BY TOM SOMACH

Talk about a tough final table!

How about one where your opponents have won a collective six championship World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets?

That’s the tough task that faced tough New Yorker Ralph Schwartz when he made the final table for 2007 WSOP Event #26, a $5,000 buy-in, H.O.R.S.E. tournament with 192 entrants and a total prize pool of $902,400.

Others at that final table included Phil “Poison” Ivey, who’s won five WSOP bracelets in his life, and Alexander “The Mad Russian” Kravchenko, who’s won one.

Nevertheless, despite the tough competition, Schwartz came through in the three-day event to win his first career WSOP gold bracelet.

Along with the jewelry, his hot play earned him some cold hard cash–the top prize was worth $275,683.

Coming in second was Bill Gazes of Las Vegas, Nev., USA, who made $153,408. Ivey, also of Las Vegas, came close again in a bid to win his sixth career WSOP piece of hardware, but ended up in fourth place.

He adds $65,424 to his bankroll for the finish.

Finishing ninth was Kravchenko, of Moscow, Russia.

He garnered $14,438.

Previously, the only other time Schwartz moneyed in a WSOP tourney was in 2005, when he finished in 100th place in the main event and earned $3,500.

A week ago, Ivey came in second in WSOP Event #11, a stud tournament, and earned $143,820.

Kravchenko has now finished in the money in four ‘07 WSOP tourneys. In addition to his ninth-place finish in this one, he finished 22nd in WSOP Event #20, a stud tourney that earned him $5,879; he finished 27th in WSOP Event #13, Texas hold ‘em tourney that earned him $15,900; and he won WSOP Event #9, an Omaha tourney that earned him $228,446.

“The Mad Russian” also finished in the money in two WSOP tournaments last year.

One other event at this year’s WSOP has also just concluded–Event # 25, a $2,000 buy-in, no-limit Texas hold ‘em tournament with 1,619 participants and a total prize pool of $2,946,580.

The winner was Ben Ponzio of Elmwood Park, Ill., USA, whose win earned him a whopping $599,467.

The runnerup was David Hewitt of Greer, S.C., USA, who took home $374,216.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)