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Viox denies Sexton WSOP title17 June 2011Chris Viox earned his first gold bracelet by coming out on top in the $1,500 buy-in Seven-Card Stud High-Low Split Eight-or-Better championship at the World Series of Poker, winning $200,459 in prize money. Well-known poker pro and World Poker Tour commentator Mike Sexton was the runner-up, finishing just shy of claiming his second WSOP bracelet. The Tournament of Champions winner and Poker Hall of Fame inductee (Class of 2009) crossed the $1 million threshold in career WSOP winnings, with $123,925 coming in this event. Sexton's only WSOP bracelet also came in Seven Card Stud Eight or Better. "Growing up, he busted his chops playing Stud games," said Viox of Sexton. "So I knew going in, he was going to be a slight favorite. I ran pretty well. But I don’t think I made any serious mistakes, except one. I think the cards were the biggest difference." "You have to play your best and just accept what happens," said Sexton. "But when you get so close, you want to win. Anyway, I had a great run and I’m going to try again next time." Viox, a 35-year-old father of two is originally from Houston, but now resides in Glen Carbon, Ill. Viox previously placed third in two WSOP events, held in 2006 and 2008. An investor and professional poker player, Viox kept a photo of his children close by, which could be seen on his cell phone. When he’s not playing poker, Viox is an avid fast-pitch softball player. He was on a team called the Belleville Stallions, winners of a national championship a few years ago. David Warga was the defending champion of this event. He ended up finishing in ninth place. As play whittled down to two tables, poker media and spectators anticipated what might have been a dream potential matchup between two very well-known television personalities, still alive at the time. ESPN’s Norman Chad (co-star of most WSOP coverage) and Sexton made for an interesting matchup. But Chad was eliminated in 12th place, leaving Sexton alone to represent televised poker. Gerard Rechnitzer, from Beverly Hills, Calif., was third, Hakon Lundberg, from Trondheim, Norway, was fourth, Tyson Marks, from Missoula, Mont., was fifth, Cory Zeidman, from Coral Springs, Fla., took sixth place, Sean Urban, from Seattle, Wash., finished seventh, and Hernan Salazar, from Santiago, Chile finished in eighth place. The top 56 finishers collected prize money. Among the former gold bracelet winners who cashed in this tournament, aside from Sexton and Warga, were the following: Tony Ma (10th), Cyndy Violette (15th), Frank Kassela (20th), Steve Hohn (30th), Jeff Madsen (36th), Alexander Kravchenko (41st), “Miami” John Cernuto (43rd), Artie Cobb (49th), Dutch Boyd (51st) and Chris Bell (54th). Artie Cobb, who picked up a min-cash in this tournament, won this same event in 1983. He also took second place in this event back in 1976, which was the first year it was added to the WSOP schedule. The 35-year span between his first cash in this event and most recent cash in the same event represents the longest time span in WSOP history. Cobb owns four WSOP gold bracelets, all earned invariants of Seven-Card Stud. No player in history has more Seven-Card Stud accomplishments than Artie Cobb. Tournament summary provided by Nolan Dalla, WSOP Media Director, reprinted by permission. |