modified from notes provided by Nolan Dalla for www.wsop.com