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It was a marathon battle that was over in a lightning flash of action. And when the dust settled, Betfair young gun Sorel Mizzi ended up with a pile of cash, a ton of respect, and no bracelet in the World Series of Poker Event # 35- $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha. And I was lucky enough to be there watching Sorel work his magic at the final table.

Sorel was a force throughout the event, entering the final table as one of the chip leaders. He battled through a field of 363 entries to make the final, fighting for a prize pool of $1,700,000.00. It looked like Mizzi's main competition would be seasoned pro Cliff 'JohnnyBax' Josephy, who was the chip leader at the final table. Watching him at that final table, I was struck by his composure and confidence as he worked away at his title shot.

Indeed, it came down to Josephy, Sorel, and a virtual unknown named Richard Austin as the final three. Austin held roughly a 2-1 chip lead over the other two when one of the most unusual final hands of the WSOP took place. Sorel and Josephy basically got all of their chips in pre-flop by re-raising each other. Austin came along for the ride, and called the final all-in.

When the cards were turned over, it appeared that Austin had made a horrendous play, calling with a far inferior hand to Cliff's A-K-K-8 and Sorel's A-A-5-3. Austin held a miserable Q-J-8-5. But when the cards fell, Austin rivered a flush, eliminating both Sorel and Cliff. Since Mizzi held more chips at the start of the hand, he was deemed the second place finisher, with Josephy in third. The double elimination was extremely unusual as a finish, especially considering the see-saw battle that had been going on for quite some time. In fact, many media members, including WSOP media guru Nolan Dalla, completely missed the end of the tournament.

Richard Austin, the champion, turned into one of the more bizarre stories of this year's WSOP, refusing to do interviews, and refusing to talk to anyone. In fact, I was present as the requests were being made, and Austin was quite rude to the staff of the WSOP and the reporters and television crews. I don't know what he has to hide, but he sure wanted to keep it hidden. The staff of the WSOP is great, and for someone who just won a championship to be that rude to them was simply weird.

I did get the chance to chat with Sorel in the chaos immediately following the climax, and he was understandably disappointed. "Right now, I have that feeling in the pit of my stomach. I'm disappointed." But, like the seasoned pro (at 22!) that he is, Sorel was only thinking about getting back into action. "I'm going to play the 10K tomorrow, and get back at it".

Mizzi had a crowd of friends in attendance, and even pro Antonio 'The Magician' Esfendiari popped by to give his congratulations and condolences.

While it may be difficult at the time to be happy with a second place finish, Sorel should be proud of his play and the way he conducted himself. While it's his second time as a runner up in the WSOP, it's obvious it won't be long until this young gun gets his bracelet.