2008 WSOP FINAL RESULTS for Event 7

2008 World Series of Poker
Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino
Las Vegas, Nevada

Official Report
Event # 7
No-Limit Hold’em
Buy-In: $ 2,000
Number of Entries: 1,592
Number of Re-Buys: NA
Total Net Prize Pool: $ 2,897,440
June 4-6, 2008

“IMPDI for the 2008 WSOP”

Tournament Notes:

· The $2,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em championship attracted 1,592 entrants. This was an increase over last year’s tournament size, which had 1,531 entries. The total prize pool amounted to $2,897,440. The top 153 finishers collected prize money.

· The tournament was played over three days. On Day Three, the final table was dealt out on the ESPN stage, also known as the “feature table.” The so-called “secondary” final table, located adjacent to the main stage area, featured the conclusion of Event #8 in a scheduling overlap. This year, most days at the WSOP will include two final tables.

· The World Series of Poker consistently draws the most diverse fields in the game, attracting players from all over the world. This event included players who cashed from Australia, Canada, Indonesia, England, Romania, Norway, Scotland, Holland, and Russia, and the United States. Furthermore, players cashed from 34 different U.S. states.

· Five different nations were represented at the final table – including Canada, England, Indonesia, Romania, and the United States.

· When the final table began, Theo Tran was the chip leader. In fact, he possessed nearly twice as many chips as the player in second place. Despite this, Tran ended up as the fourth-place finisher. Tran has developed a well-deserved reputation as a fearless No-Limit player. He dominated play during much of the tournament. However, Tran steamed off his entire stack late at the final table when he went to the felt in less than a dozen hands after having nearly 60 percent of the total chips in play.

· The $2,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em champion is Matt Keikoan. He is a 40-year-old professional poker player from San Rafael, CA. Keikoan worked as a “poker prop” for about eight years before phasing gradually into the life of a working poker pro. Keikoan started out playing at Casino San Pablo in the San Francisco Bay area.

· While working as a poker prop, some of Keikoan’s regular co-workers included Bill Edler, Erick Lindgren, Bill Gazes, Matt Lefkowitz, and others. The poor tourists in that joint must have gotten skinned alive.

· Matt Keikoan is the brother of poker pro Todd Keikoan, who lives in Las Vegas.

· Keikoan attended San Francisco State University, but did not graduate. His father was interviewed following his son’s victory and commented: “We were thoroughly pissed off because he left college and wanted to become a professional poker player. But, it turned out well.”

· Keikoan collected $550,529 for first place. He also earned his first WSOP gold bracelet. To date, Keikoan now has seven World Series cashes. This was his first WSOP final table appearance. However, he has finished high in several other major events.

· Keikoan finished 63rd in the 2007 Main Event. That cash was worth $154,194.

· Keikoan was cheered on by several poker pros, including Gavin Smith and Erick Lindgren. While Keikoan was celebrating victory, Lindgren remarked that he has been playing golf with the new champ for several years. “When we used to play golf, we would play for all the money in our pockets until the sun went down. Sometimes, we would be hitting golf balls when it was dark,” Lindgren said. “Now, we can play a little higher.”

· Bad Beat Story of the Year: This one is worth telling (and listening to). Down to three tables and 24 players on Day Two, Theo Tran was heads-up in a pot with Scott Montgomery. Tran was dealt A-A against Montgomery’s 5-5. Incredibly, Montgomery flopped quad-fives, yet still ended up losing the hand. The flop came 5-5-4 with two spades. The turn brought the deuce of spades. The river delivered the three-of-spades, giving Tran a straight flush (A-2-3-4-5) with the ace-of-spades in his hand. Perhaps most incredible of all – Montgomery did not go broke on the hand. Tran bet the river for a modest number of chips, and Montgomery could only make the call (instead of raising), despite having four-of-a-kind.

· After multiple final tables which lasted past midnight, this finale concluded in a lightning-fast 6 hours and 20 minutes. This was the shortest final table of year, thus far.

· The second-place finisher was Shannon Shorr, from Las Vegas. He was fourth in the 2006 WSOP “Player of the Year” race.

· A 26-year-old student, Mihai Manole from Bucharest, Romania took sixth place. This marked the highest WSOP finish in history for a Romanian national.

· Swedish-born Chris Bjorin, who now lives in London, finished in fifth place. This marked Bjorin’s 39th career WSOP in-the-money finish.

· Tournament pro J.C. Tran finished seventh. Tran, from Sacramento, CA has a number of major poker titles to his credit. However, he has yet to win a WSOP gold bracelet. Tran rightly deserves a place on the “Best to Not Win” list.

· Three former WSOP gold bracelet winners cashed in this event including Dustin “Neverwin” Woolf (15th place). This was Woolf’s second cash this year. Others were “Minneapolis Jim” Meehan (81st) and Thomas “Thunder” Keller (83rd).

· The final table broadcast is archived at the official WSOP website and can be seen in its entirety at: www.worldseriesofpoker.com

2008 World Series of Poker
Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino
Las Vegas, Nevada

Official Report
Event # 7
No-Limit Hold’em
Buy-In: $ 2,000
Number of Entries: 1,592
Number of Re-Buys: NA
Total Net Prize Pool: $ 2,897,440
June 4-6, 2008

Final Results:

Matt Keikoan $550,529 San Rafael California
Shannon Shorr $349,142 Las Vegas Nevada
Carter Gill $228,898 Bali Indonesia
Theo Tran $191,231 Las Vegas Nevada
Chris Bjorin $155,013 London England
Mihai Manole $123,141 Targoviste Romania
J. C. Tran $94,167 Sacramento California
Alex Bolotin $72,436 Brooklyn New York
Mike Lisanti $50,705 Winnipeg Manitoba, Canada
Manelic Minaya $33,321 Tampa Florida
Yan Chen $33,321 Irvine California
Thong Tran $33,321 Las Vegas Nevada
Timothy Taft $26,077 St Paul Minnesota
Issam Abbas $26,077 Dearborn Heights Michigan
Dustin Woolf $26,077 Los Angeles California
Darren Nelson $18,833 Las Vegas Nevada
Scott Montgomery $18,833 Perth Ontario, Canada
Keith Carter $18,833 Dallas Texas
Richard Monroe $14,487 Sedalia Colorado
Shawn Hattem $14,487 Blanville Quebec, Canada
Philip Siegel $14,487 Lemoore California
Bon Phan $14,487 Staron California
Paulson Kai $14,487 Trondheim Norway
Nancy Todd Tyner $14,487 Las Vegas Nevada
Larry Gurney $14,487 Kingston Tennessee
Derek Harrington $14,487 Henderson Nevada
Andre De Montesquiou $14,487 Encino California
Nick Romano $11,590 New York New York
Rocco Pace $11,590 Mount Prospect Illinois
Mathias Kuerschner $11,590 Dusseldorf Germany
Jeffrey Neuman $11,590 Clinton Maryland
Pawel Andrzejewski $11,590 Park Ridge Illinois
Joe Cutler $11,590 Bay Shore New York
Phil Collins $11,590 West Columbia South Carolina
Michael Scott $11,590 Tampa Florida
Joe Brandenburg $11,590 Portland Oregon
Robert Ackerman $8,692 Toronto Ontario, Canada
Christopher ‘Sam’ Wiggins $8,692 Germantown Tennessee
Mark Calzadillas $8,692 Las Vegas Nevada
Robert Thies $8,692 Debary Florida
Eric Liu $8,692 Rockville Maryland
John Chadwick $8,692 Kemmerer Wyoming
James Campbell $8,692 Pegram Indiana
Jonathan Tare $8,692 New York New York
Robert Morgan $8,692 Nanaimo British Columbia, Canada
Ryan Franklin $7,823 Jacksonville Florida
Steven Etoch $7,823 Prospect Kentucky
Fred Goldberg $7,823 Hollywood Florida
Brent Roberts $7,823 Staten Island New York
Bill Klein $7,823 Laguna Hills California
Claudio Fonseca $7,823 Weston Florida
Kian Kiarash $7,823 New York New York
Tyler Hamade $7,823 Abbotsford British Columbia, Canada
Lina Olofsson $7,823 Bandhagen Sweden
Joshua Schiffman $6,954 Columbus Georgia
Neil Scott $6,954 Mammoth Lakes California
Rohn Schutsky $6,954 Freehold New Jersey
Hansu Chu $6,954 McClean Virginia
Ronald Brunstrom $6,954 Enebakk Norway
Rob Salomon $6,954 Fairfield California
Mike Plesa $6,954 Windsor Ontario, Canada
Kurosh Dejgosha $6,954 Spring Field Illinois
John Myung $6,954 Vienna Virginia
Jason Somerville $6,374 Stony Brook New York
David Gent $6,374 Bishopton Scotland
Thang Duc Nguyen $6,374 Schenefeld Germany
Norman Gautron $6,374 Winnipeg Manitoba, Canada
William Mietz $6,374 Littleton Colorado
Steven Mclaughlin $6,374 Las Vegas Nevada
Aaron Dolgin $6,374 Woodland Hills California
AJ Martin $6,374 Henderson Nevada
Matt Lichtie $6,374 Draper Utah
Douglas Bruce $5,795 Lawrenceville Georgia
Greg Rahn $5,795 Minneapolis Minnesota
Jeff Sherid $5,795 Hollywood California
Robert Georato $5,795 Seabrook New Hampshire
Jim Paluszek $5,795 Bensalem Pennsylvania
M Chou $5,795 Nederweert Netherlands
Bryan Barrile $5,795 Marlborough Massachusetts
Candido Pondo $5,795 Tehachapi California
Jim Meehan $5,795 Eagan Minnesota
Dan Stir $5,215 Sacramento California
Thomas Keller $5,215 Scottsdale Arizona
Stephen Ladowsky $5,215 Toronto Ontario, Canada
Kevin O’Boyle $5,215 San Francisco California
Remy Biechel $5,215 Ste Genevieve Missouri
Craig Crivello $5,215 Las Vegas Nevada
Justin Clark $5,215 Janesville Wisconsin
Duane Ahmu $5,215 Corona California
Durwood Murray $5,215 San Diego California
Jamie Robbins $4,636 Portland Oregon
Earvin Liang $4,636 Livermore California
Leo Wolpert $4,636 Fairfax Virginia
Calen McNeil $4,636 Victoria British Columbia, Canada
Derek Tomko $4,636 Winter Haven Florida
Sabyl Landrum $4,636 Folsom California
Scott Sitron $4,636 Glendale California
Michael Ellis $4,636 London England
Hung Le $4,636 Casselberry Florida
Casey Coughlan $4,056 Pacific Beach California
Antonio Bueti $4,056 Mt. Kisco New York
Cal Namihira $4,056 Montebello California
Derek Dempsey $4,056 Pittsburgh Pennsylvania
Scott Castelluccio $4,056 Los Angeles California
Michael Bernstein $4,056 Chicago Illinois
Marc Bergida $4,056 Los Angeles California
David Bogner $4,056 Atlanta Georgia
Noah Garden $4,056 New York New York
Jeff Schlicht $4,056 Paradise California
Gary Wright $4,056 Annandale Virginia
Kevin Kim $4,056 Los Angeles California
Tim Frazin $4,056 Dallas Texas
Sean Hennette $4,056 Lexington Kentucky
Young Cho $4,056 Enid Oklahoma
Mark Stubbs $4,056 Newmarket England
Hien Tran $4,056 Sacramento California
Derek Feldman $4,056 Cocoa Florida
Michael Cappetta $4,056 Hinsdale Illinois
Michael Castelli $4,056 Ottawa Illinois
Liya Gerasimova $4,056 Moscow Russia
Doug Robinett $4,056 San Juan Capistrano California
Romik Vartzar $4,056 Glendale California
Thad Smith $4,056 Fayetteville North Carolina
Chris Moorman $4,056 Brighton England
Luke Vrabel $4,056 West Hartford Connecticut
Norman Shapiro $4,056 Maumee Ohio
Zak Gilbert $3,477 Reno Nevada
Eric Hicks $3,477 San Francisco California
Danny Ryan $3,477 Grand Forks North Dakota
Jeff Littlefield $3,477 Greenville Texas
Patrick Arnold $3,477 Ponte Vedra Beach Florida
Christopher Kolesnikoff $3,477 Montrose British Columbia, Canada
Richard Cleveland $3,477 Boyton Beach Florida
Quoc Nguyen $3,477 Alhambra California
Mike Ferrante $3,477 Weymouth Massachusetts
$3,477
Robert McLaughlin $3,477 Washington DC
Justin Young $3,477 Morehead City North Carolina
Paul Ephremsen $3,477 Bedfordshire England
Evan Schwartz $3,477 Oakland California
Redmond Lee $3,477 Bushy Heath England
Leif Force $3,477 Tallahassee Florida
Jeff Magid $3,477 Cambridge Massachusetts
Aaron Kanter $3,477 Elk Grove California
Phillip Liou $3,477 Urbana Illinois
Randy Pfeifer $3,477 East Amherst New York
Darrin Fisher $3,477 Elm Park Michigan
Chad Bradbury $3,477 Wichita Kansas
Brandon Blake $3,477 Palmer Arkansas
James Peters $3,477 Westfield New Jersey
Jesse Roehling $3,477 Bryan Texas
Jean-Philippe Matte $3,477
Sarah Bilney $3,477 Melbourne Australia