Winter Poker Open Champion - Mancuso

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em   

Josh Mancuso (New Orleans, LA)

$542,771

On the final hand, Josh Mancuso held AK suited and needed help from the board to claim the title.  He got it with a king in the door of the flop.

His pair of Kings beat Jeff Papola's pocket 6s and Josh had all 22 million chips in play.

"It definitely wasn't easy. I had to run good and hit hands at the right times," he said.

Mancuso has been playing professionally for about 4 years, but is better known for his on-line play under the screen name "DahJinerat," and happy to get the win.


"It validates my on-line results," said Mancuso, who has more than $900,00 in online results. "Many players haven't made the transition to live play, so to win a live main event is great."

Two years ago, Josh was here for the Winter Poker Open and doing well, but busted out in 17th place ($14,712) at the hands of Tom Marchese, who went on to finish 3rd.  Jeff Madsen was the Champion that year.