2012 WSOP Event 21 $1,000 NLH Finds Michael Gathy in the Winner's Spotlight

Winning at poker is one of the biggest rushes you will ever experience and the ultimate rush has to be taking it all the way to the finish line in a World Series of Poker event and claiming the cash, the gold bracelet, and all the bragging rights that go with it. That's what Michael Gathy did in Event 21, $1,000 No Limit Hold'em where 2,798 others came to play for a total prize pool of $2,519,100. Out of that field 297 would be paid and Gathy got way the better of the deal when he scored first place and $440,829.

Gathy didn't just 'breeze' into the win. About half way through the final table, he doubled up poker pro Eric Baldwin and only had a handful of chips left to fight his way to the championship. The final table had two gold bracelet winners, John Esposito and Eric Baldwin and Gathy had to work at taking home the gold.

The final hand found Gathy and Jamie Armstrong going to war when Armstrong opened to 250,000 and Gathy raised to 600,000. Armstrong shoved and Gathy called.

Gathy:
Armstrong

When the board came , Armstrong was gone and forced to take home a payday of $273,776. Sorry Jamie, we feel for you, since we know the money means nothing and it's all about the gold.

The $1,000 No Limit Hold'em event was the second WSOP event Michael Gathy entered. Needless to say, one out of two isn't a bad day at the office...even if it took three days at the office. Gathy took home $440,829 and the gold and a lifetime of poker memories. Congratulations Michael!

Final Table Payouts

PokerNews.com's Sarah Grant spent a few minutes with Michael on camera:

Read PokerNews Live Reporting for the full picture.

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