Don't get him wrong. Yuval Bronshtein loves all the money and adulation that comes with winning poker tournaments.
But he's no longer in the business for those kinds of perks.
You see, the 24-year-old Atlanta-based poker pro has his sights set on bigger and better things. Making history is what drives him. And that's exactly what he did earlier this week when he not only became the first player to ever win consecutive events in Full Tilt's Online Poker Series, but he did so in a span of less than 12 hours by multi-tabling the two tournaments.
The twin victories – which came during the ongoing FTOPS IX schedule of 25 events – earned Bronshtein a total of $172,387, but, once again, building his bankroll wasn't the main reason he was so elated to pull off this astonishing feat.
"I don't think it's something that anyone will duplicate ever again," Bronshtein boldly told Casino City from his home in Atlanta on Thursday afternoon. "That's what I want more than anything else; to do things that no one has ever done before. That's why pulling this off meant so much to me."
The wins also marked the second and third FTOPS victories for Bronshtein, who plays online under the screen name "yuvee04." He previously won the $100 Stud Hi-Lo event in FTOPS VI, which earned him $80,600.
Bronshtein is an accomplished H.O.R.S.E. player and has had his sights set on Event #14 for a couple months since it was a $500 H.O.R.S.E. tournament. But he didn't even plan on competing in the $200 No Limit Turbo Hold'em Event #15. But after waking up late Tuesday afternoon and missing a couple tournaments he intended on playing, Bronshtein decided to try and satellite his way into Event #15, which is exactly what he did. Both events began at 8 p.m. and Bronshtein made the decision to play in both of them.
"The Full Tilt hosts of the events (Jens Voertmann and Michael Craig) are both friends of mine so I wanted to give both of them a shot," explained Bronshtein, who was born in Israel and moved to Atlanta with his family when he was 5-years-old. "I had every intention of doing very well in the H.O.R.S.E. tournament. I think I have the best ROI (return on investment) in H.O.R.S.E. and Razz out there, so I liked my chances from the beginning. But the turbo tournament was a different story. I just happened to get some great cards and I played really well. Everything just kind of came together for me."
Bronshtein finished off his win in the turbo event around in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, around 12:30 a.m. The event drew 3,472 players and the victory added $101,975 to Bronshtein's expanding bankroll.
The H.O.R.S.E., however, was much more grueling as it didn't finish until 6:30 a.m.
"Michael Craig called me after the turbo tournament to congratulate me and I told him that I wasn't done," Bronshtein said. "I just had a very good feeling that I was going to be able to pull off two wins in one night."
Bronshtein outlasted 654 other players in that event and cashed in for another $70,412.50.
While most of his career earnings as a pro during the last two years have come online, Bronshtein has also had his share of success in live action. In two trips to the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas he has three-career cashes, including a 36th place finish this past June 7 in the $2,500 No Limit Hold'em event that earned him $14,138. He also won $109,018 when he placed third during a final table appearance in the $2,000 Pot Limit Hold'em event at the 2007 WSOP. What's more, he took sixth place in the £2,500 H.O.R.S.E. event at last year's inaugural World Series of Poker Europe in London and pulled in $29,074.
Bronshtein is heading back to London this fall for the second edition of the WSOPE and, once again, he is taking aim on making history.
"I want to become the first American to win a World Series of Poker Europe bracelet," he said. "And I think I have a good shot of doing it."
Bronshtein said he will be buying a one-way airplane ticket to the WSOPE. He plans on traveling to Austria and Amsterdam to play more tournaments after the Series and then when he does make it back to Atlanta he said he intends on packing his bags and moving to Las Vegas full time.
"I think I'm ready to make the jump to Vegas," said Bronshtein, who began playing poker when he was an 18-year-old freshman in college and then dropped out of the University of Maryland the second week of his senior year to play poker full-time.
"I want to continue to improve to the point where I can win as many bracelets as possible. Like I said, the money is nice and I'd love to win a couple WPT events. But winning bracelets is why I'm playing poker. You can't buy a bracelet. You've got to go out and earn it. That's what I want to do."
