Before the 2016 World Series of Poker 29-year-old Mitchell Towner had never cashed in an immense poker tournament.

“I’ve only played in like two events that were buy-ins of greater than $100,” Towner told WSOP.com reporters.

The University of Arizona college professor was in Las Vegas for a conference and thought he try his hand in a single event. He posted the $1,500 buy-in for the 2016 WSOP Monster Stack no-limit hold’em event and was one in every of 6,927 players with their eyes at the bracelet. After four days of intense action Towner emerged victorious, capturing his first WSOP title and the large $1,120,196 top prize.

“I need to give a shout out to a few of the podcast guys, and the tv coverage I saw on [European Poker Tout] events and others where they discuss hands," said Towner. "I’m like an informal fan who invests maybe an hour every week in this, I ACTUALLY don’t play poker.”

Whether he ‘really’ plays poker or not, he has now won over one million dollars and a WSOP gold bracelet.

Towner came into the general day of play in sixth chip position with 26 remaining. He outlasted a lot of tough competition at the final day including Irish poker legend Donnacha O’Dea (21st – $39,027), six-time WSOP bracelet winner T.J. Cloutier (14th – $61,598), Matt Affleck (10th – $78,264), Andrew Moreno (6th – $219,632) and two-time bracelet winner David “The Dragon” Pham (5th – $289,497).

In the tip it came all the way down to a heads-up battle between Towner and Venezuela’s Dorian Rios. Towner began with a slight chip lead, but was capable of take a 3-to-1 advantage before the overall hand arose. With blinds of 400,000 – 800,000 Rios limped in from the button and Towner made it 3.3 million to move. Rios then announced that he was all in and after some thought Towner made the decision with the A7. He was flipping against Rios’ 33.

The board ran out J97K9 to offer Towner the very best pair, securing him the title and sending Rios to the rail in second place. For his deep run he earned $692,029.

Here is a glance on the payouts and POY points awarded on this event:

Place	Player	Earnings (USD)	POY Points
1	Mitchell Towner	$1,120,196	1320
2	Dorian Rios	$692,029	1100
3	Stephen Nussrallah	$513,902	880
4	Daniel Dipasquale	$384,338	660
5	David Pham	$289,497	550
6	Andrew Moreno	$219,632	440
7	David Valcourt Dube	$167,838	330
8	Marshall White	$129,197	220
9	Cody Pack	$100,185	110

For more coverage from the summer series, visit the 2016 WSOP landing page complete with a whole schedule, news, player interviews and event recaps.

Read More... [Source: CardPlayer Poker News]