You can’t spell B-A-L-D-W-I-N without the W-I-N.

A professional poker player from suburban Las Vegas has won Event #34 at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas.

The pro, Eric Baldwin, 26, of Henderson, Nevada, USA, won a no-limit Texas hold ‘em tournament that had a $1,500 buy-in, a prize pool of about $3 million, a total of 2,095 entrants and payouts to the top 216 finishers.

For the big win, Baldwin wins $521,932 and his first career WSOP championship gold bracelet.

The runnerup in the tourney was Jonas Klausen of Odense, Denmark, who earned $322,371.

Taking third spot was Jim Taylor of Cumming, Georgia, USA, collecting $213,046.

Names of note finishing in the money in the three-day event include Phil “Poker Brat” Hellmuth Jr. in 113th place, Alex “The Mad Russian” Kravchenko in 165th, Paul Wasicka in 182nd, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson in 206th and Allen Cunningham in 211th.

At a post-tournament press conference, Baldwin told reporters: “I’m head over heels. It is far above anything else that I have ever done. I cannot even talk about it accurately right now, because it hasn’t sunk in yet.

“Last year I was coming out here several times a year, and not just for the WSOP. I would come out for some tournaments and I was here for almost half the year. So, I figured I’d just buy a place out here. Plus, I hate shoveling snow.

“My dream is to be sponsored by Miller Lite. That’s kind of a joke. But I like to drink Miller Lite. I want to throw that out there. If Miller Lite needs a guy in the poker world, just give me a free supply, and we’re golden.”

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