The odds were high the winner of the $10,000 World Championship Seven-card Stud 8-or-better (Event 37) wouldn’t be receiving his first gold bracelet.

Once it was down to the three-handed, it was guaranteed.

Mike Wattel, Farzad Rouhani, and Jeff Lisandro all have at least one bracelet apiece, but were gunning to get one more as they played for the World Series of Poker bracelet, the title as the world’s best Stud/8 player and $431,656.

It was Lisandro who outlasted Rouhani and the 164-player field to earn his second bracelet of 2009 on Sunday morning. Lisandro came back from a 4-1 chip deficit to beat out the Iran-native after nearly four hours of heads-up play.

The last hand, which gave Lisandro his third bracelet overall, all in Stud events, saw Rouhani moving in with (A 5) 2 3 T against Lisandro’s two pair — (6 2) 6 T T. Rouhani caught a deuce on sixth street for a pair and nearly tore the K in half when he saw it on the river and knew he was eliminated. He made $266,804. Lisandro’s last two cards were K and 5.

After the tournament Lisandro refused to speak with reporters and left immediately after taking photos.

He won his first bracelet of the 2009 WSOP in the $1,500 Seven-card Stud (Event 16) and made the final table of the $10,000 World Championship Seven-card Stud (Event 6). He won his first bracelet in 2007, taking down the $2,000 Seven-card Stud.

With 12 players left on Day 3 of Event 37, it took a short while for play to move the final table to the feature stage in the Amazon Room of the Rio Hotel. Lyle Berman, Scotty Nguyen, Perry Friedman and Anthony Rivera were all eliminated early Saturday afternoon leaving Rouhani, Lisandro, Wattel, Yan Chen, Frank Mariani, Abe Mosseri, Justin “Boosted J” Smith and Doyle Brunson to play for the bracelet.

Smith, the only youngster remaining, was the first eliminated from the final table. After Chen opened on fourth street with an exposed pair of tens, Smith was the only one to call to the bet. Chen checked his T T Q board on fifth street and Smith checked, showing ace high. Chen bet again on sixth street, which Smith called after making a pair of nines. On the river, Chen put in another bet and Smith thought about it before eventually calling all in. The river brought Chen a fifth diamond, making a queen-high flush, and Smith mucked before going to the rail, collecting $54,896.

The quest for 11, Brunson’s record-tying gold bracelet, was troubled by a low chip stack and was ultimately ended at the hands of Rouhani. Brunson was forced all in with the bring in as he was dealt the 2 in the door, Rouhani completed the bet and Chen called. Rouhani led out again on fourth street when he made an open pair of fours,  and Yen folded, leaving Rouhani heads-up with Brunson. Rouhani showed another four in the hole and caught runner-runner to make a fours full of tens before the river and Brunson, who had king-queen in the hole and a board of 2 4 9 7, was drawing dead to either half of the pot and was eliminated in seventh place. He picked up $62,234.

Mosseri was the next to be knocked out. He came to the final table as the chip leader and a few hands before he was eliminated, Mariani was short and was able to build a sizable stack, but the two went heads-up with their split pairs, Mosseri had queens and Mariani held nines. Mariani made nines and sevens on fifth street and caught a third nine on sixth street, where Mosseri finally put in his last 60,000 with his queens and a low draw. The river for Mosseri, however, paired eights and he missed his chance at the low half of the pot. Mosseri took $74,258 for the sixth-place finish.

Chen was next to go when he put his last 19,000 in for the bring in, which Rouhani called. The two had an ace high and three to a low each, but Rouhani hit a pair of sixes on fourth street and Chen, who made a pair of deuces and a flush draw on sixth street, couldn’t improve on the river. The finish in fifth brought in $93,513 for Chen.

After chopping and staying alive by scooping the occasional pot, all of them seeming to come against Lisandro, Mariani was eventually anted out in fourth place. He put his last two chips in for the ante while Rouhani and Lisandro played the hand to the river. The two with full stacks split the side pot, Rouhani took the high half of the pot with queens and tens, while Lisandro took the low with a seven-five. They would also split the small main pot as Mariani could only make a pair of kings. Mariani went to the rail, recieved a handshake from Los Angeles Lakers owner and poker player Jerry Buss, and took $124,684.

Wattel had been waiting, nursing his short stack for Mariani to leave, and was soon eliminated afterward. He took his stand against Lisandro, but the fives and fours of Lisandro scooped Wattel and eliminated him in third place for $176,605.

Final table results and payouts

1. Jeff Lisandro - $431,656
2. Farzad Rouhani - $266,804
3. Mike Wattel - $176,605
4. Frank Mariani - $124,684
5. Yan Chen - $93,513
6. Abe Mosseri - $74,258
7. Doyle Brunson - $62,234
8. Justin “Boosted J” Smith - $54,896

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