British pro wins over $1 million in WSOP $50K Poker Players Championship

Elior Sion doesn't play many live tournaments, but there's one he looks forward to every year: the $50,000 Poker Players Championship at the World Series of Poker. This year he made it count, topping a field of 100 of the toughest poker players on the planet to win $1,395,767, a gold WSOP bracelet and a place in poker lore forever on the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy.

"It feels amazing," said a visibly drained Sion after finishing off Johannes Becker in a heads-up match that went about five hours. "It's like a long journey. You take it a step at a time. There were a few blips along the way, but as long as you still have chips, anything can happen.

"At the final table, the cards fell my way and I was fortunate enough to win."

In fact, what Sion had to overcome on Day 3 was more than a mere blip. With limits at 25,000/50,000, he lost a pot-limit Omaha pot with a combo draw to the set of queens held by Mike Wattel, leaving him with 60,000.