It was an exciting Monday at the World Series of Poker for José Luis Velador, who took down the $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold’Em/Pot-Limit Omaha split event, netting himself the princely sum of $260,552 and his second World Series of Poker bracelet.

The Full Tilt Poker Red Pro is no stranger to poker success. Having become a poker professional in 1997, Velador now plays regularly on the mid-limit cash tables, specializing in mixed games. He won his first WSOP bracelet two years ago, plowing through a 2,300 player field to take down a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’Em event. While he now resides in Southern California, Velador was born in Mexico and holds the record for the highest lifetime poker earnings of anyone from his country, with over $1.3 million in career tournament winnings alone.

Reflecting on the tournament afterward, he modestly attributes his tournament win to luck, saying, “I got hit by the deck for a while and my strategy was to push.” There’s no denying, however, that taking down one of these mixed events requires a great deal of poker skill and Velador is certainly not dismissive of his victory nor of the strength of the star-studded tournament field, which most notably featured Phil Ivey, who was eliminated by Velador in 12th place. “Any bracelet, first, second, or third is always going to mean a lot, especially beating so many tough players.”

Eliminating Rob Hollink in third place, Velador moved into Heads-Up play with a massive chip lead over second-place-getter and fellow Full Tilt Poker Pro David Chiu. While Chiu was able to land an early double-up during Omaha play, it proved to have been too little too late when the final hand unfolded. Looking down during a Hold’Em round at Seven-Six suited, Velador raised on his button and called a reraise from Chiu to see a 632 flop. Chiu lead out for pot, Velador reraised him all-in and Chiu made the call, giving Velador the good news as he tabled his Ace-Ten off-suit. The board ran out 6329J, eliminating Chiu in second place and awarding the bracelet and the victory to Velador.

The $260,522 prize money will most definitely be appreciated, but it is the second bracelet win that truly pleased Velador, who explained, “Tomorrow is my wife’s birthday. I promised I was going to bring her the bracelet, and that’s what I’m going to do.”