World Series of Poker -- Lev Rofman Wins $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em

The World Series of Poker event no. 12 $1,500 pot-limit hold’em attracted a field of 535 players creating a prize pool of $722,250. From the throngs of players that began this event, it came down to a heads-up battle between recreational poker player Lev Rofman and five-time gold bracelet holder Allen Cunningham. After 25 levels of play the last man standing and victor was Rofman.

The 37-year-old, who was born in Moscow, raised in Houston and now lives in Las Vegas working at the Convention Center for the last seven years, took home his first bracelet and $166,136. This tournament held many firsts for Rofman: it was his first time participating in a WSOP event, it was his first WSOP cash, final table and of course his first gold bracelet.

Being the proud Texan that he is, he sported a NFL Houston Texans hat throughout the tournament, and of course started playing Texas hold’em in home games at a young age.

Today, Rofman usually plays $2-$5 no-limit hold’em at the Red Rock Casino.

Originally Rofman wasn’t going to participate in this summer’s festival, but plans changed when his brother came into town for a visit and he had a day off from the convention center. He entered in event 12 having little experience in the game, but created a strategy to top Cunningham.

“I did not want to get involved in flops with Cunningham. I know he’s a better player than me. I wanted to make the pre-flop betting as big as possible as often as possible when I thought I had the better hand,” he said.

Now that he’s $166,000 richer he’ll “be able to party harder,” he said.

Other notables that made the final table included Eric Crain, Jaspal Brar, Kenneth Shelton and Anthony Harb.

Here’s a look at the final table.

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

Photo Credit: Eddie Malluk/WSOP

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