Event #18 of this year's World Series Of Poker, the $10,000 Stud Championship Event, looked to be one of those tourneys tailor made to get a big name pro a bracelet. Yet despite a daunting field of well-knowns and a final table which included Alexander Kostritsyn, Eric Seidel, and David Oppenheim, the event was taken down by a relatively unknown player, Pennsylvania native Eric Brooks.

When the final table started yesterday, Eric Brooks was barely on the radar. Brooks' respectable stack of 359,000 was well below that of chip leader David Oppenheim who had 508,000. In fact, Brooks began the final table in sixth place out of eight, ahead of only Vaissilios Lazarou (259,000) and Eric Seidel (273,000). It would not be long though before Brooks began to get noticed, hanging on and building up when others wavered and fell. By the end of the day, it was Brooks against Fu Wong and, despite a chip deficit, Mr. Brooks was eventually able to claim victory along with a WSOP bracelet and a first place prize of $415,856.

Eric Brooks certainly earned a lot of respect with his first place finish in such a difficult event, yet what he decided to do with the prize money is bound to earn him even more. Eric Brooks has announced he will be donating his entire first place prize to the "Decision Education Foundation," an organization dedicated to improving the lives of young people by helping them learn to make better decisions. For more information on this important organization visit, decisioneducation.org.

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