Gabe Scott learns from experience

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In 2011, Sam Stein defeated Ben Lamb for the $3,000 pot-limit Omaha bracelet while Gabe Scott was at the cashier's cage collecting his money after finishing in eighth place. One year later, Scott made sure nobody believed his appearance in 2011 was a fluke, finding his way to the final table of the same event once again.

The 23-year-old professional poker player from Oklahoma City, Okla., watched his stack grow and blew right past eighth place in 2012. One by one, the table emptied out and it appeared last year's experience was paying off, as he easily navigated his way toward the bracelet.. Heads-up against one of the best in the world for the bracelet, Brett Richey, Scott played his best to earn his first bracelet and the largest cash of his life, $361,797.

"Last year, I was pretty comfortable at the final table," said Scott. "Except I was probably playing a little too high-variance, and it caused me to bust out early. I still played aggressively this year, but I toned down the variance a little bit."

The pot-limit Omaha expert attended the University of Oklahoma for a year and a half before leaving school to pursue his online poker passions. After Black Friday, he started playing live more often, and in his words, "That's how I got here." Both of his WSOP cashes have come in this event.

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WSOP.comGabe Scott earned $361,797 for his Event 26 victory.

The star-studded composition at this year's final table was similar to that of 2011. Lamb and Stein highlighted the action a year ago, and this year that honor belonged to Richey, Vadim Kursevich and two-time WSOP champion Dutch Boyd. Scott Stanko eliminated Boyd in eighth during the seven-hour final table, while both Kursevich (third) and Richey fell to Scott. Defending champion Stein was unable to make the final table once again, but he did make the money, finishing in 35th.

Scott has proven he can compete with the best in the world, and his next tournament, the $10,000 pot-limit Omaha Event 39, will challenge him even more.

Attendance concerns remain at the 2012 WSOP; this event was down significantly year over year, with 589 participating in 2012 after having 685 in 2011.

Other notable finishers include Robert Williamson III (11th), John Racener (13th) and Erik Seidel (18th).

Below are the complete results of Event 26 at the 2012 World Series of Poker:

Event 26: Pot-limit Omaha
Buy-in: $3,000
Entries: 589
Prize pool: $1,607,970
Players in the money: 63

1. Austin "Gabe" Scott ($361,797)
2. Brett Richey ($223,492)
3. Vadzim Kursevich ($158,530)
4. Scott Stanko ($114,530)
5. Khiem Nguyen ($83,180)
6. Tom Chambers ($61,521)
7. Romik Vartzar ($46,117)
8. Dutch Boyd ($35,038)
9. Thomas Pettersson ($26,966)
10. Jon Hoellein ($21,016)
11. Robert Williamson III ($21,016)
12. Oleksii Kovalchuk ($21,016)
13. John Racener ($16,707)
14. Galen Kester ($16,707)
15. Raul Paez ($16,707)
16. Victor Saedon ($13,282)
17. Steve Merrifield ($13,282)
18. Erik Seidel ($13,282)
19. Ryan Franklin ($10,757)
20. Mike Gorodinsky ($10,757)
21. Emil Patel ($10,757)
22. Viacheslav Igin ($10,757)
23. Chino Rheem ($10,757)
24. Damian Minev ($10,757)
25. Joe Beevers ($10,757)
26. Shreeniwas Kelkar ($10,757)
27. Dominique Mosley ($10,757)
28. Joseph Ressler ($8,812)
29. Jaspal Brar ($8,812)
30. Giovanni Di Donato ($8,812)
31. Ronit Chamani ($8,812)
32. Scott Eskenazi ($8,812)
33. Sampsa Hytonen ($8,812)
34. Dilyan Kovachev ($8,812)
35. Sam Stein ($8,812)
36. Ted Lawson ($8,812)
37. Matt Perrins ($7,316)
38. Christopher Roth ($7,316)
39. Dmitrii Valouev ($7,316)
40. Christophe Lachave ($7,316)
41. Andrew Watson ($7,316)
42. Paul Taylor ($7,316)
43. Jan-Peter Jachtmann ($7,316)
44. Brent Roberts ($7,316)
45. Vladyslav Semenenko ($7,316)
46. Padraig Parkinson ($6,142)
47. Jamie Robbins ($6,142)
48. Jason DeWitt ($6,142)
49. Matt Vengrin ($6,142)
50. Ilkka Heikkila ($6,142)
51. Ognjen Sekularac ($6,142)
52. Igor Sharaskin ($6,142)
53. Corey Burbick ($6,142)
54. Kory Kilpatrick ($6,142)
55. Isaac Haxton ($5,226)
56. Manig Loeser ($5,226)
57. Olegs Pavlucuks ($5,226)
58. Tex Barch ($5,226)
59. Isaac Hagerling ($5,226)
60. Joseph Mobley ($5,226)
61. Jeff Littlefield ($5,226)
62. Shawn Buchanan ($5,226)
63. Todd Barlow ($5,226)

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Andrew Feldman

ESPN.com

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Andrew Feldman is ESPN.com's Poker Editor. He is the host of the Poker Edge Podcast and co-host of ESPN Inside Deal. Andrew has covered the poker industry for ESPN since 2004.