Tom Dwan denied Bracelet

Simon Watt beat the US poker start Tom “Durrrr” Dwan to complete his first big international win and claim a WSOP Bracelet by winning the No-Limit Hold’em Championship

At the World Series of Poker this year, Simon Watt won almost NZ$1 million and now he is remaining in the United States with the aim to win more.
At home, the man from Auckland is a software developer; at first he seemed completely overwhelmed by the size of his win at the same time though he was already planning for another 10 events at the World Series in Las Vegas over the next six weeks.

To go with his $931,000 winner’s cheque, he was also presented with a gold bracelet worth $6000. In order to win he had to beat the US poker star Tom “Durrrr” Dwan which he managed with a full house in the final hand early on Monday morning. He became the second person from New Zeeland to win a World Series bracelet.

Simon Watt said, “Even if you think you're one of the better players, you don't expect to win. It was awesome enough just winning the World Series event. To be playing him [Tom Dwan] ... makes it even better. It's a ... surreal feeling. It hasn't really sunk in yet."
This was the third No-Limit Hold’em championship of the WSOP calendar, there are 45 each year. This event stretched over three days and cost $2274 to enter.

The final table started on Sunday at midday and did not finish until 3am the next morning; afterwards Watt had a few beers and then went to sleep.
Watt is fairly well known in the competition circuit in New Zealand, but he was a relative stranger in the US before his win. Since winning he has had nonstop requests for interviews from the Las Vegas poker media.
Watt said that, "It was big because the guy that made heads up against me [Tom Dwan] was so well known, one of the reasons I like to play is to win money. The other reason is it's just a game I like to play and I'm very competitive."

Before this win Watt’s biggest win was last year’s Asia Pacific Poker Tour Main Event where he earned over $200,000 at Auckland’s Skycity casino.
According the the Skycity Casino Operations General Manager, Ejaaz Dean, Watt has proved that he is not a “one-shot wonder” by winning last year’s tournament and by winning this event beating the “absolute legend” Tom Dwan. He went on to say that, "In golfing parlance he's just won a Masters. It's great for New Zealand. It's in the top five or six tournaments worldwide."
At the moment Watt has no plans for his prize money, but he said that he expects to invest it and use it to enter more poker tournaments.