Swedish poker pro wins WSOP $1K Super Turbo Bounty post-hiatus

Name: Rifat Palevic
Nationality: Swedish
Birthplace: Malmo, Sweden
Current Residence: Malmo, Sweden
Age: 37
Profession: Professional Poker Player
Number of WSOP Cashes: 5
Number of WSOP Final Table Appearances: 3
Number of WSOP Gold Bracelet Victories (with this tournament): 1
Best Previous WSOP Finish: 5th in 2009 $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha for $86,516
Total WSOP Earnings: $402,211

After fourteen hours of play, a champion has been crowned in the new $1,000 Super Turbo Bounty Event at the World Series of Poker.

Sweden's Rifat Palevic outlasted 1,867 players to be crowned champion, collect his first gold bracelet and pocket $183,903 for his efforts, and it was all done in a day.

The structure saw players start with 5,000 in chips and receive $300 for each player they eliminated throughout the day. Twenty-minute blind levels saw the massive crowd dwindle down to just nine in 13 hours of play. The final table then lasted only 54 hands in just over an hour.

First to fall was Victor Kim. His pocket sixes were counterfeited against Robert Heidorn's ace-jack. With less than a big blind left, he chose to muck a few hands, before falling three hands later.

George Dolofan was next to fall. He firstly had his pocket queens cracked by Palevic's Qh-Jh when the river made a flush. Shortly after his queen-ten lost out to Palevic's ace-king.

Gavin O'Rourke (7th), Joe Montervino (6th) and Rick Hollman (5th) then fell in the space of ten minutes, and the field was cut to four in no time at all.

Ten minutes later, Robert Heidorn committed his chips in with ace-deuce and was out-kicked by Ryan Olisar's ace-four. Olisar faded a gut-shot straight draw on the river and Heidorn was gone.

Australia's Dean Blatt fell in third place when his pocket fours were no match against Palevic's kings. He was left with just a 5,000 chip and fell in the following hand.

Heads up saw Olisar hold a 2:1 chip lead over Palevic. Palevic mentioned a potential chop, but Olisar was happy to play it out. Eight hands later, Pelavic had captured the title.

In the final hand, Olisar moved all in for his last 1.5 million with Jd-8s and ran into Palevic's pocket kings. No help came, and Olisar finished in second place, collecting just over $113,000 for his efforts.

After taking down the tournament, Palevic was asked how he felt about the whole experience. He said that this tournament was perfect for his style of play, and he loved everything about it. His crew of friends from Sweden gave him so much positive energy and carried him to victory. He had a big gap between playing because of his daughter and wife and their schedules and hadn't been able to focus on poker beyond playing in Sweden. He loves America and loves coming to play here and in Las Vegas.

1. Rifat Palevic, Sweden - $183,903
2. Ryan Olisar, U.S. - $113,581
3. Dean Blatt, Australia - $82,227
4. Robert Heidorn, Germany - $60,132
5. Rick Hollman, U.S. -$44,244
6. Joe Montervino, U.S. -$33,160
7. Gavin O'Rourke, Ireland - $25,010
8. George Dolofan, U.S. -$19,063
9. Victor Kim, U.S. -$14,685

(Article courtesy of World Series of Poker)