As recently as June 2013, Amsterdam’s Michiel Brummelhuis was not sure if he was even going to make the trek out from the Netherlands to Las Vegas to play in the 2013 World Series of Poker. In an interview at the Unibet Open Troia, where he placed 18th, he responded to the question of whether he was going to make his first visit to Vegas since 2009 by saying, “Maybe, I’m still… Yeah… I don’t know, I don’t know. I’d like to maybe play the Main Event, but only that… Yeah, maybe I’ll see a week before the Main Event, but probably it’s going to itch somewhere and I’ll have to go.”

Normally, our mothers tell us not to scratch our itches, but Brummelhuis’s decision to give the Main Event a shot was a great one, as he has been rewarded with a deep run. In fact, he finished in seventh place in the Main Event for $1.2 million.

As mentioned, it was his first time playing at the WSOP since 2009, a year in which he cashed five times. He finished seventh in the $10,000 Limit Hold’em World Championship, claiming a prize of over $67,000. His highest finish in a WSOP tournament came the previous year, when he placed sixth in a $1,500 Short-Handed No Limit Hold’em event.

Brummelhuis scored his biggest live tournament payday in 2008 when he won a €1,000 No Limit Hold’em Main Event at the Summer Classics in Utrecht for €68,310 ($101,014).

One of Brummelhuis’s best claims to fame was when he pulled off a huge bluff at the 2010 PokerStarsCaribbean Adventure High Roller final table. William Reynolds XO Reynolds held Ad-2d in the small blind and raised to 62,000. Brummelhuis, in the big blind, called with just Ks-4c. He fell further behind on the flop of Jc-Jh-2h, but showed no hesitation in calling a 46,000 bet by Reynolds.

The Ac on the turn meant Brummelhuis was drawing dead, but no matter, he called a 102,000-chip bet, anyway. When the 8h fell on the river, Reynolds slowed down, checking to the Dutchman. That was exactly what Brummelhuis was looking for, as he announced he was all-in. Frustrated, Reynolds removed his sunglasses and rubbed his forehead before laying down his cards and saying, “You’re not bluffing.”

Yes. Yes, he was. And Brummelhuis made sure to show him.