Inexperienced mixed-games player win WSOP Eight-Game title, $225,104

Malm learns on the fly, wins WSOP Eight-Game title, $225,104

Michael Malm defied all the odds in the $2,500 Eight-Game Mix tournament at the World Series of Poker held at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

He didn't plan on entering the event he eventually won. He didn't have a clue as to the strategic nuances of several of the games he would be playing. It was like a complete novice sitting down, and then three days later, winning the tournament.

But that's precisely what happened, as Malm won the event, earning his first WSOP gold bracelet in the process. The 29-year-old salesman from Mission, B.C. pocketed $225,104 in prize money.

Malm had previously entered four gold bracelet events at this series, "barely missing the money four straight times," he said.

Fed up with the course of events during opening week, Malm stepped into a $235 buy-in Deep Stack tournament and took second place. That gave him some renewed confidence to return the next day and enter another event. Unfortunately, the tournament Malm wanted to enter had closed registration. That left him few options other than to play a higher-than-usual buy-in tourney with several games in which he had no experience.

"I had no clue what I was doing," said Malm. "I made quite a bunch of mistakes. I had no clue. I knew how to play these games, I mean the basics, but I did not know the strategy of the proper way to do things."

Malm ended up being a quick study. The first day, he made a number of mistakes. But those mistakes grew fewer and farther between as more hands were dealt and day one became two, and then three. By the time Malm took a seat at his first WSOP final table, he felt confident that he could play with and beat just about anyone. And he proved it.

Malm is the third Canadian gold bracelet winner at the Las Vegas summer series through the first eight events.

Steven Wolansky finished second to claim the $139,034 second-place prize. Other final table competitors included Greg Mueller in third, Eric Crain in fourth, Michael Hurey in fifth, Dario Alioto in sixth, Mike Wattel in seventh and Marco Johnson in eighth.

Tournament summary modified from a report by WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla, reprinted by permission.