The 37-year-old Rulah Divine, born in New Mexico, topped up a strong poker field of 1,750 to win his first WSOP piece of gold and pocket $262,501, estimated to be his biggest cash in his poker career.
Even though this is the first piece of gold for Divine, this is not the first time he appears in a WSOP tournament. Prior to this achievement, the poker player, who now lives in North Las Vegas, managed to grab a cash prize in $333 WSOP.com Online No-Limit Hold’em Event #8, which was held earlier this year. It seems that the No-Limit Hold’em format of the game is Divine’s speciality, as he has also cashed in a similar $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event in 2013.
The final day of the event welcomed only 20 players, who managed to survive in the battle. It was Andy Frankenberger who was a close shave away from the official final table, but he could not manage to sustain the aggressive play of his opponents and left the table in 10th place.
Divine was crowned yesterday, 6th July, after eliminating his heads-up opponent Patrick Truong, who raked $162,170 for his deep run in the event. But the moment when Divine managed to gain the upper hand in the game was the three-handed battle, when he defeated Michael Amato in an all-in confrontation.
Thus, Divine added Amato’s chips to his stack and seized the chip-lead position easily, which predetermined the outcome of the tournament. The winner was marching steadily forward to the title in the heads-up battle, which did not last longer than 23 hands.
Divine entered the final collision against the last player, who was namely Truong, with a significantly bigger stack of chips. This advantage gave Divine confidence to keep on steaming ahead to the first place.
The decisive moment saw Truong holding [5d][4d] against Divine’s [10d][5h]. The first betting rank started with Rulah Divine, who completed the bet from the small blind, while Truong checked from the big blind. The dealer flopped [10h][7s][4c] on the table, only to pair the cards of both players. Nevertheless, it was Divine, who was holding the higher hand, as he had a pair of tens against Truong’s pair of fours.
The turn ran on the table [5s], followed by [Qd] on the river, which was a blank draw for both players. Thus, Truong’s hopes to strike three of a kind crushed on the river, only to secure the title for Rulah Divine. He was adorned with laurels and, of course, the long-awaited gold bracelet.
In a post-victory interview, the player shared his plans to participate in the Main Event, as well. He explained that he dreamed of winning a WSOP-branded gold bracelet since the moment he started to play poker, when he was a teenager. With fulfilling this dream, the player considers conquering new peaks in his poker career.
