World Poker Tour winner collects WSOP gold bracelet

Meet the latest WSOP gold bracelet champion
Name: Andrew Lichtenberger
Birthplace: New York, NY
Age: 28
Current Residence: Las Vegas, NV
Marital Status: Single
Children: None
Profession: Professional Poker Player
Number of WSOP Cashes: 34
Number of WSOP Final Table Appearances: 6
Number of WSOP Gold Bracelet Victories (with this tournament): 1
Best Previous WSOP Finish: 2nd (2009)
Total WSOP Earnings: $2,874,243
Personal Facts: Believer in nutrition and living a healthy lifestyle

Winner's Quote:
"Nutrition, a healthy lifestyle, and a positive attitude were all integral factors in my victory today."

Before today, if were to log into WSOP.com and check out the player profile page for Andrew Lichtenberger, you would have undoubtedly hit the "refresh" button a few times.

It couldn't be true that Lichtenberger, one of poker's most-talented tournament grinders who has been playing at the WSOP since 2009, didn't yet have a World Series of Poker gold bracelet. That simply couldn't have been true.

Well, it was true – until this day.

Lichtenberger finally won the WSOP victory that probably should have been his much earlier, by virtue of five previous final table appearances at the series, plus a runner-up finish back in 2009.

The 28-year-old professional poker player won the $3,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em tournament, which was played over four days and three nights and just concluded on the ESPN main stage at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Lichtenberger collected $569,158 in prize money, making this one of the biggest wins of his career. While the player popularly known as "Lucky Chewy" had previously won a World Poker Tour title, this marked a personal milestone. Lichtenberger also won a WSOP Circuit championship at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, back in 2010.

"It feels amazing to win this," Lichtenberger said. "I've been playing the World Series since 2009 and I've been watching it since I was a kid when I saw Chris Moneymaker win is – so it feels amazing."

The long-overdue poker pro won his victory by coming out on top at a final table which included several tough foes – no one more determined than Craig Blight, who took the heads-up fight into an unscheduled fourth day of play. The final moment of triumph came when Lichtenberger scooped the final pot of the tournament against the Sydney, Australia-based poker player, who finished as the runner up. Blight collected a nice consolation prize amounting to $351,721.

"It was a really interesting mix of players, including a lot of cash game players," Lichtenberger said when asked about this final table and how it compared with previous experiences playing under considerably more pressure than normal. "So, it was fascinating to see the dynamics of how the cash game pros mixed with the tournament pros that are used to this kind of experience. But the cash game players did really well."

Lichtenberger is originally from New York City. He lived on Long Island for a time, before settling down in Las Vegas. However, Lichtenberger's real home is on the road most of the year, playing in tournaments around the country, and sometimes abroad. Aside from lots of playing experience and a mastery of tournament strategy, Lichtenberger also credits his healthy lifestyle and adherence to nutrition to providing an edge, particularly in a game where outcomes are decided by thin margins.

"Nutrition, a healthy lifestyle, and a positive attitude were all integral factors in my victory today," Lichtenberger said. "Without adopting these choices, I wouldn't be here. The human body is simple, but also very deep in its workings. To sit (playing) for so many hours and not nourish it, you're going give yourself more difficulty when the crucial moments come. So, just by doing what I do, I was able to make good decisions that really mattered today."

This tourney attracted 1,125 entrants which created a prize pool totaling more than $3 million. The top 169 finishers collected prize money.

This was the 52nd official event on this year's schedule. This leaves 17 gold bracelet events still to go in what promises to be the biggest and most exciting WSOP ever.

Aside from the winner, here's the list of top finishers who made the final table:
Second Place: Craig Blight (Sydney, Australia) -- $351,721

Third Place: Chris Johnson (Las Vegas, NV) -- $249,336

Fourth Place: Mac Sohrabi (Rancho Santa Fe, CA) -- $179,015

Fifth Place: Linglin Zeng (Lincoln, NE) -- $130,191

Sixth Place: Erhan Iscan (San Diego, CA) -- $95,925

Seventh Place: Thomas Miller (E. Hampton, NY) -- $71,617

Eighth Place: Roger Teska (New Carlisle, IN) -- $54,190

Ninth Place: Daniel Wagner (West Hollywood, CA) -- $41,563

Other notable in-the money finishers:
Ryan Laplante, a gold bracelet winner from earlier in this year's series, cashed for the 10th time in 2016 and is the current leader with most in-the-money finishes.

Jay Farber, the second-place finisher in the 2013 Main Event Championship, took 15th place.

James Akenhead, notable for finishing ninth both in the WSOP Main Event Championship and WSOP Europe Main Event in 2009, came in 18th.

Pierre Neuville, one of last year's November Nine (seventh place), cashed for the fourth time at this year's series.

Stephen Chidwick, from the U.K., cashed for the ninth time at this year's series, which puts him near the lead in that category.

Tom McCormick, a.k.a. "the Shamrock Kid," cashed for the 58th time in his career. He is tied for second place among players with the most in-the-money finishes without a gold bracelet victory.

Also among the more notable names who cashed beyond the top 25 were – "Johnny World" Hennigan, John Racener, David Diaz, Tristan Wade, Matt Stout, Mark Radoja, Dan O’Brien, Jonathan Little, Shannon Shorr, Sam Stein, Justin Liberto, Keith Lehr, Ben Yu, Dan Kelly, Joe Cada, Peter Vilandos, Greg Mersen.

Fun facts:
The ages of participants ranged from 21 to 91. The eldest player in the field was Danut Chisu. The average age of players was 36.

The breakdown of player nationalities for this event was 680 Americans and 445 players from elsewhere. The top five nations represented was the United States, Great Britain, Canada, France, and Brazil. This event had the highest percentage of international players of any event played, so far at the 2016 WSOP.

The breakdown of participants by gender was 96 percent male (653) and 4 percent female (27).

(Article courtesy of World Series of Poker)