The Multimillion-Dollar Marathon (2005 WSOP MAIN EVENT)

The 2005 World Series, From Day One To The Crowning Of This Year’s Joe Millionaire
By Scott Tharler

PHOTOS BY IMPDI

CARL YGBORN IS SWEDISH, but he’s famous for his finish. The online player from Gothenburg, Sweden, won his way into the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event at the Rio in Las Vegas through a $1,000 satellite the week before. And even though it was his first Series and he barely had any live casino experience, he bested 5,058 other players—roughly twice as many as Greg Raymer did to win the whole shebang in 2004.

Unfortunately for Ygborn, this year there were 5,619 entries, which left him in 561st place—making Carl Ygborn “bubble boy,” the last player to get knocked out without getting paid.

Each of the first three days of the tournament, only a third of the enormous field survived. Thus, the fourth day of play was the first time that all of the event’s active players played in the same gigantic room at the same time. Among them was one Joe Hachem of Australia, the man who would eventually go on to finish 560 places ahead of Ygborn and be crowned the world champion. But only after dozens more hours of play …

Well after midnight on Day Four, just 569 players remained. Because Harrah’s was paying the top 10 percent of the field (to 560 places), the next day would start with hand-by-hand play, so that the exact order in which players were ousted could be tracked. Hand-by-hand play in the World Series is as palpably slow and tension-filled as poker gets. Hundreds of wide-eyed onlookers stood four and five deep behind velvet ropes surrounding the tables. Others stood on chairs to try to get a glimpse. Only ESPN crews were allowed inside, because they had to be able to quickly scurry a camera and microphone unimpeded to catch whichever tables had action.

So close to placing in the money, no one wanted to go out. Thus, play was dreadfully slow. Each dealer had to stand to signify that the current hand at their table was complete. When all 64 dealers were on their feet, tournament director Johnny Grooms would confirm that no hands were still in progress. Finally, after two hours of oozing along, it happened.

At Table 31, the first four board cards had gone 7-9-10-2. With a suited A-10 for top pair and best kicker, Ygborn—who’d flat-called pre-flop and called a check-raise post-flop—raised all in on the turn. Corey Cheresnick of Coral Springs, Florida, who had him covered, quickly called. Cheresnick turned over the J-8 offsuit that confirmed he’d flopped the nuts, and Ygborn was out without a dime in winnings after a meaningless king came on the river.

The previous four days had heard random shouts from excited players winning big pots and warm applause for former champions busting out. But when the bubble burst, the surviving players (now guaranteed to make a profit) and the audience cheered loudly. WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla escorted Ygborn to the podium. And as a gracious consolation, Grooms announced that Harrah’s was giving Ygborn a complimentary entry into the 2006 WSOP Main Event.

Not bad, but pretty painful for whoever came in 562nd place and suddenly became the real “bubble boy.” Not to mention the over 5,000 others who didn’t make it that far. Since nine of every 10 players would go home with empty pockets, going into the event, even some of the most skilled pros were talking about the luck it would take to simply survive the first-day frenzy. Seasoned pros Jennifer Harman and 2000 world champ Chris “Jesus” Ferguson were each involved in much-talked-about hands on the very first day of play.

With the 2005 championship tourney less than two hours old, Harman looked down at pocket queens. The board went Qh-Jd-10c-10d-7d—a boat, queens full. Unfortunately for Harman, her opponent flipped up the 8-9 of diamonds for a straight that became a straight-flush on the river, and the two-time bracelet winner was crippled.

Another two hours in, Joe Stillwell—a big stack on the button—had Ferguson all in. Jesus turned up bullets. Stillwell showed K-9 offsuit. Stillwell, who’d had about three-to-one pot odds to call, had the makings of a story to tell the grandkids when the flop came K-9-4. The turn queen was no help. Then a river four paired the board, giving Ferguson aces up and sparing his tournament life—at least for the moment.

Jesus wound up getting knocked out about 101/2 hours later. In the interim, so too had 10-bracelet winner Johnny Chan, “Mad Genius” Mike Caro, and bad boy Josh Arieh. Other popular players who didn’t survive their first day of play included Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, and Daniel Negreanu, along with celebrities Tobey Maguire, Mimi Rogers, 2005 Ladies champ Jennifer Tilly, and former NFL great Shannon Sharpe.

The cast of characters included men and women from their 20s to their 70s, attention-craving amateurs donning everything from floppy red pimp hats to Elmo costumes, each with hopes of playing at Binion’s, the traditional downtown WSOP site to which the last two days of action would move.

To do so required breaking into the top 27 (i.e., playing at one of the final three tables). The always cunning and competitive John Juanda almost made it. Juanda’s 31st-place finish earned him $274,090. Superstar Phil Ivey played his chips all the way to 20th place to cap a stellar effort worth $304,680. But the most amazing performance from an established name came from Greg Raymer.

Like Chris Moneymaker in 2003, Raymer was an unknown who qualified online and went on to win in ’04. Both results were great for poker at the time. But this year, the game needed name players to go deep. As a sign of how difficult that would be, some gambling sites were offering a bet that allowed you to choose any 12 pros, and you’d win if one of them made the final table. Raymer got the farthest of any former world champ—all the way to 25th place (and he was the chip leader after Day Five). Given the gargantuan field, it’s an amazing and statistically significant accomplishment. But he still didn’t make it to the last day of play.
On July 15, the final table was scheduled to start at 4 p.m. Downstairs at Binion’s at 1:42 p.m., the casino scene appeared pretty normal. $5 and $10 No-Limit games were being called in the poker room. A small but steady trickle of folks were meandering about. Just like any old Friday afternoon.

At 3:15, media were allowed to go into The Room to see The Bracelet. One reporter who will remain nameless (to protect the author) even snapped a photo on his cell phone with him wearing said championship bracelet. Apparently, security is not Binion’s’ strong suit.

Forty-five minutes later, the nine players who would be vying for ownership of that bracelet—all about to be millionaires—were officially called over the P.A. system. Here’s how they stood in chips and where they sat around the table:

Player Chip Count Position
Aaron Kanter $10,700,000 Seat 6
John Derick Barch $9,330,000 Seat 3
Andrew Black $8,140,000 Seat 2
Mike Matusow $7,410,000 Seat 5
Steve Dannenmann $5,460,000 Seat 8
Joseph Hachem $5,420,000 Seat 1
Daniel Bergsdorf $5,270,000 Seat 4
Scott Lazar $3,370,000 Seat 9
Brad Kondracki $1,180,000 Seat 7

Kanter (a.k.a. “AK”), a poker pro and mortgage banker from Lodi, California, cut his chops online back in college. Now 27, he qualified through PartyPoker.com. In this, his first WSOP ever, he earned the nickname “Giant Killer” by crippling Raymer and busting Ivey.
“Tex” Barch, from—appropriately enough—Texas, earned a business degree from the University of Montana and now owns a beer garden in Dallas named Big Johnsons. The 34-year-old tended to prefer pot-limit games in his dozen years of playing and came to the table with a couple of World Series cashes already under his belt.

Black, from Dublin, Ireland, is known as “The Monk.” He took a five-year sabbatical in a Buddhist monastery following a loss to Stu Ungar in the ’97 WSOP and a losing effort the next year. This year, Black finished in the money in 28th place in the Six-Handed No-Limit Hold ’Em event. And like Kanter, he qualified on PartyPoker.

Matusow, a former Las Vegas dealer, was the only well-known pro at the final table. If you’re not already familiar with “The Mouth,” look up “trash talk” in any poker dictionary and you’ll see his picture. He and Raymer locked horns a couple of times at ESPN’s featured table in the 2004 Series. Like him or not, Matusow was the only bracelet winner at the table (with two), had 18 World Series cashes to his credit, and was at his second Main Event final table in four years.

Steven Dannenmann, a 38-year-old CPA and mortgage banker from Severn, Maryland, single-handedly shattered the previous record shared by Men Nguyen and Daniel Negreanu for the player with the most “N’s” in their name. He’s also a self-admitted rank amateur.

Former chiropractor and father of four Hachem was born 39 years ago in Lebanon and has lived most of his life in Melbourne, Australia. After playing poker for 10 years without ever playing the World Series, his 10th-place finish in this year’s $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold ’Em with Re-Buys event earned him $25,850. That rake came in handy, because although he does play a fair bit online, he paid the full $10,000 to enter the Main Event. To which, by the way, he brought the loudest railbirds in poker.

“Berka” Bergsdorf is a 27-year-old truck driver from Umea, Sweden. Although two other countrymen drove into the top 27, Bergsdorf was the lone Swede to motor on to the final table. (Ayhan Alsancak of Gothenburg, Sweden, as the 10th place finisher, technically made it to the final table, but not to the “TV final table.”) Bergsdorf was also the last surviving qualifier from PokerStars.com, the site from which the last two years’ champions qualified.

Forty-two-year-old native New Yorker Lazar, now based in Studio City, California, has been a production assistant on such movies as Phonebooth and Hollywood Ending, and is also a professional magician. He’s been playing poker for 18 years, including one cash coming into his fourth World Series.

Kondracki, from Kingston, Pennsylvania, is a 24-year old UPenn Law student with an undergraduate degree from Cornell. A la Rounders, he supposedly turned down a chance to work for a prestigious law firm in order to play in this world championship event. With less than two years of poker experience, Kondracki found himself at the final table as the short stack, with a mere million plus in chips in front of him.

At 4:50 p.m., reigning champ Raymer (for one more day, anyway) gave the order, the cards hit the felt, and Kondracki started the action by immediately going all in under the gun, and everyone folded back around. Just like that, Kondracki earned 230K in antes and blinds, along with a little street cred.
The very next hand saw another all in, this time by Matusow on the button with pocket kings against Lazar’s pocket aces. A cowboy on the flop fired up Matusow. But running hearts on the turn and river doubled up Lazar with the nut flush.

The action slowed after that, until, half an hour after the first break, Matusow called Dannenmann’s all in raise after the flop. Matusow led with a pair of 10s to that point, but Dannenmann made a wheel on the turn. And just like that, “The Mouth” was closed for business. Clearly disappointed but fairly calm (at least for Matusow), he walked away with a million-dollar prize.

Kondracki was next to go, and just before 10 p.m., Bergsdorf went all in with pocket jacks and got a call from Barch with pocket tens. Barch hit a set on the flop and the board paired on the river, giving Tex a full boat and knocking out Bergsdorf in seventh place. Five hands and 22 minutes later, Black went all in from his raised big blind with two black jacks and got a loose call from Lazar with Q-10 offsuit. The hooks held up, Lazar took his leave, and Black took a commanding lead, with 21,750,000 in chips, almost double Barch’s second-place total.

The next 31/2 hours were mostly slow, but not for Dannenmann, who got on a bit of a roll—and might’ve been on something else too. After raising all in one time, Dannenmann sat with arms folded, staring. His half-smile turned into a nervous chortle, coaxing a fold out of Barch. At another point, he looked baffled at a raise from Hachem, stretched, laughed, and contemplated calling. Then, right in the middle of the hand, he reached into his pocket and took out a folded sheet of paper with a bunch of little hand-written phrases on it. Stuff like “Have fun,” “Nothing to lose” and “Avoid coinflips with big stacks.” Amidst a few snickers from the audience, he folded.

In the process, Dannenmann became the huge stack at the table, with over 26,000,000—almost half the chips in play. In the meantime, Kanter dropped under 5,000,000. Hachem, who’d sunk down to only a few million, soon doubled up to stay in it. But Black couldn’t say the same, as he got his tens cracked down to the felt by Dannenmann’s Big Slick just after 2 a.m. A $1.75-million payday is always nice, but it’s kind of hard to not feel dejected when you boasted almost 22,000,000 in chips earlier in the day.

After Black’s elimination, Joe Hachem came alive. He made good calls and strong raises, at one point going all in on back-to-back hands. In stages, Hachem climbed up from 4,000,000 to 24,000,000 in chips—often to screams from his loud, proud following of “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oy, Oy, Oy! Aussie! Oy! Aussie! Oy! Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oy, Oy, Oy!”

Friday had long since turned to Saturday, and to keep the audience on their toes, Grooms kidded, “There will be no money tonight, we’re playing for fun.” By this point, a few reporters were sprawled out sleeping on the floor, which gave various other reporters the opportunity to throw empty water bottles, seeing who could get the closest without actually hitting their dozing colleagues.

Just before 5 a.m., Barch knocked out overall crowd favorite and initial chip leader Kanter. He left a well-fought battle to chants of his last name. Down to three, out came the traditional shotgun-toting guards. It was time for the money presentation.

Normally, the cash is displayed right on the table for heads-up play. But in this case, the five boxes of $10,000 bundles of Benjamins were dumped onto a separate regulation Hold ’Em table. The money covered the table completely and rose three feet off the felt. The cherished championship bracelet was placed atop the mound of money and the three gladiators went to war: Steve Dannenmann wearing a tan button-down shirt and navy visor and flanked by dual rectangular chip stacks totaling 16,420,000; Barch with a white T-shirt under a blue-striped button-down, a white Nike visor, and a somewhat disorganized 16,660,000 in front of him; and Hachem with a fairly nondescript white button-down with rolled-up sleeves and an imposing triangular fortress of 23,200,000 in chips.

With the antes at 50K and the blinds at 150K/300K, heads-up play was nigh. Dannenmann raised to 750K from the button, Hachem called from the small blind, and Barch, the short stack by this point, went all in from the big; both Dannenmann and Hachem called, making a three-way family pot of about 22M. The flop came 10-3-2, two diamonds, and both players checked. The turn was a queen; check-check. The river nine was checked down as well. Dannenmann turned up pocket sevens, and Hachem turned up the superior pocket jacks. At 6:17 a.m., Barch mucked his hand and left the table in third place.

Bruce Buffer—brother of famous ring announcer Michael—got the head-to-head action going with a hearty “Let’s get ready to gambllllle!” Hachem’s mass of nearly 40,000,000 in chips gave him a 5-to-2 lead over Dannenmann. They went back and forth for just five hands, before the decisive sixth hand:
Dannenmann raised 700K and Hachem called. The flop came 6-5-4, two diamonds. Hachem checked, Dannenmann bet out another 700K; Hachem raised a million, Dannenmann called. The turn was the ace of spades. Hachem bet 2M, Dannenmann raised 3M more, Hachem re-raised all in over the top, and Dannenmann called. Dannenmann turned over A-3, giving him aces up; Hachem showed the measly 7-3 offsuit that’d made his straight on the flop. If one of the three remaining sevens fell on the river, they would’ve chopped the monster pot. But that didn’t happen. Another four paired the board. And at 6:44 a.m. on Saturday, July 16, after a nearly 14-hour ordeal capping a week of 12-hour-plus days, Joseph Hachem became the 2005 World Series of Poker champion. (Needless to say, the Aussies in the crowd went berserk.)
Hachem immediately called his wife, who supposedly fainted straight away on the other end. The first from his country to win, Joe wrapped himself in an Australian flag. Then he picked up a couple of bundles of cash to pose for photos, gestured as if to throw the stacks into the crowd, but then thought better of it. He sat down, gazed at his winnings, and attempted to take it all in.
As Hachem’s close buddy and loudest supporter, Dusan Stoevski, summed up, “This guy played flawless for seven days. He outplayed his opponents. I was telling him from the day he came that he was going to win. I can’t explain it. It was just meant to be. What can I say? My good friend is world champion now.”
And just like Carl Ygborn, next year’s buy-in won’t be a problem.

The Millionaires’ Club

Place Player Payout
9th Matusow $1-million
8th Kondracki $1.15-million
7th Bergsdorf $1.3-million
6th Lazar $1.5-million
5th Black $1.75-million
4th Kanter $2-million
3rd Barch $2.5-million
2nd Dannenmann $4.25-million
1st Hachem $7.5-million

Numbing Numbers

The Total Purse
The $103-million total prize pool for all 45 events was more than any other sporting event/series in history. Just over half of that ($52,818,610) was for the Main Event.

The Winner’s Take
Joe Hachem’s $7.5-million grand prize netted him a tidy 74,900-percent profit on his entry fee
That single payday is bigger than those of the combined 2005 winners of the Masters, Kentucky Derby, Indy 500, and Wimbledon (both men and women, singles and doubles).

Head Count
There were more dealers at this championship (over 200) than there were players at any of the first 25 years of championship events.
There were more registered press (almost 600) covering this event than there were players up until 2001.

Interesting Earnings
Brad Kondracki wound up winning almost exactly the same amount as the number in chips he brought to the final table
With his fifth-place prize of $1.75-million, Andrew Black jumped ahead of former champ Noel Furlong as the World Series’ all-time top-earning Irish player.
Steve Dannenmann split his multimillion-dollar winnings with golf buddy Jerry Ditzel, who’d impulsively decided to invest $5,000 in him during a night out.