The year 2011 has been quite kind to Amir Lehavot. A fourth place finish at the WPT LA Poker Classic was worth over $400,000, more than ten times larger than any of his previous cashes. His performance Sunday at the World Series of Poker’s $10,000 Pot Limit Hold’em Championship event topped that finish.

“Finishing first feels so much better,” said Lehavot. “LAPC was a very big score for me, but you always have that bittersweet feeling when it’s not first place, because you feel like an opportunity was lost.”

Lehavot defeated Jarred Solomon heads-up to win his first career WSOP bracelet and $573,456. In a remarkable turn of events, the first seven all-ins at this final table saw the larger stack emerging victorious. The trend was bucked when a short-stacked Solomon doubled up once, starting a chain of events that saw Solomon nearly bring the stacks back to even until Lehavot regained control.

He grinded Solomon down for about a dozen hands until they once again were all-in. Lehavot’s AQ had Solomon drawing dead with AJ by the turn on a QQTT board. The meaningless 2 on the river brought the match to a close.

The first $10,000 event of the 2011 WSOP drew a field of 249 of the best players in the world. On Day 3, which was scheduled to be the final day of the tournament, 27 players returned to battle it out for the bracelet. The field shrunk at a fairly high rate, losing several players in the first level and not slowing down through the dinner break.

We lost the last two remaining players who had previously won WSOP bracelets just before the final table, with Jason DeWitt going out in 13th and Rob Mizrachi in 12th. The 11th and 10th place finishers were knocked out concurrently at the two remaining tables, with BLUFF Rookie to Watch Toby Lewis losing a big coinflip to Lehavot to go out in 11th, while Jonathan Jaffe got coolered against Solomon with two pair against a set to be eliminated in 10th.

After a break for dinner, the pace of the tournament slowed a bit, with a raise or re-raise before the flop usually enough to take it down. There weren’t many hands that went to a river, until a sudden rush of action gave us our first three eliminations of the evening.

On a flop of JT7, Michael Benvenuti went all-in and was quickly called by Stephen Chidwick. It was basically a coin flip, as Benvenuti had AK vs. Chidwick’s 66. The turn was an 8 to bring the possiblity of a chop with a nine, but the river J was no good for Benvenuti, who hit the rail in ninth place.

Just a few hands later, McLean Karr made a large three-bet, a move he had successfully executed to take down the pot pre-flop several times previously at this final table. On this occasion, however, Sam Stein looked him up, pushing Karr all-in. It was a race, as Stein’s 44 was up against Karr’s AJ. The flop was all Karr, coming down J96, putting him way ahead. The 7 on the turn meant Karr was dodging just two cards headed to the river. Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t fade those two outs, as the 4 brought a cruel end to Karr’s tournament, sending him home in eighth.

The next knockout, which was the third during the same orbit around the table, was unlike the first two. Instead of pitting two hands that simply could not avoid a confrontation with one another, it was an untimely bluff that ended Eric Cloutier’s day. On a flop of 962, Cloutier’s all-in was snapped off by Amir Lehavot’s AA. Cloutier had Q7, and would need running cards to win the hand and survive. The 8 on the turn was the best possible card for Cloutier, giving him a flush draw and open-ended straight draw heading to the river. It was not to be, as the 2 on the river was a blank, eliminating Cloutier in seventh place.

There was a bit of a lull for several orbits, followed by a short break. Then all hell broke loose again, with the larger stacks dominating the action, leading to another rapid pair of eliminations.

Nicolas Levi had been whittled down to the shortest stack when six-handed play began, and put himself in position to gamble for a double up. It was another race situation, with Levi’s 77 against Lehavot’s AQ. An ace on the flop was all Lehavot needed to knock Levi out in sixth and extend his chip lead.

But he wouldn’t hold it for long. Jarred Solomon and Tommy Vinas got into a raising war, eventually betting the size of the pot enough times to get all-in on a Q97 flop. Vinas had flopped a set with 77 but was second best to Solomon’s 99. There would be no miracle 7 or running spades for Vinas, knocking him out in fifth place. The massive pot gave Solomon the chip edge headed into four-handed play.

As if scripted, there was a bit of a breather once again, as some chips shifted around between the final four players for about a level. Then two more big pots in consecutive hands brought us abruptly to our heads-up match.

Chidwick was the short stack when it got down to four players, and he was unable to lift himself out of that position for quite some time. He made his stand with A9, getting a call from Lehavot, who had KJ. Chidwick looked to be in good shape with an AT9 and an 8 on the turn, but Lehavot made his hand on the river with the Q, making a broadway straight, ending Chidwicks bid for the bracelet in fourth.

On the very next hand, the new shortest stack Stein put his chips in against Lehavot with A6, but was well behind. Lehavot’s AK was more than enough when the board bricked out, making the larger stack in all-in situation seven-for-seven.

When heads-up play began, Lehavot enjoyed a chip advantage of more than two to one over Solomon, courtesy of his late pair of knockouts. The heads-up match lasted more than an hour, but Lehavot’s chip advantage and aggression were simply too much for Solomon to overcome.

Here are the official payouts of the nine players who made the final table.

1. Amir Lehavot – $573,456
2. Jarred Solomon – $353,460
3. Sam Stein – $264,651
4. Stephen Chidwick – $198,927
5. Tommy Vinas – $150,453
6. Nicolas Levi – $114,525
7. Eric Cloutier – $87,702
8. McLean Karr – $67,596
9. Michael Benvenuti – $52,406

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