A 37-year-old former professional hockey player from Canada has scored big at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas.

Greg Mueller, of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, has won 2009 WSOP Event #33, a limit Texas hold ‘em tournament that had a buy-in of $10,000, a prize pool of about $1.7 million, 185 entrants and 18 payouts.

Mueller, who played pro hockey in Germany for nine years and then became a poker pro, picks up his first WSOP championship gold bracelet and $460,836.

The runnerup in the event was another Canadian, Pat Pezzin of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, who collects $285,196.

Taking third was Chad Brown of Los Angeles, California, USA, snagging $188,855.

Names of note earning in the tourney were Maria Ho in 11th place, Jen Harman in 12th, Todd “Son of Doyle” Brunson in 14th and Howard “The Professor” Lederer in 17th.

Before this win, Mueller had come close to winning a WSOP event twice in his career.

He finished in second place in hold ‘em tourneys in 2008 and 2007.

He is the second poker player from Vancouver to win a WSOP bracelet this year.

Earlier, Zachary Fellows won 2009 WSOP Event #21, a H.O.R.S.E. tourney.

After his victory, Mueller told reporters at a post-tourney news conference: “It’s like a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I was starting to think I was a second-place pony there for a while. I had nightmares. But it feels unbelievable and I am so happy right now.

“I never panicked once. I was just really disciplined. I was really confident. Never were my chips in jeopardy. Never was I really low. I had a good table image. I stole when I had to steal. It’s weird. This was like the least-stressful final table I have ever been at, but it might have been the toughest.

“I have always done very well at the World Series. It is the one place where I play a lot of events. I made a bunch of final tables. People were giving me the recognition. But until you close the deal and win, I think that puts you in a separate category.”

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