Saturday, September 17, 2016 1:49 AM Local Time
The Mathematician Formulates a Gold Ring Victory
Event #9
No-Limit Hold'em
Buy-in: $500 (+$80)
Total Entries: 126
Prizepool: $63,000
David Cossio, a former math professor, wins his first career gold ring with an analytic approach in Event #9.
Biloxi, Mississippi (September 16, 2016) – David Cossio topped a 126 player field in Event #9 to pocket $17,639 and claim his first Circuit gold ring. The tournament lasted two days and concluded Friday evening on the IP main stage after a strenuous, heads-up battle between Cossio and Mike Horchoff, which lasted nearly three and a half hours.
“Pretty tough, pretty good player and good kid,” Cossio said about his formidable opponent. “It was back and forth, back and forth. It was a good match.”
The two, distinguished poker players seemed to be in a dead lock that would never end. Both were chasing their first gold ring, and refused to go down without a fight. However, only one could walk away the victor.
With his second-place finish, Horchoff recorded his 15th Circuit cash and 25th WSOP cash, while Cossio banked his 22nd Circuit cash and 38th WSOP cash. With over, $600,000 in earnings at the World Series of Poker, it was only a matter of time before Cossio bagged his first title. He came dangerously close when he finished second in the Main Event at Horseshoe Hammond in 2013, which is still his biggest cash to date ($260,100).
Cossio was born in Mexico, but has been in the States for a long period of time, living in Texas and now Las Vegas, NV. He currently plays poker as a full-time profession. Formally a math professor at the University of Texas at El Paso and Mexican Math Olympiad Coach, it is safe to say Cossio has a systematic mind. Cossio was asked how much his mathematics background aids in his poker game.
“Math is pretty important. I’m a pretty analytical guy,” said Cossio. “My poker is pretty math oriented.”
Cossio’s systematic approach to the game has worked very well for him so far, and was good enough to catapult him to a WSOP title. Along with the gold ring and sizable payday, Cossio was awarded 50 points toward the Casino Championship.
here's a look at the final table results:
1st: David Cossio - $17,639
2nd: Mike Horchoff - $10,309
3rd: Raj Chidambaram - $7,870
4th: Melissa Poff - $5,783
5th: "Boston Rob" Mariano - $4,323
6th: Josh Lowing - $3,287
7th: James Beetz - $2,541
8th: Paul Hudspeth - $1,996
9th: Kyle Cartwright - $1,593
Complete results can be found above, under the "Results" tab.