John Monnette Wins 2012 World Series of Poker Seven Card Stud World Championship

You could say that John Monnette hates losing, perhaps even more than he enjoys winning. The 30-year-old cash game grinder with the salty personality can at times come across as brash, cocky or just rub some people the wrong way, but there’s no denying the skills he displays on the felt or the passion he has for the game.

Less than a week removed from a confrontation with another player and a floorman in event no. 4 that saw him bubble the final table, Monnette was calm, cool and collected on Tuesday, steam rolling his competition in event no. 10, the $5,000 seven-card stud Championship.

“When I play poker I’m often angry and very intense,” said Monnette. “I’m always wrapped up in poker. I think that a lot of people that know me outside of poker realize I’m not always so hardcore and so angry and just focused on poker. I’m actually alright. It’s just that they know me in such a competitive mode where sometimes I come across as angry and mean, where it’s just me being super competitive.”

For the victory, the Palmdale, California resident picked up his second World Series of Poker gold bracelet, the first-place prize of $190,826 and 576 Card Player Player of the year points.

Monnette earned his first bracelet just last year, winning the $2,500 eight-game mix event. This time around, he had to outlast 145 of the best players in the world, who created a total prize pool of $681,500. His competition was so tough, that of the 16 players who made the money, eight had already won a bracelet.

The final table included notables such as 2009 WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Lisandro, Bryn Kenney, Perry Friedman, Timothy Finne and eventual runner up Huu Vinh.

“We came in today and there were so many good stud players like Nick Schulman was still in,” said Monnette. “He was short, fortunately, and then he got busted out. He plays great. Eugene [Katchalov]… awesome stud player. I didn’t really get to play with him. He lost a few pots and busted out before we got to the final table. When we got here to the final table, Jeff [Lisandro] was to my immediate left, which I knew was going to be tolling. But fortunately for me, I had a lot of hands at key moments, and he was kind of handcuffed by some of the other players, and also not being able to make too many hands. He wasn’t able to make too many pots, which made it difficult for him. Because of that, he got short. And once he’s short, it’s easier to play against him. Once he was gone, it was definitely a relief. I didn’t have to worry about him to my left ever again.”

Monnette now has over $1.2 million in live tournament earnings, more than $800,000 of which he has won at the WSOP, mostly in non-hold’em events.

Here’s a look at the final table results.

For complete coverage of the summer poker festival, check out our WSOP landing page.

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