Razz is a unique poker game that often brings out strong emotions from players, usually not the happy kind. However, today was an exception for George Alexander, who, after 15 years of trying, finally managed to capture his first-ever World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet in the $10,000 Razz Championship. Alexander took home a $282,443 first-place prize along with the prestigious bracelet.
“It’s quite emotional. I’ve been locked in all day. I didn’t want to think about how many chips I had or what was going on. I tried to play every hand as well as I could. It all just hit me at the end,” Alexander said to WSOP after the win. “I’ve been playing in the World Series for about 15 years, so many final tables, but never quite got one, so it’s a huge sigh of relief to finally get one.”
Alexander first cashed at the World Series in 2010, finishing 39th in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event. Since then, he has made several deep runs, coming closest to a bracelet in 2018 when he finished third in the $1,500 Dealers Choice event. This year, he was already at the final table of the $10,000 Dealers Choice Championship but was the first to exit, finishing in seventh place.
“I’ve been playing in the World Series for about 15 years, so many final tables, but never quite got one, so it’s a huge sigh of relief to finally get one.”
In this event, Alexander defeated Dzmitry Urbanovich heads-up, denying the Polish player his first bracelet. Urbanovich, who has won nearly everything else in his poker career and now boasts almost $7 million in live tournament earnings and many more online, collected $188,296 as a consolation prize for his runner-up finish. Despite his numerous achievements, Urbanovich will have to wait a bit longer for his maiden WSOP bracelet.
Event #50: $10,000 Razz Championship Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Winnings |
| 1 | George Alexander | United States | $282,443 |
| 2 | Dzmitry Urbanovich | Poland | $188,296 |
| 3 | Ren Lin | China | $130,447 |
| 4 | Hal Rotholz | United States | $92,774 |
| 5 | Brandon Shack-Harris | United States | $67,783 |
| 6 | John Racener | United States | $50,915 |
| 7 | Jared Bleznick | United States | $39,350 |
| 8 | Denis Strebkov | Russia | $31,317 |
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Event #50: $10,000 Razz Championship Final Table Recap
Twelve players entered the final day of Event #50: $10,000 Razz Championship, and with a star-studded field, players were in for a long day. Leading the pack was Brandon Shack-Harris with 39 big bets, who finished as the runner-up to Scott Seiver in the $1,500 Razz event just a week ago. Close behind him were George Alexander with 29 big bets and Team Lady Gaga captain Ren Lin with 24 big bets.
Brian Yoon and Daniel Negreanu, both very short-stacked, were the first to go. It was especially frustrating for Negreanu, who played a hand against Phil Ivey and for a moment thought he was good on seventh street, but Ivey’s jack-seven beat his jack-eight. We can certainly expect the hand to feature in his epic 2024 WSOP Vlogs.
2019 WSOP Player of the Year Rob Campbell was the final table bubble boy, courtesy of John Racener. Another fan favorite, Phil Ivey, couldn’t do much with his two remaining big bets. He put them in with a solid starting hand of 6-3-A but was dealt two jacks and was running dead before the seventh street, as Shack-Harris ran pure with 7-3-8-5-T-Q.
With nobody extremely short-stacked, it took several hours before the next elimination. Denis Strebkov couldn’t let go of his hand (7-3) 9-5-7 even after seeing Urbanovich’s board showing 6-3-2. Urbanovich made six-four, which crushed the Russian’s nine-eight.
This was the 12th WSOP final table for Jared Bleznick, and unfortunately, he still has no bracelets to his name. Lin took most of his chips, and Racener finished the deal in the next hand.
John Racener, who already won a bracelet in the $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship event, hoped to grab another one in the Razz Championship, which would have been quite an accomplishment and likely put him in the lead on this year’s Player of the Year leaderboard. However, making full houses in Razz is never good, and Lin beat him with king-six, leading to Racener’s sixth-place exit.
Alexander and Urbanovich started creating some distance from the rest of the field, which grew even larger when Alexander knocked out Shack-Harris in fifth place. Alexander made a seven-six, too good for Shack-Harris, who didn’t even look at his last street.
It was just a matter of time, and the question of who would be eliminated first was between Ren Lin and Hal Rotholz. Both managed to double up a few times, but Rotholz was the first to go. He put his last bet in on 7-A-T, and Alexander called with 6-6-8. In the end, Alexander made an eight-six, besting Rotholz’s ten-seven.
Soon after, “Lady Gaga” sang her last song as Lin put his last chip on fifth street with 3-A-5-T-Q. Alexander was still behind with K-7-4-9-3 but got a 2 and a 3 on the sixth and seventh, while Lin paired his queen and ace, knocking him out in the third.
Alexander started the heads-up with a 2:1 lead and never let it go. In the last hand, Alexander completed with an ace, and Urbanovich raised with a 3. Urbanovich bet on fourth with a 9, while Alexander called with a 7. Alexander got an 8 and bet out on fifth street, while Urbanovich called with a 5. On sixth street, Alexander caught another low card, a 6, and bet out again. Urbanovich put his last chip in with a 3. Urbanovich was drawing to a nine with 8-5, while Alexander had Q-8-7-6-A. Alexander made a nine-eight, Urbanovich a queen-eight, and George Alexander finally began celebrating his long-awaited WSOP bracelet.
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* Images and hands courtesy of WSOP and PokerNews.
