Max Steinberg Wins His First Gold Bracelet in Event #33

On June 17th, a whopping 2,779 players put up $1,000 to play in No-Limit Holdem Event #33 at the World Series of Poker. One of those players hoping to win a slice of the $2,515,500 was 23 year old poker pro Max Steinberg.

Originally from Washington, D.C. and now making his home in Oakland, CA Max learned most of what he knows about playing poker from playing online where he specialized in short-handed and heads-up play. Since Black Friday however, like most pros, he is playing more tournaments so of course the WSOP is on his ‘must play’ list.

It was only fair that Max entered the $1,500 NLH this year, since in 2010 he was runner-up in the same event to earn $352,916.

Fading close to 3,000 players wasn’t easy but on Day 3 Max made it to the final table, hoping that this time he would not have to settle for second place. Once the final table was reached, the action was non-stop and it only took 20 minutes before Christopher Shaw became the first casualty.

When Matt Stout was eliminated in third place, it was down to a heads-up match between Max and Samuel Gerber. Tension was high; both men were itching for their first gold bracelet since they each had runner-up finishes two years before, and they were looking for redemption.

When the final hand played out, Gerber was all-in for over $1.7 million with his on a flop of . Max, however, had and the on the turn and the on the river, cinched the win for Max and he collected his first gold bracelet and $440,238 in cash. Congratulations Max and we commend you on how nice you look! We hope other players take notice - this is what a WINNER looks like!

Final Table Results:

Although this was only the eighth tournament Max has cashed in since 2008, he has now amassed over $1 million in career earnings, cashed four times at the WSOP, made two WSOP final table appearances, and won a gold bracelet – all since he was just 19 years old.

Read more event #33 coverage at PokerNews Live Reporting. Read more about Max (like how he and his identical twin started playing poker in high school) at WSOP.com.

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