Isaac Haxton says he doesn’t care about the trophies or bracelets or rings that some players collect obsessively like it’s their life-force. Still, the $37.5 million in tournament cashes — a million dollars for every year he’s shuffled around planet Earth — made him the winningest tourney player without a bracelet.
Not anymore. Haxton finally got that monkey off his back by winning the $25,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em 8-Handed event last night, adding $1,698,215 to a career that puts him in the current top 20 of all time (14th on the money list). He sealed the deal in the tournament that attracted 301 entrants, many who make a living on the high roller poker circuit.
Haxton was one of the six of the eight final players who were hunting for their first WSOP bracelet. Brian Rast, who finished seventh, owns five of them, while Portugal’s Joao Vieira (8th) owns two.
Was it even on Haxton’s mind? Of course, but not really, he said.
“I don’t really look at that stuff. I just really like playing poker and making money at it,” he told the WSOP. “I agree it is a little bit of a monkey off my back, I guess.”
Top eight of $25,000 High Roller
- Isaac Haxton — $1,698,215
- Ryan O’Donnell — $1,049,577
- Darren Elias — $725,790
- Lewis Spencer — $511,782
- Roman Hrabec — $368,134
- Frank Funaro — $270,238
- Brian Rast — $202,532
- Joao Vieira — $155,037
The Year of the Haxton
Haxton is having a special year, even for his high standards.
He started 2023 with two victories in two different high roller events within four days. First, he took down a $50,000 high roller event on the PokerGO Tour for $598,000, then he flew to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and won the $100,000 high roller opener for $1,082,230.
A week later, he won another $100,000 high roller event at the PCA for $1,555,360.
At the end of March, he locked up his fourth win on 2023 in a $25,000 U.S. Poker Open event, good for $432,000. In between win three and four, he made four additional final tables at the Triton Super High Roller series in Vietnam, scoring two fifths, a third and a second, for another $855,000.
He started May by winning the EPT €25,000 event for $296,264 — two days after a runner-up finish in the €50,000 event at the same series for $269,338.
Haxton made another final table in a $30,000 event at Triton Super High Roller Series in Cyprus later that month, finishing fifth for another $160,000.
And now he starts June as a WSOP winner.
The closest he came to winning a bracelet before this was in 2009, when he finished second in a $40,000 event for $1,168,566. He also finished third, fourth and seventh (twice) in WSOP events.
Here’s betting his first bracelet won’t be his last.
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