News / nono / 11 June 2008 / Leave a comment

The winner was Andrew Brown, a 26-year-old professional poker player from New York, NY. Brown was a student at New York University prior to taking up poker for a living. Brown has no aspirations of being on television or being famous. He very much considers poker as a craft.

Brown plays mostly in New York's underground games, as well as in along the East Coast. He also plays poker on his computer. He admits to losing money at poker initially, but refined his skills through study and hard work and improved to the point where he is now making a living at the game.

While in college, Brown studied hotel management. He eventually wants to return to school and finish his degree. But he also says he is making very good money at the poker table and finds it difficult to break away from the independent lifestyle the game affords to successful players.

"I think I am a better heads-up player than full-table player," Brown said afterward. That point was proven by his upset of five-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Ted Forrest, who came in second. Brown battled Forrest back and forth for two hours before prevailing late in the night.

Brown stated that he thinks the best three poker players in the world are: Barry Greenstein, Phil Ivey, and Ted Forrest.

"I was looking forward to playing Ted Forrest heads-up," Brown said afterward. "He's amazing. We had a see-saw battle. It was a great heads-up match."

Brown collected $225,632 for first place. He also earned his first WSOP gold bracelet.