On Wednesday, Canada’s Simon pokerbrat13Charette (pictured) barreled through one of the toughest fields of the 2012 World Series of Poker (WSOP) to earn his first bracelet. It happened in a $3,000 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max event (#23) that drew nearly 1,000 players and Charette walked away with $567,000, becoming the seventh member of PocketFives to book a bracelet this year.

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“Thank you everyone for sweating me to a bracelet,” Charette gleaned on Twitter. “It means everything to me. Support and congrats on the rail and Twitter was so great. I’m so happy.”

His exuberance was definitely warranted, as the final 20 players in the tournament included the likes of Bertrand ElkYGrospellier, Freddy Deeb, Andrew luckychewyLichtenberger, PokerStarsfront man Eugene Katchalov, and former November Niner Scott r_a_y Montgomery. As coverage on WSOP.com pointed out, “Those five players alone have over $25 million in tournament winnings.” Three of the six players at the final table had already won bracelets.

Charette held the chip lead with a stack of 2.3 million when the six-handed final table began, about 400,000 ahead of fellow PocketFiver Luis Rodriguez Turko_manCruz. Grospellier (pictured) was the first casualty after 3betting all-in before the flop with pocket sevens and landing in a race against Artem Metalidi‘s A-K. The latter spiked a king on the flop and Grospellier was eliminated in sixth place for $68,000.

While Charette continued to build his chip lead, Metalidi continued to take out players. WSOP bracelet winner Foster Hays moved all-in before the flop with 5-4 and Metalidi made the call with A-8 offsuit. Metalidi’s ace-high was enough to scoop the pot and Hays hit the deck in fifth place for $98,000.

Four-handed, Cruz took down an entertaining hand. On a board showing 8-K-2-4-5, Cruz pushed out a bet of 180,000 and Eddie Blumenthal made the call. Cruz flipped over 7-5 for a pair of fives and Blumenthal mucked, muttering, “That’s sick.” Shortly thereafter, Blumenthal exacted revenge by doubling through Cruz with A-2 against A-Q after hitting a deuce on the river to make aces-up.

Blumenthal was bounced in fourth place after running A-Q into Charette’s aces and Cruz followed suit in third. Cruz was racing with sixes against Charette’s A-8 in his final hand and was in the clear until the river, when an ace hit to send him home. Cruz banked $350,000 for his run through Event #23.

In the final hand of the tournament, Metalidi 5bet all-in before the flop with A-2 and ran into Charette’s sixes. The board ran out 9-K-J-8-J and Charette earned his first WSOP bracelet.

Last year, Charette took second in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament and banked $404,000. He’s a 25-year-old filmmaker from Toronto who sits at #351 worldwide in the PocketFives Rankings. Here were the final table results from Event #23:

1. Simon pokerbrat13Charette – $567,624
2. Artem Metalidi – $350,806
3. Luis Rodriguez Turko_man Cruz – $225,511
4. Eddie Blumenthal – $146,053
5. Foster Hays – $98,756
6. Bertrand ElkYGrospellier – $68,738

Elsewhere at the Rio in Las Vegas, Joe Cassidy and former Main Event champion Scotty Nguyen (pictured) started going toe-to-toe today at 2:00pm PT in the finale of Event #24, $5,000 Omaha High-Low Split Eight or Better. The “Ivey Watch” was on last night, as Phil Ivey took third in the tournament for his third final table of the 2012 WSOP. You’ll recall that Ivey sat out last year’s WSOP because players on the poker site he represented, Full Tilt Poker, had not been paid back.

Cassidy was the runner-up in the 2004 United States Poker Championship in Atlantic City for $362,000. He’s been the Final Table Bubble Boy in two World Poker Tour events and took 13th in the inaugural $50,000 HORSE Championship back in 2006 won by the late Chip Reese. He was up 3:1 in chips on Nguyen as of 6:30pm ET on Thursday.

Keep it tuned to PocketFives for the latest WSOP news.