Mufit Brahim, better known as Michael to friends and family, is the 2024 WSOP Circuit Sydney Main Event champion, claiming his first WSOP ring and a massive $387,597 first place prize at The Star Sydney.
The Sydneysider outlasted a field of 1,035 starters to secure victory, showing tremendous patience when short-stacked early in the day before capitalizing when the cards fell his way when it mattered most. He ultimately made his big move three-handed when he won a key flip to eliminate Sherry Fang in third before securing the win after an hour-long heads-up battle against Banipal “Barney” Babana.
This was, ironically, Brahim’s second big win at The Star Sydney in 2024, having also won the $5k at the Sydney Champs in May, however even that result pales compared to a WSOP ring.
“It’s good to get the monkey off my back,” he told PokerMedia Australia shortly after the final card was dealt. “I came in and was a short stack all day but I hung in there, started catching some cards. Luck went my way and here we are – I’m a WSOP Circuit champion.”
Asked about his approach heading into Day 3 as one of 12 remaining players, Brahim explained, “It was all about picking my spots. I didn’t have a lot of room to manoeuvre with a 12 to 15 big blind stack, so it was about finding spots and getting it in when I had the goods.”
A regular at Sydney’s Poker Place, Brahim revealed that he has made a habit of playing alongside Poker Palace owner Rod Meneses with the duo usually swapping a percentage of one another. Unfortunately for Rod, his timing has proved to be disastrous as he couldn’t make it The Star this week.
Nevertheless, Brahim – the co-Managing Director of a financial receivables management company – says he’ll make good use of the extra cash.
“Look, the money is obviously very good. It’s not life changing but it’s good,” he said. “My daughter is getting married next year so if she needs a little bit of extra money, I will give it to her. It’s just great to have a score like this. Winning the WSOP ring is a big deal and one that I will cherish forever.”
| Placing | Name | Prize |
| 1 | Michael Brahim | $387,597 |
| 2 | Banipal Babana | $239,531 |
| 3 | Sherry Fang | $180,104 |
| 4 | Alex Ibrahim | $136,666 |
| 5 | James Rubinski | $104,661 |
| 6 | Jethro Horowitz | $80,904 |
| 7 | Leslie Tsui | $63,130 |
| 8 | Paris Sitzoukis | $49,727 |
| 9 | Daniel Veljkovic | $39,549 |
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