A little extra aggression and a little extra luck made the difference. They all had plenty of chips, and any one of them could have won it. This event got down to three players after just 36 hands. In fact, he said, playing aggressively was his only strategy at the final table. He plays nothing but tournaments, and plays aggressively. He learned his craft playing small tournaments online, and this is just his second live event. Boduch, who is single, has only been playing poker for a year. Victory in this premier event brought him $44,805 and a handsome gold ring trophy. It was a bang-bang, nonstop action event that took only until 12:30 on day one to get down to nine players, and a relatively brief 77 hands to complete the next day's final table.Īt the end, Rafal Boduch, a 22-year-old truck driver from Elwood Park, Illinois, had all the chips. This was the sixth stop on the 2006-2007 Circuit tour. It was opening day of the Harrah's WSOP Circuit tour, the first ever held at this casino, and if the impressive first-day attendance of 531 is any indication, it will not be the last.

'You are part of poker history,' World Series of Poker commissioner Jeffrey Pollack told the throng of players here at Horseshoe Casino Council Bluffs.