Well-known WSOP tourney grinder and world traveler Michael Lech picked up his second career World Series of Poker gold bracelet late Sunday night, taking down Bracelet Event #3 of the abbreviated Pennsylvania-only WSOP Online series, $500 NL Hold'em PKO. Lech earned $20,078.44 in the progressive-knockout event, and he did it as only the popular 'Miguel_Fiesta' could, detouring to hilly eastern Pennsylvania for a weekend of football viewing with extended family and friends, then winning bracelet gold in a most impromptu way.
Lech was returning from a trip to Europe when he decided to accept an invite to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area to meet up with some family and friends for a weekend football-watching party. The group ended up watching Sunday's NFL games at one of his friend's Scranton brewpub, and Lech, ever the grinder, decided to check out the WSOP's soon-to-disappear PA-only client.
Mountain Top Monster
Playing as 'MtnTopMonsta' (his cousins live near Mountain Top, Pennsylvania, just south of Wilkes-Barre), Lech first entered a $50 satellite into the bracelet event and won a seat. From there, he topped Event #3's 185-entry field to win the bracelet. Lech garnered a hefty bounty haul as well, with almost $12,500 of his total payout coming from accumulated bounties.
Winning major tourneys from unusual locations is nothing new for Lech, however. The now-two-time bracelet winner has also collected nine WSOP Circuit rings, and he's won those rings in five separate countries, including the US. Lech often combines his poker playing with his global wanderlust, which is noted as his having visited 57 countries in his WSOP bio but is likely higher than that after recent trips.
Lech's win in his latest travel adventure came at the expense of '1TIMEGOGOGO', who couldn't find that one-timer during heads-up play and busted in second place. 1TIMEGOGOGO collected a combined $9,857.75 in prize payout and bounties. Third place and a combined $5,877.11 went to 'Mr.Pink1992'.
The PA-only bracelet tourney's 185 total entries came from 111 unique players, who combined to contribute another 74 re-entries to what ended up as an $83,250 prize pool. The final 36 players made it into the money. The event has not yet been posted into the WSOP's results database.
WSOP Online Pennsylvania 2024 Event #3: $500 NLH PKO final-table results:
*Prize shown = Total (winner's prize + accumulated bounties)
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael 'MtnTopMonsta' Lech | $20.078.44 ($7,605.04 + $12,473.40) |
| 2 | '1TIMEGOGOGO' | $9,857.75 ($7,600.72 + $2,257.03) |
| 3 | 'Mr.Pink1992' | $5,877.11 ($4,653.67 + $1,223.44) |
| 4 | 'coffeeandsoda' | $3,849.75 ($3,371.62 + $478.13) |
| 5 | David 'DrKool' Kuder | $5,135.06 ($2,435.06 + $2,700.00) |
| 6 | 'rugpulled' | $4,329.72 ($1,777.38 + $2,552.34) |
| 7 | 'SQUOZE' | $3,122.66 ($1,294.53 + $1,828.33) |
| 8 | Zach 'CaptainLevi' Gruneberg | $2,237.06 ($957.37 + $1,279.69) |
