Rifat Palevic Wins First Bracelet in One Day

The World Series of Poker always finds room on the schedule to experiment with formats or a few first-time events, sometimes they’re hits like the Dealers Choice or Millionaire Maker or sometimes they fall by the wayside like the Ante Only event. The $1,000 Super Turbo Bounty event looks like it’s coming back next year with 1,867 entrants and a $1.6 million prize pool.

Rifat Palevic took down the event in a 14-hour marathon stretch and earned $183,903. He defeated Chicago pro Ryan Olisar heads-up. The event featured 20-minute blind levels, a $300 bounty for every knockout and the final table wrapped up in a tidy 54 hands.

The Swedish pro was overwhelmed by the moment and winning a bracelet in a single day. “Everything is going through my mind right now,” he said. “I actually wasn’t even planning on playing this, but I met one guy from Houston, Texas and we played heads-up for a long session in London and he told me that it was not good cash games and said ‘Let’s play this. It’s a good tournament.’ So, my friends also told me it was a good tournament. I went into it and everything was good. I’m very happy to get a bracelet.”

Palevic cut back on his play in recent years for his family and now that his daughter is almost 12 he can play more. “I was playing a lot outside Europe and Sweden,” he said. “But now I’m playing in Sweden and local games in Europe. It’s like when my wife and family have vacation, it’s the World Series. That’s why I don’t come every year but I should do it because it’s very nice over here.”

Rifat Palevic enjoys the social aspect of the game. (Photo: PokerPhotoArchive.com)
The fast pace of the event suited Palevic. “It was a perfect mix,” he said. “It couldn’t be better – it was born for me. I like turbo tournaments, I also like normal tournaments but I really liked this tournament. It was nice with bounties.”

Caufman Talley missed out on the final table in 11th place, Ashton Griffin, Nick Palma and Rex Clinkscales all made deep runs.

Final Table Payouts

1. Rifat Palevic – $183,903
2. Ryan Olisar – $113,581
3. Dean Blatt – $82.227
4. Robert Heidorn – $60,132
5. Rick Hollman – $44,244
6. Joe Montervino – $33,160
7. Gavin O’Rourke – $25,010
8. George Dolofan – $19,063
9. Victor Kim – $14,685