Oh Canada! Berger is fourth Canadian to win at WSOP this year

Maybe it's time to rename the World Series of Poker. Let's start calling this the 2013 Canadian Series of Poker.

After yet another Canadian-born poker player won a gold bracelet here in Las Vegas, there's compelling evidence in support of the contention that Canadian poker players may very well be the most talented national contingent of any nation per capita. Considering that players with Canadian citizenship have taken four of the first 11 WSOP events, with several other deep runs and final table appearances mixed in, a strong case can be made about Canada's status as a top producer of young talent. This is even more impressive given the fact Canadian players have made up a total of 4.76 percent of the entries in the first 11 events. So on average, they should be winning one gold bracelet in about every 20 tournaments.

The latest champion is Levi Berger, who was born in Ottawa, Ont. Although he now has dual citizenship (Canada and U.S.) since he lives in Los Angeles, Berger is proud of his Canadian origins.

Berger won the $2,500 buy-in Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em tournament, which was played over the three-day period at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. He topped a big field of 924 en route to his first gold bracelet victory. The top prize amounted to $473,019.

Berger is a 22-year-old professional poker player. He now plays regularly at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. Berger also returns home fairly often to Canada, where he can play online poker.

"I actually started playing in home games and got more and more into it," said Berger. "Then, I started getting into poker online. After Black Friday, I tried to get a regular job. That's when I realized I'd have to try and make poker work. I've been playing since, hoping for the best. This is like – not normal."

In fact, Berger credits his time spent in the online poker world for giving him the skills needed to win on poker's biggest stage. Those skills were certainly put to the test, most notably when the relatively inexperienced Berger (so far as WSOP goes) faced two-time gold bracelet winner Scott Clements for the title.

"He's obviously a great player," said Berger. "I used to rail him online back in the day. But, for me, it's more like I won a bracelet rather than I beat Scott Clements. This means a lot to me."

Clements claimed $292,339 for second place, while Ben Palmer finished third to win $185,426 and Eddy Sabat was fourth for $121,711. Other final table finishers included Jacob Bazeley, who was fifth, and David Gonia, who finished sixth.

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