The first couple of days of the $50,000 HORSE event were played out in some of the most spacious conditions ever seen at the World Series. Recognising the fact that players coughing up $50,000 for a single tournament deserve, and have paid for, their space, the 148 connoisseurs who anted up were spread widely across the quadrant of the hangar that is the Amazon Room, allowing enough room for a tea dance between tables.

Today, however, the tournament is down to its final 70-odd players and the hefty beast that is the $2,000 no limit hold 'em event has come barging into sight. It is as though a demure gathering in the drawing room of one's mansion has been gatecrashed by a frat party; crystal tumblers of finest Scotch have been swept to the floor in favour of beer-pong with plastic cups on tressle tables.

One of the results of this reorganisation in the tournament area is the slight tightening of media restrictions around the tables. "There is to be no sweating of players," an announcement recently boomed over the Tannoy. "Please move back from the tables."

In one way, this was actually not a bad thing. I, for one, found in it an excuse to cease a spell of vulturing: that unfortunate period in any poker reporter's life when you're forced to hang around one particular notable player and their ever-shortening short-stack in order to record the details of the inevitable and imminent elimination. Once a player gets below a certain number of chips, the rail swells, the reporters swarm, and we're all after some meat from the carcass of the recently departed.

Today, that ailing beast was Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri. I had started vulturing the Italian bracelet-winner late yesterday, when it looked for all the world as though he was heading out the door at the end of day two. In the event, he managed to sort-of double up, splitting a pot with Doyle Brunson after three players had made it to showdown. He came back today as the tournament short stack, with 50,000 in chips. And Dario isn't the kind of player to hang around. We knew he'd be speculating either to accumulate, or to get himself to that frat party next door.

In the short time I was with him, I saw him make a judicious lay-down to Paul Fisher during the hold 'em round, but it left him with just 20,000 in chips. They all went in very soon afterwards, behind Qs-Js and he was called by Mark Gregorich's pair of eights. That was about as good as he could have hoped for, and sure enough the jack popped on the flop to double him up. That means he's back to about 50,000 again, and the process of battling for life, vulturing and survival or extinction starts again.

Similarly last night, I was keeping a watchful eye on Team PokerStars Pro Katja Thater, lest it be her to surrender a relatively short stack and join team-mate Greg Raymer on the rail. Thater had been cruising earlier in the day, with close to 250,000. But that quarter of a million was sliced down to 18,000 in just four hands, twice during a stud round when Gabe Kaplan's flush draws made it, each time for pots of around 80,000.

But when she was forced to put all her remaining chips in the middle very late on, in an eight-or-better hand, she scooped and bounced back to about 30,000, which, about an orbit later, was up to about 140,000, the very definition of yo-yo. The vultures have flapped away from Thater's table now, at least after Max Pescatori, who did perish early today from a seat to Katja's right.

It's still touch and go for Dario, but no one is ruling out a miracle.

ESPN 360 commentator Nick Geber called him the "baby-faced assassin." PokerStars blogger Howard Swains dubbed him "Super Dario." Noted poker writer Paul McGuire called him "Scarf Boy." Now, Dario Minieri has a new title: World Series bracelet winner.

Tonight, Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri won the $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed event, pocketing $528,418.

Minieri entered the final table with a substantial chip lead, and with four players remaining, he eliminated Kevin Song with A8 vs. KJ. When the hand was over, Minieri couldn't stack his chips fast enough for the floor to count.

"How much I got now? I don't know!" Minieri asked with a smile, his Italian accent coming out a little more than usual.

"I don't know," the TD responded, his eye on Minieri's pile of chips. "I haven't gotten that far yet."

The eventual answer: more than 3.5 million...more than twice what his opponents had...combined.

Three-handed play was a grind, and one that wasn't kind to Minieri. He lost a race with AK vs Seth Fischer's JJ. Then Justin Filtz got all-in with a wheel draw and a diamond flush draw to Minieri's higher flush draw and Broadway draw. Minieri was a big favorite, but Filtz made his wheel on the turn and Minieri couldn't catch up.

"I didn't want to come in third, because I came in third on two European Poker Tours. It was a nightmare," Minieri said.

He wasn't kidding. Minieri has two final table appearances on the EPT. His first came in Baden during Season 3. He finished third. A year later, he made the final table in San Remo, Italy. Again, it was a third place finish.

All was not lost, however, and Minieri kept the pressure on. After the dinner break, Fischer dealt Filtz a soul-crushing defeat--AK vs AA where the big slick came out the winner. That gave Fischer the advantage going into heads-up play with Minieri. The early going was not what Minieri wanted to see. Before long, he was down nearly 3-1 in chips. His aggression nearly got the best of him. He bluffed all-in with 3s4s and got snap-called. He looked up see he was up against two kings. At first it appeared Minieri might draw out with a spade flush. Instead, the turn and river went runner-runner fours, giving Minieri trips and the game-saving double-up.

From there, Minieri didn't look back. Over the next few hands, he ate into Fischer's stack. When Fischer finally pushed with KdTd, it was Minieri's turn to snap call. Pocket queens held up and the young Italian won his first bracelet.

"I have never seen so many bad beats in one day. I feel very lucky," he said.

Before tonight, Minieri had not recorded a major live poker win. He now has his first victory, first World Series bracelet, and first opportunity to say he has more than $1 million in career winnings.

Congratulations, Dario, on your first bracelet.