James Obst has bagged his second bracelet five years after retiring from poker to focus on his tennis career.

The Aussie is a former online MTT prodigy, famously banned from PokerStars after being outed for playing at the tender age of 16 while racking up a top three position in the PocketFives rankings.

He later moved into live tournaments having plenty of success in big events and winning his first bracelet in the 2017 $ 10,000 Razz Championship (Event #26).

He also came close three times in 2014 through 2017, finishing in second place, including the 2017 edition of this event.

Poker fans who had followed James Obst’s rise to the top of poker were stunned in 2019 when he announced he wanted to follow his ambition of becoming a professional poker player at the already advanced age of 28.

Today, he looked every bit as sharp as when we saw him at the WSOP last time.

Final Action

Mike Lang was the chip leader when the action resumed, but he must have felt some pressure after realising that nine of his rivals had won bracelets before.

Yuri Dzivielevski is a player who nobody wants at their table in the closing stages of a poker tournament. But, alas, it wasn’t to be for him as he was the first to leave after the final table was set.

It was noticeable that this was a rare occasion during this series where Americans were outnumbered by players from outside of the USA.

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The other Brazilian in the field was next to go. Andre Akkari fell victim to a drawn set against Paul Volpe when his two pair was no longer good enough.

Obst then sent Juha Helppi packing with a set of his own to beat the Finn’s two pair.

Robert Mizrachi was still in the mix, hoping to emulate Scott Seiver with a second bracelet from this series, but he soon ran out of luck.when a much-needed flush draw did not arrive.

And then previous chip leader Mike Lang found himself staring at his opponent’s flush that did come in.

Three-handed play lasted for a long time, each player seemingly not wanting to take too many chances with glory so close they could almost touch it.

Jason Daly was the first to fall, again a player who needed that flush draw to hit but lady luck wasn’t smiling.

Obst went into heads-up play with a slender chip lead but he finished off the event in devastating style. Volpe did make some minor comebacks but Obst eventually cleaned up after four long hours of heads-up play.

The Aussie told the waiting reporters:

“A little bit overwhelming. Very strung out. It’s been a long couple of days. I can’t really believe it just thinking about the week that I’ve had. To be here with a bracelet is surreal. It’s unreal.”

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