David Baker
Monday, July 19th, 2010David Baker won the $10,000 buy-in No-Limit Deuce-to-Seven Draw Lowball championship at the World Series of Poker in the early-morning hours on Saturday to claim a WSOP gold bracelet and $294,314.
Baker topped one of the toughest and most experienced fields ever assembled for any WSOP event. About half of the 101 players who entered were former WSOP gold bracelet winners.
The 23-year-old professional poker player from Bloomfield Hills, Mich., is enjoying a breakthrough year, having previously finished sixth at the $50,000 buy-in Poker Players Championship. Baker started playing seriously while in at Michigan State University and gradually improved to the point he was making a living at the game, mostly toiling away in online poker games.
While living in Florida, Baker enjoyed his first major cash when he won $30,000 in 2006. He invested more time and energy in improving his game and has been playing professionally ever since.
The runner up was Eric Cloutier, a former minor-league hockey player, who won $181,886. Cloutier now owns a sports bar in Lafayette, La., and plays many WSOP Circuit events.
George Danzer, from Munich, Germany, was third for $115,295, while John Juanda, a Las Vegas-based poker pro and four-time WSOP bracelet winner, finished fourth in his third final table of the Series.