Israeli poker player wins $457K

An Israeli took home nearly half a million dollars in winning a tournament at the 2015 World Series of Poker.

Idan Raviv, 24, of Holon, finished first in the $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed tournament, a three-day competition at the Rio casino in Las Vegas that ended on Friday night, the World Series of Poker said in a statement.

Raviv, an IT professional, defeated a field of 1,650 to take the $457,007 top prize. Last year he finished in 181st place.

It was the second year in a row that an Israeli has won a World Series of Poker title. In 2014, Asi Moshe took the gold bracelet in the $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event.

The World Series of Poker consists of a number of tournaments.

Raviv described himself as an aspiring “poker pro” who plays the game recreationally on the side, mostly while attending major events in Europe part-time, according to the World Series Poker website.