Ga. poker pro wins $1.28 million

LAS VEGAS — A 37-year-old former pro bowler from Georgia outlasted a 44-year-old New Yorker in a marathon poker session Wednesday to win $1.28 million and the mixed-game H.O.R.S.E. title at the World Series of Poker.

David Bach of Athens, Ga., took the last of John Hanson’s chips with a nine-high in Razz on Wednesday morning, about 20 hours after the final table began Tuesday afternoon.

Heads-up play lasted about seven hours including breaks, as the players’ chips slowly swung back and forth across the felt at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

“I’m just going to go to bed,” said Bach, a UGA graduate who said he was no stranger to long poker stretches — but it had been a few years.

“I’ll celebrate at some point,” he said.

Bach, a pro poker player nicknamed “Gunslinger” after Stephen King’s “The Dark Tower” novel series, took a 2-1 chip lead on Hanson four times during heads-up play before finally ending the match.

Hanson won $789,199 for second place and left the tournament room without speaking to reporters.

The final table, which started with eight players, officially lasted 18 hours and 44 minutes, the second longest in World Series of Poker history behind last year’s World Series of Poker Europe main event in London.

The $50,000 buy-in tournament rotates five games and tests the all-around player. H.O.R.S.E. is said to truly reward the more skilled players over time.