Andy Philachack Wins New Orleans WSOP Circuit Event Championship

Bodog poker pro Josh Arieh finished in second-place at the New Orleans WSOP Circuit event. (Bodog Beat Image)

After dominating play for two days at the WSOP Circuit event at Harrah's New Orleans, Bodog poker pro Josh Arieh fell victim to the whimsical gods of heads-up poker late last night to finish in second-place behind champion Andy Philachack.

Arieh surged to the front of the pack on Day 1 with his trademark aggressive and unpredictable play and entered final table play with the chip lead. However, after several huge beats during the course of last night's play, he found himself at a 3 to 1 disadvantage to Philachack going into heads-up action and was unable to recover.

Philiachack climbed from the having the second-shortest stack of the final nine players to finally win a major poker tournament. We say "finally" because the $247,860 that the 33-year-old got for his first-place finish is not his largest cash to date. In fact, it's not surprising if the name doesn't ring any bells, although it should.

The Dallas resident won $394,594 for finishing second in the same event at the 2007 WSOP in which poker pro Phil Hellmuth astounded the poker world by winning his record-setting 11th WSOP bracelet. Obviously, Philachack's accomplishment was completely overshadowed by Hellmuth's win, but he now finally has a win all to himself.