Patriots' draftee's brother wins WSOP event, $559,371

Ryan Welch, whose brother Thomas played college football at Vanderbilt and was drafted by the New England Patriots earlier this year, won the $3,000 Triple Chance No-Limit Hold'em championship at the 2010 World Series of Poker on Thursday night to claim his first WSOP bracelet and $559,371.

"It feels really amazing," said Welch. "It really hasn't quite sunk in yet, but I'm sure it will, in a while. But it's the most amazing thing. It's the goal I have always had as a poker player."

Welch is a 27-year-old professional poker player from Henderson, Nev., originally from Portland, Maine. Welch formerlly worked as an account executive before deciding to pursue poker as a full-time vocation.

Welch was highly competitive growing up and played college baseball. He and his wife just moved to the Las Vegas area from Nashville, Tenn., prior to the start of this year's WSOP.

The runner up was Jon Eaton, a 26-year-old poker pro from Las Vegas, Nev. Eaton is quite dedicated to the game of poker; he says he plays more poker in a month that most players in an entire year. Eaton collected a nice consolation prize amounting to $344,830.

The heads-up match between Ryan Welch and Jon Eaton was a classic duel. Both Las Vegas locals traded the chip lead back and forth for two hours. On the final hand of the tournament, Welch made a king-high straight.

Guillaume Darcourt, from Suresnes (Paris), France, finished third to collect $223,459, while Will "the Thrill" Failla, from Smithtown, N.C., a 42-year-old a realtor turned poker pro, was fourth to cash in for $163,532. Bradley Craig, from Cleveland, Ohio finished fifth for $121,451.

Sergey Lebedev, from Troitsk, Russia, was sixth, Tommy Vedes, from Fort Mohave, Ariz., was seventh, Noel Scruggs, from Del Mar, Calif., was eighth, and Tad Jurgens, from Tempe, Ariz., was ninth.

The top 90 finishers collected prize money. Former WSOP gold bracelet finishers who cashed in this event included: Gavin Griffin (27th), Vitaly Lunkin (31st), Peter Traply (36th), "Captain" Tom Franklin (39th), David Singer (46th), Ken Aldridge (52nd), William Haydon (55th), and Alexander Kravchenko (59th).

James Akenhead, from London, England finished in 17th place. He final tabled both the WSOP Main Event and WSOP Europe Main Event, last year.