Bodog Beat

Team Bodog poker player Grant Hinkle took down Event No. 2 of the 2008 WSOP. (Bodog Beat Image)

The largest non-Main Event poker tournament in World Series of Poker history wrapped up early this morning when Team Bodog poker player Grant Hinkle emerged victorious to take home the bracelet for Event No. 2 - $1,500 No Limit Holdem.

Hinkle outlasted 3,929 players to capture his first WSOP bracelet and major poker tournament win and the $831,462 that came along with it. The 27-year-old marketing manager from Kansas City, Mo., bought himself into the tournament four days ago, his first WSOP event, but did not expect to get quite this far in the tournament.

"I actually booked my flight to come to Las Vegas last Friday and return on Sunday," said Hinkle, "I actually had to re-schedule my flight five times during the course of this tournament. In fact, I have a 6:58 flight that I don’t think I’m going to make. So I have to re-schedule again."

Hinkle was joined by friends and family who flew to Las Vegas the night before to watch him play, including his brother, Blair Hinkle, who has a couple of major poker tournament cashes under his belt, and his mother, who made the tearful phone call to Hinkle's wife at 5am this morning when play finally concluded.

The University of Kansas grad consulted his younger brother throughout the tournament about strategy, which quickly had to be adapted beyond the $50 buy-in home game in which he normally plays.

"He told me that early in the day everyone is pretty tight. So, just go in there as the short stack and start firing away," Hinkle said. "That helped me build up to over a million in chips."

He took that advantage and used it to outlast and outplay a final table that included poker legend Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, young poker pro Theo Tran and his eventual heads-up opponent, UK poker pro James Akenhead. After two solid hours of back and forth play against Akenhead, Hinkle bluffed into a pot and found himself up against a strong hand, only to have his bluff turn into quads and give him the long-awaited title.

Hinkle plans to use the prize money to fufill another dream, to play in the World Series of Poker Main Event.