Justin Pechie skipped out on a move to Canada to play the WSOP and it paid off.

“I was going to set up some online stuff (in Canada) so I could continue to play there,” said Pechie just moments after he won the $1,500 Limit Hold’em shootout to secure his first WSOP bracelet. “So, I was not intending to come out this year. But I went ahead and decided to come out here for a month.”

The decision to put the trip North on hold seems to have paid off for the 24-year-old Connecticut resident. He’s now cashed three times and has one of poker’s most prestigious items wrapped around his wrist.

“It means a lot.  But I must be honest that the money means more, because of the ‘Black Friday’ thing,” said Pechie referring to the shutdown of the three big online poker sites on April 15. “So, I have a bigger cushion to fall back on, with the uncertainty of online poker. But the gold bracelet does mean a lot to me.”

Pechie beat a final table that include BLUFF Player of the Year contender Eugene Katchalov and former online poker prodigy Allen “Ari” Engel. When play was three-handed Pechie was down to just three bets. He felt the experience he gained playing online since he was 17 paid off in a big way there.

“I am kind of young, but I have been playing a long time. I have enough experience to know you don’t give up.  I’m never going to give up, because I am here to win,” said Pechie who took home $167,060 with the bracelet.

Name: Justin Pechie

Age: 24

Hometown:

Occupation: Professional poker player

Lifetime tournament earnings: $1,133,855

Notable poker achievements: Three career wins, 33 cashes including a runner-up performance at the WSOP Circuit in Las Vegas in 2006 and a third place finish at the 2007 WSOP in a $2,500 No Limit Hold’em event.

Memorable quote: (on shootouts vs freezeouts) “Shootouts are my favorite kind of tournament because there is more short-handed play throughout the tournament.  That gives an edge to people who play short-handed.  In a regular tournament, it’s always a full ring game until you make it to the final table. The Shootout format gives people who play short-handed well an edge.”

(on how winning impacts his WSOP plans) “I am going to play the same number of events (I planned). I am different from a lot of people who are backed and can play whatever they want. They can play all the $10,000 buy-in events. I have learned that those big buy-in events are really, really tough and so I don’t bother with them much. I stay focused on the softer tournaments.”

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