News

RUSLAN DYKSHTEYN WINS MAIN EVENT AT PALM BEACH KENNEL CLUB

Dykshteyn takes home $202,335 and gets a seat in National Championship $1 Million freeroll.

Feb 17 2014 05:22 PM EST

RUSLAN DYKSHTEYN WINS MAIN EVENT AT PALM BEACH KENNEL CLUB

West Palm Beach, FL (February 17, 2014)— Ever since poker started booming in the state of Florida, it seems like it is the East Coast grinders who shine the brightest in the Sunshine State. Players from New York and New jersey venture South for the winter seeking warm weather and end up leaving with big paydays. The latest in this line of champions? Ruslan "Russ" Dykshteyn, who triumphed over a 658-entry field in the $1,675 buy-in Palm Beach Kennel Club Main Event to pocket a $202,335 payday, his first Circuit ring, and a seat into the 2014 WSOP National Championship.

Dykshteyn is a semi-professional poker player who usually sticks to cash games. "I hardly ever play tournaments," he admitted shortly after his win. The Brooklyn, NY resident only ended up in Florida because, "I just came down to visit friends." That's the only reason he played this event. He's usually tearing up the cash games in Atlantic City and rarely plays tournaments. He has one large tournament score prior to today, which is a third place finish in the 2012 Borgata Spring Poker Open Championship, good for $112,950.

The tournament novice had some tough competition at a final table which featured a couple of WSOP Circuit ring holders. Joe McKeehen has two rings, one of which is a Main Event Championship ring from Caesar's Atlantic City in 2013. He finished fourth in Palm Beach. The other ring winner, Luke Graham, also has an impressive track record at Palm Beach, as he made the final table of this event two years running, taking sixth in 2013 and eighth this time around. Throw in regular players Vincent Maglio and Josh Kay and you had a tough final line-up.

Even with the stiff competition, the final table breezed by in just a few hours, leaving only Maglio and Dykshteyn vying for the title. Once play got heads-up, it was over in a flash. It took just 15 minutes for Dykshteyn to rally from a chip deficit, take the chip lead, and end the tournament. Maglio had the chip lead going in with about 7.2 million to Dykshteyn's ~6 million. A couple of hands later, Dykshteyn has reversed their positions and had 7.7 million to Maglio's 5.5 million. Then the final, fatal, hand played out.

In this event, Dykshteyn bested a field of 658 entrants to earn the lion's share of the $987,000 prize pool. The final 72 players got paid and it was a packed field. Mukul Pahuja, who has nearly $1.9 million in tournament earnings, just missed the unofficial final table, busting out 11th for $15,220. He followed Aaron Massey to the rail after Massey busted in 12th place ($15,220). Massey has over $1.5 million in earnings. The last woman sitting in this event was Claudia Crawford. She finished 15th for $12,387. WSOP bracelet holders who also finished in the money were Josh Arieh, 17th ($10,206); Robert Cheung, $56th ($3,010), and David Diaz, 62nd ($3,010).

In addition to the prize money and gold ring, Dykshteyn also earns a seat in the season-ending National Championship to be held this spring.

Next up on the Circuit schedule is a trip to Sin City where the ring action will get underway at Caesars Palace starting on Thursday, February 20th. Until then, here are the results from the final table of the Palm Beach Kennel Club Main Event:

PLACE	PLAYER	CITY / STATE / COUNTRY	CASH EARNED
1	Ruslan Dykshteyn	BROOKLYN, NY, US	$202,335
2	Vincent Maglio	REVERE, MA, US	$125,201
3	Richard Kirsch	Ft. Lauderdale, FL, US	$91,830
4	Joseph McKeehen	North Wales, PA, US	$68,291
5	Ian Ohara	Boca Raton, FL, US	$51,472
6	George Lampert	NAPLES, FL, US	$39,312
7	Josh Kay	WEST BLOOMFIELD, MI, US	$30,419
8	Luke Graham	PORT ST. LUCIE, FL, US	$23,846
9	Fadi Massaad	Austin, TX, US	$18,931

Latest News

The Mizrachis: A Poker Family Like No Other

I recently sat down with Paul Mizrachi to talk about poker and family. Paul just turned 21, and, unsurprisingly, he’s as obsessed with the game as the rest of the Mizrachi tribe. His father, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, is the reigning World Champion and an eight-time WSOP bracelet winner, so poker has always been more than a pastime; it’s the family business.

Dec 12 2025 04:40 PM EST

EVERY WSOP BRACELET WINNER FROM WSOP PARADISE 2025

While pulse-pounding WSOP action continues at WSOP Paradise 2025, check out the initial players who have already won WSOP bracelets, and revisit this page throughout the series to follow who else cements themselves in poker history.

Dec 12 2025 10:45 AM EST

DEREK SEIN-LWIN WINS FINAL 2025 WSOPC MAIN EVENT TITLE AT CHEROKEE

While 18 WSOP Circuit rings were bestowed upon players throughout the series, Derek Sein-Lwin won the biggest prize of them all, taking down the $1,700 Cherokee WSOP Circuit Main Event for $281,514 and his first WSOP Circuit ring.

Dec 09 2025 05:00 PM EST