"The Lone Wolf" Sergio Benso conquers the inaugural WSOP Pick-Your-PLO tournament.

Italian player Sergio Benso won the inaugural WSOP $1,500 Pick Your PLO event, earning his first gold bracelet and $196,431 in prize money.

Sergio Benso had long dreamed of winning a gold bracelet in a World Series of Poker tournament. He made that dream a reality with an overwhelming performance in the inaugural $1,500 Pick Your PLO tournament.

Benso took the chip lead early in the final table and then defeated Farhad Jamasi heads-up to win the $196,431 champion prize at Horseshoe and Paris in Las Vegas.

When Benso realized he had won a pot big enough to take all the chips, he didn't even try to hide his excitement. A smile that would last at least half an hour appeared before he even hugged everyone around him. From the dealer to the tournament director to the media, he had to share his joy.

Benso emerged victorious from a field of 857 participants, with a total prize pool of $1,137,667, and none of his friends or family were among the winners.

Final table results

Victory for joy

Benso is alone, but he doesn't mind. Benso's wife and their one-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Joy, are at their home in the Netherlands.

"This is a wonderful gift for Joy, and I can't wait to fly back and celebrate with them," said the athlete from Genoa, Italy. "This is something you've dreamed of your whole life."

"I'm like a lone wolf. Not because I think I'm not good enough or unfriendly, but because I like to be focused during a game. The lone wolf, that's me."

"I'm like a lone wolf. Not because I think I'm not good enough or unfriendly, but because I like to be focused during the game."

Benso truly devoured all his opponents. This was a performance he knew he was capable of.

He has accumulated prize money over approximately 20 years, a large portion of which came from the Omaha Variant event, and has been participating in the WSOP since 2015, but has never won a gold bracelet.

"I usually mess up on the last day, but not today," Benso said. "I was lucky, and I played very well."

Final table results

Only 10 players sat down to compete for the championship on Saturday, half of whom were eliminated within the first two hours of the competition.

The final table was formed about 15 minutes into the day – Michael Lenz and Brevin Andreadis were eliminated one after another.

Meanwhile, in Benso's first hand, he let the dangerous Justin Liberto double up, making it to the final table in sixth place with less than 20 big blinds in chips.

Then he started to exert his strength.

He won back a lot of chips from Liberto in a PLO hand, his last tournament on his road to victory putting his life at risk.

After suffering a major setback, Maxx Coleman started the final table with a short stack of only two big blinds, but he fought back to build up a substantial chip stack, skillfully avoiding danger, and ultimately finished in fifth place.

Benso eliminated Jon Turner in seventh place, and then won over 3,000,000 chips from Liberto after a questionable call, taking the chip lead.

Soon after, Benso eliminated Liberto—he considered Liberto his biggest competitor.

The Last Wolf

The fact that the two players who entered the tournament with the first and second-highest chip counts on the day ultimately met in heads-up play to compete for the gold bracelet was, in a way, quite fitting.

Jamasi and Benso led the elimination wave on Day 2, climbing the leaderboard as they eliminated their opponents. Jamasi took control, entering the final day with one-third of the chips.

When heads-up play began, he still had about that number of chips, but Benso had become the overwhelming chip leader. And Benso was almost flawless in the final stages.

He didn't overuse his chip stack, instead letting Jamasi approach him during the nearly four-hour heads-up match. Aside from the blinds, Jamasi won only a handful of hands in pots where Benso had any chips.

"I made a lot of mistakes in the first two days, as everyone does, but the key is who makes fewer mistakes, and I didn't make any mistakes in the last six hours," Benso said. "That's why I won the match. The Lone Wolf accomplished his mission."

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