Brian Altman Wins First World Series of Poker Bracelet

Brian Altman is the latest player from the ‘best without a bracelet’ list to remove that dreaded distinction. The three-time World Poker Tour main event champion and three-time World Series of Poker Circuit ring winner finally came away with the gold roughly ten years after recording his first cash at the series.

Altman secured the bracelet by topping a field of 1,641 entries in the 2022 WSOP Online $400 buy-in no-limit hold’em Ultra Deepstack event. The 33-year-old poker pro from Longmeadow, MA took locked up $110,662 for the win, bringing his recorded earnings to more than $6.8 million.

His previous high finish in a bracelet event came when he placed third in a $5,300 buy-in online tournament last fall for $70,200.

Won the $400 ultra deep stack online bracelet event for $110k pic.twitter.com/GzIJmSl2ad

— Brian Altman (@altyfbaby) June 13, 2022

2022 has been a solid year so far for Altman. He took down the WSOPC Isle Casino Pompano Park $1,700 buy-in main event in February, defeating a field of 725 entries to win $204,935. He backed that up with a win in the $25,500 high roller at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown, adding another $692,661 to his haul on the year.

Eric “Stackattack5” Salazar knocked out Edward “Pokermastr” Grinko (10th – $7,347) and Vinny “MrSinister” Pahuja (9th – $9,392) to move into third chip position heading into the final table, with Altman and Gianluca Speranza the only players ahead of him.

Altman surged ahead thanks to scoring a double elimination. He picked up pocket kings against the pocket tens of Chris “Glive” Ginley (8th – $12,119) and the pocket queens of Zachary “Kings702” Grech (7th – $15,830). The kings held to give Altman a commanding lead on the remaining six players. Altman then extended his advantage even further by busting Sean “Hurricane27” Legendre in sixth place ($20,905).

Gianluca “inmyhouse” Speranza won a prelop race to knock out Krishna “ninjaG0” Kalidas in fourth place ($37,190), but was soon all-in and at risk himself. Speranza’s 22 were unable to outrun the A10 of Altman, and the Italian settled for $501,218 as the third-place finisher. Speranza was just over a month removed from the largest score of his career. He took down the 2022 European Poker Tour Monte Carlo €25,000 high roller on May 7 for $895,650.

Altman started out with the lead, but Salazar was able to earn a double-up to close the gap. Altman re-established the chip advantage, though, and held a sizable lead by the time the final hand arose. He open-shoved with 97 from the button and Salazar called off his last eight big blinds with 88. The board ran out AJ9310 and Salazar was sent to the virtual rail in second place ($68,397).

Here is a look at the payouts awarded at the final table:

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