Alex Jacobs aka “Yahtzem” maintained his characteristic cool and calm exterior whilst exulting within this week as he took home a $878 500 grand prize for winning the U.S. Poker Championship at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City.
The 22 year old Ivy League graduate overcame a starting field of 260 players to claim victory, with his major prize bringing his total poker earnings to $1 690 000. His previous best placing in a tournament was second in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Foxwoods Poker Classic Championship event in April.
It’s been a landmark year for Jacobs; in May he graduated from his course at Yale where he majored in economics and math, and the Foxwoods win netted him a cool $655 000.
To win the U.S. Poker Championship Jacobs had to go heads-up against Jordan Morgan, another young gun poker pro who was signed on as a member of the InterPoker.com Extreme Team this summer. Morgan earned $405 072 for his second place finish.
The top ten players, and their earnings at the final table were:
1st Alex Jacob $878 500
2nd Jordan Morgan $405 072
3rd Michael DeMichele $215 194
4th Daniel Shak $151 902
5th Stephen Feraca $113 926
6th Dale Pinchot $88 610
7th Jeffrey King $63 293
8th Augustin Mendez $50 634
9th Shane Schleger $40 508
10th Akio Ishige $32 912