Monnette wins second bracelet, $190K at WSOP

John Monnette, a 30-year-old professional poker player from Palmdale, Calif., won his second WSOP gold bracelet Tuesday night, collecting $190,826 in prize money.

Monnette's victory came in the $5,000 buy-in Seven-Card Stud World Championship. Monnette's first title came last year in a $2,500 Eight-Game Mix event.

Monnette found himself competing against as stacked a field as has been seen in any recent WSOP event, as nearly half of the total field were former gold bracelet holders. In fact, half of the players that cashed – eight of 16 – were former titleholders. But Monnette wasn’t fazed a bit. He obliterated a final table lineup that included five-time winner Jeffrey Lisandro (also the 2009 “WSOP Player of the Year”) and another former champion, Perry Friedman. However, Monnette’s toughest adversary proved to be Huu Vinh, from Huntington Beach, Calif., who made his second final table appearance in a stud event. Vinh finished fifth in the $1,500 buy-in Seven-Card Stud tournament, which ended three days earlier, and claimed $117,913 for his second-place finish.

"A tournament like this, I’m focused every hand, because I know almost everybody," said Monnette. "I know the way they’re going to play. I know what they’re thinking. They’re trying to outplay you every hand. It’s very enjoyable to play poker like this. You’re always thinking. You’re always trying to take it to the next level. You’re always trying to think what your opponent is thinking and react to that, which makes it fun. It makes it difficult. It puts a lot
more pressure on you, but it’s very exciting."

Contrary to his table image, Monnette was the player that was all smiles at the end of the night. The man sometimes called "Angry John" by many of his peers for his chiseled facade and ultra-serious demeanor at the table, breezed through the final table in about five hours, considerably less time than some estimates that predicted an all-nighter.

"When I play poker, I’m often angry and very intense," said Monnette. "I’m always wrapped up in poker. I think that a lot of people that know me outside of poker realize I’m not always so hardcore and so angry and just focused on poker. I’m actually all right. It’s just that they know me in such a competitive mode where sometimes I come across as angry and mean, where it’s just me being super competitive."

In addition to the three finalists, Monnette, Friedman, and Lisandro, five other former gold bracelet winners cracked the money: Eugene Katchalov (ninth), Cyndy Violette (11th), Max Pescatori (12th), Mike Sexton (15th), and Nick Schulman (16th). This was Sexton’s third top-16 cash at this year’s WSOP – which leads in the unofficial “deep run” category. Katchalov, last year's winner in this event, just missed making a repeat final-table appearance.

Monnette has been playing full time since the age of 22. His first WSOP in-the-money finish was in 2005. Monnette’s victory on Tuesday gives him his second WSOP title, to go along with 22 cashes and $833,408 in career WSOP earnings. He’s also the reigning “Seven-Card Stud World Champion,” at least until next year.

There were 145 players in the field this year, up from 126 last year. However the buy-in for the tournament dropped from $10,000 to $5,000, resulting in a dip in the prize pool from $1,184,000 last year to $681,500 this year.

Modified from tournament notes provided by WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla.