Update: WSOP Main Event Honors Go to Merson

It has been a tough fight of twelve hours and a record 398 hands, but 24-year-old Maryland poker pro Greg Merson has managed it - he took down the 2012 World Series of Poker main event grand finale, outplaying his last opponents Jesse Sylvia and Jake Balsiger and taking home a massive prize of $8.53 million and an expensive winner's bracelet. When the three returned to the table after a break, Merson was in a big chip lead on 88,350,000, while 26-year-old Jesse Sylvia was on 62,750,000 and the youngest survivor, 21-year-old Jake Balsiger on 46,875,000. Thanks to his aggressive style, Merson was for most of the play, even though his chip lead exchanged hands a couple of times. After 11 hours, he eliminated Balsiger, sent him home with a hefty paycheck for $3,799,073 and stayed in the heads-up with Sylvia. The heads-up did not take too long, thanks to the fact that Merson was holding almost 118 million in chips against Sylvia's 81 million, which was not enough for his last opponent to last much over an hour. After that, Sylvia was proclaimed the runner-up of the competition and rewarded with $5,295,149, while Merson took the honors and the main prize. Another amazing thing about this victory is that Merson says his focus on poker enabled him to fight a drug problem last year. It certainly paid off in more ways than one, and he is now the proud winner of the 2012 WSOP main event and another bracelet he won in the $10,000 buy-in Six Handed NLHE event.