2008 WSOP FINAL RESULTS for Events 36, 37 and 38
June 23, 2008
2008 World Series of Poker
Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino
Las Vegas, Nevada
Official Report
Event # 36
No-Limit Hold’em
Buy-In: $ 1,500
Number of Entries: 2,447
Number of Re-Buys: NA
Total Net Prize Pool: $ 3,340,155
June 19-21, 2008
Final Results:
1 Jesper Hougaard $610,304 Copenhagen Denmark
2 Cody Slaubaugh $389,128 Rugby North Dakota
3 Aaron Kanter $258,862 Lodi California
4 Danny Wong $217,110 Las Vegas Nevada
5 Doug Middleton $177,028 Orlando Florida
6 Justin Wald $140,286 Redmond Washington
7 Rick Solis $106,884 Austin Texas
8 Owen Crowe $81,833 Halifax Virginia
9 John Shipley $56,782 Solihull United Kingdom
10 Jeremy Schofer $36,741 Washington DC
11 Bryan Paris $36,741 Huntington Beach California
12 Thomas Braband $36,741 Oshkosh Wisconsin
13 Craig Douglas $28,391 Seattle Washington
14 Chance Steed $28,391 College Station Texas
15 Bryan Micon $28,391 Las Vegas Nevada
16 John Macdonald $20,040 Dayton Ohio
17 Christopher Goo $20,040 St Charles Missouri
18 Daniel Bowman $20,040 Billings Montana
19 Thomas Gabriel $16,032 Gainesville Florida
20 Duncan Bell $16,032 Richmond British Columbia, Canada
21 Christopher Coghlan $16,032 Missoula Montana
22 Joseph Grenon $16,032 Orleans Ontario, Canada
23 Anthony Sapio $16,032 John’s Creek Georgia
24 Edward Sabat $16,032 Lancaster California
25 Roy Vandersluis $16,032 Doncaster England
26 Lasse Petersen $16,032 Copenhagen Denmark
27 Tad Jurgens $16,032 Long Beach California
28 Charles Danna $12,692 Houston Texas
29 Franco Brunetti $12,692 Los Angeles California
30 Nadim Shabou $12,692 Tucson Arizona
31 Can Hua $12,692 Las Vegas Nevada
32 Danny Parks $12,692 Austin Texas
33 Gerald Martello $12,692 Baker Florida
34 Robert Goodson $12,692 Chandler Arizona
35 Kirby Brewer $12,692 Imperial Missouri
36 Roy Best $12,692 Medical Lake Washington
37 Robert Cotton $10,020 Humble Texas
38 Sutton Zolner $10,020 Rancho Santa Margarita California
39 Richard Deeb $10,020 Hialeah Florida
40 Scott Ward $10,020 Honolulu Hawaii
41 Timothy Lyons $10,020 Portsmouth New Hampshire
42 Jimmy Mcnutt $10,020 Oak Ridge Tennessee
43 Matthew Tully $10,020 Concord North Carolina
44 Arthur Lee $10,020 Calgary Alberta, Canada
45 James Mackowiak $10,020 Woodridge Illinois
46 Praz Bansi $9,018 London England
47 Gary Lundgren $9,018 Elgin Texas
48 Howard Millian $9,018 New Port Richey Florida
49 Stanley Gresham $9,018 Lodi California
50 Dale Heise $9,018 Frisco Texas
51 Stephen Ma $9,018 Waterloo Iowa
52 Tom Lee $9,018 Denver Colorado
53 Sean Chen $9,018 San Diego California
54 Marc Aubin $9,018 Terrebonne Quebec, Canada
55 Anthony Isa $8,016 Livonia Michigan
56 Mark Kelly $8,016 Phoenix Arizona
57 Michael Mcclain $8,016 Davis California
58 Gerald Limber $8,016 Rockville Maryland
59 John Dephillips $8,016 Tacoma Washington
60 Robert Gray $8,016 Atlanta Georgia
61 Thi Pham $8,016 Surrey British Columbia, Canada
62 Javid Javani $8,016 Los Angeles California
63 Chun Wong $8,016 New York New York
64 Mustafa Ali $7,014 Salisbury Maryland
65 Jose Lopez $7,014 Miami Florida
66 Isaac Haxton $7,014 Las Vegas Nevada
67 Paul Fehlig $7,014 St Louis Missouri
68 Leonid Yanovski $7,014 Haifa Israel
69 Curtis Holt $7,014 Fontana California
70 Jennafer Liebig $7,014 Oak Ridge North Carolina
71 Brian Cospolich $7,014 River Ridge Louisiana
72 Pedro Mendoza $7,014 Grand Junction Colorado
73 Jose Delaguardia $6,012 Panama City Florida
74 Brock Bullock $6,012 Atlanta Georgia
75 Martin Green $6,012 Brighton England
76 Kevin Forster $6,012 Falls Church Virginia
77 Geremy Eiland $6,012 Baytown Texas
78 Kelly Denbaugh $6,012 Hemet California
79 Alex Jacob $6,012 Tulsa Oklahoma
80 Freddy Deeb $6,012 Las Vegas Nevada
81 Michael Bernal $6,012 Tucson Arizona
82 Martin Clemmensen $5,344 Helsingor Denmark
83 Kelly Mclain $5,344 Hillsboro Oregon
84 J.C. Tran $5,344 Sacramento California
85 David Rohrbach $5,344 Chancy Switzerland
86 Oliver Buhle $5,344 Aesch Switzerland
87 Leonard Behrens $5,344 Glen Burnie Maryland
88 Stephen Smith $5,344 Van Nuys California
89 Christopher Klodnicki $5,344 Voorhees New Jersey
90 Daniel Buzgon $5,344 Marlton New Jersey
91 David Wooster $4,676 Pinole California
92 Michael Foley $4,676 Wilmington North Carolina
93 Matthew Smith $4,676 Lithia Florida
94 Anthony Meeker $4,676 Rockville Centre New York
95 Charles Jenness $4,676 West New York New Jersey
96 Jay Mecklinger $4,676 Toronto Ontario, Canada
97 John Ferguson $4,676 Alpharetta Georgia
98 Craig Hueffner $4,676 Franklin Wisconsin
99 Tony Burton $4,676 Santa Rosa Beach Florida
100 Tex Bronson $4,008 Mckinney Texas
101 Richard Lister $4,008 Costa Mesa California
102 Hung Do $4,008 Gaithersburg Maryland
103 Kevin O’Dell $4,008 Birmingham Michigan
104 David Miara $4,008 Neuilly Sur Seine France
105 Joshua Roberts $4,008 Garland Texas
106 Jason Mckinley $4,008 Louisville Tennessee
107 Carmel Petresco $4,008 Las Vegas Nevada
108 Andrew Ma $4,008 Honolulu Hawaii
109 Mark Jones $4,008 Culver City California
110 John Kulish $4,008 Oconto Wisconsin
111 Jorge Arias $4,008 Estancia Florida Venezuela
112 Jordan Smith $4,008 Tool Texas
113 Gary Shelton $4,008 Houston Texas
114 Gary Bogdanski $4,008 Lyndhurst New Jersey
115 Richard Fohrenbach $4,008 Milford Connecticut
116 Stephan Sieber $4,008 Erfurt Germany
117 Justin Rollo $4,008 Townsend Massachusetts
118 Lawrence Masi $4,008 Fairview Texas
119 John Zioulas $4,008 Scarborough Ontario, Canada
120 James Massar $4,008 Berkeley California
121 Timothy Kellstrom $4,008 Oscoda Michigan
122 Patrick Nepote $4,008 Hebron Kentucky
123 Peter Sheridan $4,008 Yonkers New York
124 Sean Keeton $4,008 Thornton Cleveleys Lances Australia
125 Dustin Dirksen $4,008 Las Vegas Nevada
126 Daniel Grant $4,008 Phoenix Arizona
127 Arnold Spee $3,340 Las Vegas Nevada
128 Dag Mikkelsen $3,340 Stavanger Norway
129 Andrew Margolis $3,340 Chicago Illinois
130 Daniel Deveau $3,340 Henderson Nevada
131 Philip Collins $3,340 West Columbia South Carolina
132 Bart Wetsteijn $3,340 Middelburg Holland
133 Tam Ho $3,340 Las Vegas Nevada
134 Matthew Sallee $3,340 Hudson Iowa
135 Rip Fritzer $3,340 El Cajon California
136 Lance Schubert $3,340 Madison Wisconsin
137 Matthew Bucaric $3,340 Brentwood Tennessee
138 Sean Lefort $3,340 Bowmanville Ontario, Canada
139 Alex Kleyman $3,340 New York Nevada
140 Kevin Macphee $3,340 Coeur D Alene Idaho
141 Garrick Lau $3,340 Honolulu Hawaii
142 Tai Phan $3,340 Chandler Arizona
143 Brian Mccann $3,340 Reseda California
144 Joel Nichols $3,340 Marion Ohio
145 Earl Coggin $3,340 Rockledge Florida
146 Ronald Dorval $3,340 Oakville Ontario, Canada
147 Paul Benichou $3,340 Poueeb Gosier France
148 Michael Berry $3,340 Redding California
149 Luca Pagano $3,340 Preganzio Italy
150 Emanuel Santiago $3,340 Vega Alta Puerto Rico
151 Brian Kaplan $3,340 Mchenry Illinois
152 Roger Wells $3,340 Amarillo Texas
153 Jeffrey Blake $3,340 Millersville Maryland
154 Bao Huynh $3,340 Aurora Colorado
155 Kim Schumann $3,340 Newport Beach California
156 Jonathan Aaron $3,340 Berkeley California
157 Derek Whitehill $3,340 Grundy Center Iowa
158 Alexander Ringler $3,340 Ashley Ohio
159 Anthony Winters $3,340 Patterson California
160 Dan Gatto $3,340 Galt California
161 Aaron Steury $3,340 Fort Wayne Indiana
162 Christopher Allyn $3,340 Fruita Colorado
163 Chris Tsiprailidis $3,340 Brigantine New Jersey
164 George Garrison $3,006 Locust Grove Georgia
165 Christopher Epps $3,006 Austin Texas
166 Jesse Martin $3,006 Shrewsbury Massachusetts
167 David Whitton $3,006 Gilbert Arizona
168 Ronald Bender $3,006 Scottsdale Arizona
169 Kevin Paler $3,006 San Leandro California
170 David Jordan $3,006 Cabot Arkansas
171 Danny Wong $3,006 Calgary Alabama
172 Jonathan Baldwin $3,006 Social Circle Georgia
173 Veronica Dabul $3,006 Buenos Aires Argentina
174 David Silverman $3,006 Baltimore Maryland
175 William Butler $3,006 Surprise Arizona
176 Arthur Evans $3,006 Davie Florida
177 Mark Bonsack $3,006 Maple Valley Washington
178 Michael Sica $3,006 No Brunswick New Jersey
179 Justin Kramer $3,006 Fort Lauderdale Florida
180 Sammy Lewis $3,006 Las Vegas Nevada
181 Dmitrii Valouev $3,006 Vancouver Washington
182 Justin Pechie $3,006 Thompson Connecticut
183 George Mesi $3,006 Mc Henry Illinois
184 Howard Gee $3,006 San Diego California
185 Ronald Jeandron $3,006 New Orleans Louisiana
186 Steven Michaels $3,006 Everett Washington
187 Randall Carter $3,006 Riverside California
188 Marvin Duke $3,006 Montague Texas
189 Christopher Moorman $3,006 Brighton England
190 Dennis Chae $3,006 Los Angeles California
191 Stuart Spear $3,006 Reno Nevada
192 Frank Cascino $3,006 Johnstown Pennsylvania
193 Bryan Li $3,006 Elk Grove California
194 David Garcia $3,006 Odem Texas
195 Gioi Luong $3,006 Westminster California
196 Scott Flint $3,006 Denver Colorado
197 Gregory Ramos $3,006 Honolulu Hawaii
198 Derrick White $3,006 Frisco Texas
Tournament Notes:
· The $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em championship (Event #36) attracted 2,447 entries, creating a prize pool totaling $3,340,155. The top 198 finishers collected prize money.
· This is the fourth of seven $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em tournaments on the 2008 WSOP schedule. This game and buy-in level has consistently proven to be the most popular draw on the schedule in recent years, aside from the Main Event.
· An alternative lower buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament (less than $10,000) has been included as part of the WSOP schedule every year since 1973. Over the years, these buy-in amounts have ranged from $1,000 up to $5,000. However, more $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournaments have now taken place at the WSOP over the past 39-years than any other event.
· The curse continues. Last year’s champion for the event, Ryan Young played in this tournament. But he did not cash. This brings the current streak to 36 straight non-cashes for defending champions in their respective events.
· The 2008 $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em champion Jesper Hougaard, from Copenhagen, Denmark. He is a 24-year-old professional poker player.
· Hougaard was a player, and later a coach for the Danish National Table Tennis Team. A few years ago, he left his position on the team to play in cash games and poker tournaments throughout Europe.
· Hougaard stated that his poker success had its roots in table tennis. He cited the ability to lose a point or a game in table tennis and being forced to immediately re-focus on the next shot as a key quality for winning poker players. “You have to regroup,” he said. “That is something we do (in table tennis). You have to always get ready for the next match.”
· Hougaard’s interest in poker was largely inspired by the success of fellow countryman Gus Hansen. After “the Great Dane” won several major poker tournaments a few years ago, poker’s popularity exploded in Denmark, carrying Hougaard amongst its newest converts.
· Hougaard is Danish. But he lived for many years in England. His father was an official with N.A.T.O. and was stationed in London.
· Immediately after his victory, Hougaard was interviewed by Howard David from ESPN360. Hougaard was asked about a key hand at the final table where he managed to catch a lucky card on the river which knocked out a dangerous opponent, Aaron Kanter. “When I hit that card, I jumped up higher than Kobe Bryant,” Hougaard said. Sportscaster Howard David could not let the comment go without retorting, “Wait a minute – no one in Denmark jumps higher than Kobe Bryant!” Hougaard responded, “Yeah, but I did!”
· Hougaard was cheered on by an enthusiastic group of more than a dozen Danish friends and fans. At times, this made the final table seem like an Olympic event. Chants in Danish were heard from start to finish.
· Hougaard cited the fans and many people watching the broadcast on ESPN360 back in Denmark as keys to keeping him focused on victory. “I want to thank everyone in Denmark and Greenland who I know has been watching this,” he said. “I know it is six-o’clock in the morning (over there) right now. I am so glad to could make it worthwhile. Thank you.”
· Hougaard dominated play during most of the final day. However, there was one point during heads-up play when he lost this chip lead. He then went on a much needed break. Hougaard stated that he called his father and brother, living in Denmark. He also put on headphones and listened to a popular song called “Eye of the Tiger.” Fifteen minutes after the break, Hougaard was the victor.
· Denmark becomes the seventh nation to produce a gold bracelet winner at this year’s WSOP. This list now includes Canada, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Italy, Russia, and the United States.
· Hougaard becomes only the second WSOP gold bracelet winner in history from Denmark. The other is Jan Sorensen, with two wins.
· The second-place finisher was Cody Slaubaugh, from Rugby, North Dakota. He is a 23-year-old student who was making his first WSOP cash ever.
· The final table lasted eight hours. The heads-up match went for about 90 minutes.
· Aaron Kanter finished in third place. He is perhaps best known for finishing fourth in the 2005 WSOP Main Event.
· John Shipley from Solihull, England finished ninth in this tournament. He was the seventh-place finisher in the 2002 WSOP Main Event.
· Duncan “Pumper” Bell, who won the $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em championship (Event #13) took 20th place in this event.
· Praz Banzi, from the UK, and winner of a WSOP gold bracelet in 2006, finished 46th.
· Two-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Freddy Deeb finished in 80th place.
· Former WSOP gold bracelet winner “Syracuse Chirs” Tsiprailidis cashed in 163rd place.
· Former WSOP gold bracelet winner Michael “Little Man” Sica finished in 178th place.
· Nikolay Evdakov, from Moscow, Russia is the only player at this year’s WSOP who has cashed seven times – just one off the all-time record mark. Evdakov is positioned to break the record set for “Most WSOP Cashes in a Single Year,” shared by five players — Michael Binger (2007), Chad Brown (2007), Phil Hellmuth (2006), Richard Tatalovich (2006), and Humberto Brenes (2006), with eight.
· The Event #36 winner Jesper Hougaard is to be classified as a professional, since he has been playing for a living for two years and has a number of cashes in major poker tournaments. Accordingly, the “Pro-Am” gold bracelet scoreboard currently reads:
Professionals – 29 wins
Amateurs — 5 wins
Semi-Pros – 2 wins
· Owen Crowe was the chip leader at the End of Day One for this event. He cashed and even went so far as the final table (eighth place). Hence, through Event #36, the End of Day One chip leaders have gone on to cash 76 percent of the time — 26 of 34 occasions (the chip leader was not applicable on two events). Ten of these same 34 chip leaders (29 percent) made it to the final table. Only one chip leader went on to win the event. That lone wire-to-wire winner was Vanessa Selbst in Event #19.
· Jesper Hougaard was the chip leader at the start of this final table. He ended up as the winner. Through Event #36, fifteen of 34 chip leaders at the start of the final table (44 percent) went on to win the event. Twenty-one of 34 chip leaders (62 percent) went on to finish in the top three spots. Two events did not have a chip leader (Heads-Up and Shootout tournaments).
· Another bit of trivia is the player with the most cashes, but no wins in WSOP history. Tony Cousineau now has 35 in-the-money finishes in his WSOP career, which began in 1999. However, he has yet to win a gold bracelet. His highest finish was 4th place back in 2001.
· It should be noted that the Milwaukee’s Best Light “Player of the Year” rankings will now include points accrued from the $50,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. championship.
CORRECTIONS / ADDITIONS:
SABYL COHEN-LANDRUM – All tournament records should be corrected to reflect that Sabyl Cohen-Landrum has previously been listed as Sabyl Cohen, before her marriage. She has also been listed as “Suzan Cohen” and Sabyl Landrum” in various poker archives. She prefers this to be changed at all sites and records to: SABYL COHEN-LANDRUM.
EVENT #5 – The 60th Place finisher was WILLIAM JORDAN, which was mistakenly listed by some sites as WILLIAM SOFFIN (incorrect).
EVENT #25 – The 76th Place finisher was JAMES JORDAN SULLIVAN, from PORTAGE, IN
MOST WSOP CASHES WITHIN A SINGLE YEAR – The current record is eight – shared by five players, not four as was previously reported. RICHARD TATALOVICH posted eight cashes in 2006. One of these cashes for Event #43 (2006), Tatalovich’s 43rd-place finish, was omitted from records.
MOST WSOP FINAL TABLES WITH NO WINS – This was previously reported to be Andy Bloch, with nine final table appearances, but no gold bracelets (to date). This information is incorrect. TOM MCCORMICK (a.k.a. “The Shamrock Kid”) hold this record with 11 final table appearances, but no wins.
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Official Report
Event # 37
Omaha High-Low Split World Championship
Buy-In: $ 10,000
Number of Entries: 235
Number of Re-Buys: NA
Total Net Prize Pool: $ 2,209,000
June 19-21, 2008
Final Results:
1 David Benyamine $535,687 Las Vegas Nevada
2 Greg Jamison $331,350 Las Vegas Nevada
3 Jason Gray $209,855 London England
4 Toto Leonidas $171,197 Los Angeles California
5 Mike Matusow $138,062 Henderson Nevada
6 Eugene Katchalov $110,450 New York New York
7 Ram Vaswani $88,360 London England
8 David Chiu $71,792 Rowland Heights California
9 Hieu “Tony” Ma $55,225 S. El Monte California
10 Berry Johnston $38,657 Bethany Oklahoma
11 Shun Uchida $38,657 Las Vegas Nevada
12 Chau Giang $38,657 Las Vegas Nevada
13 Danny Dang $33,135 Whittier California
14 Pat Pezzin $33,135 Toronto Ontario, Canada
15 Stuart Paterson $33,135 Boca Raton Florida
16 Brent Carter $27,612 Oak Park Illinois
17 William McMahan $27,612 Newport Tennessee
18 Ray Dehkharghani $27,612 Huntington Beach California
19 Rao Pasqual $22,090 Huntington Beach California
20 James Groves $22,090 Las Vegas Nevada
21 James Van Alstyne $22,090 Las Vegas Nevada
22 Daniel Smith $22,090 Folsom California
23 Bradley Booth $22,090 Richmond British Columbia, Canada
24 Bruno Fitoussi $22,090 Paris France
25 Dustin Sitar $22,090 Las Vegas Nevada
26 Yueqi Zhu $22,090 Rowland Heights California
27 Alexander Kostritsyn $22,090 Moscow Russia
Tournament Notes:
· The $10,000 buy-in Omaha High-Low Split World Championship (Event #37) attracted 235 entries, creating a prize pool totaling $2,209,000. The top 27 finishers collected prize money.
· This was the largest Omaha High-Low Split prize pool in poker history. In fact, only one previous event had ever surpassed the million-dollar mark – the $5,000 buy-in championship held at the 2006 WSOP. This Omaha High-Low Split tournament ranks as the only $2 million-plus prize pool on poker history.
· In 1990, Omaha High-Low Split was first introduced at the WSOP. Seven years earlier, Omaha-High had made its debut. During the 1980s, the WSOP schedule included both Omaha-High and Pot-Limit Omaha events. Since then, Omaha-High has gradually faded in popularity (the game was removed from the WSOP schedule after 2003), while Omaha High-Low Split continues to generate a steady following.
· Only two players in WSOP history have won two gold bracelets in Omaha High-Low Split. They are Scotty Nguyen and Chris “Jesus” Ferguson.
· Omaha High-Low Split is also sometimes called “Omaha Eight-or-Better,” because the low hand must qualify with a rank of eight or lower.
· This is the third of three Omaha High-Low Split events on the 2008 WSOP schedule.
· All 55 tournaments on the 2008 WSOP schedule are categorized as “gold bracelet” events. However, this is also known as a “world championship” event. This means the winner of this event is the Omaha High-Low Split world champion. This year, all $10,000+ buy-in tournaments are designated as official world championships. Ten WSOP tournaments qualify under these guidelines — a list which includes eight gold bracelet tournaments with $10,000 buy-ins, the $50,000 buy-in HORSE event, and the Main Event.
· The tournament was played over three consecutive days. The final table was played on the secondary stage, as the ESPN main stage was reserved for the conclusion of the $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament (Event #36).
· The curse continues. Last year’s champion for the equivalent world championship event, Frankie O’Dell entered this tournament. But he did not cash. This brings the current streak to 37 straight non-cashes for defending champions in their respective events.
· The 2008 Omaha High-Low Split World Champion is David Benyamine. He calls two cities “home” – Paris, France and Las Vegas, NV. Benyamine is a 35-year-old professional poker player.
· Benyamine plays regularly in some of the highest-stakes cash poker games in the world. In recent years, he has been on the unofficial short list as one of the greatest players in the game not to have won a WSOP victory, until now.
· Benyamine was born in Paris, France. He aspired to be a professional tennis player and had the talent to succeed at one point. However, a painful back injury forced him to take up other competitive pursuits.
· After retiring from professional tennis, Benyamine focused largely on shooting pool and eventually became one of the best pocket billiards players in France.
· Benyamine says that if it were not for poker, he would have loved to have been an archeologist. He says he enjoys discovering new things. However, Benyamine also stated matter-of-factly, “I also think I would have found poker one way or another. I have too much gamble in me.”
· When asked about the importance of winning a WSOP gold bracelet, Benyamine was overjoyed. However, the self-confident Frenchman added, “Winning is always important to me. But I never thought I had anything to prove.”
· Benyamine dispelled the notion that he prefers playing Pot-Limit Omaha to other forms of poker. “I like all games,” he said. “I do not have a favorite game.”
· Benyamine’s all-around poker talent is perhaps best reflected in his four cashes this year, in four different games.
· When asked about his toughest opponent at this final table, Benyamine jokingly answered, “Myself, and the deck.”
· Benyamine won $535,678 for first place. This was also his first WSOP gold bracelet victory.
· The second-place finisher was Greg Jamison, from Las Vegas, NV. With all due respect to Benyamine, if there was an award given out for “Player of the Year” in Omaha High-Low Split, it might actually go to Jamison. He also made it to the final table earlier at this year’s WSOP – finishing 6th place in the $1,500 buy-in Omaha High-Low Split event. Jamison made yet another Omaha High-Low Split final table last year, finishing 5th in last year’s world championship. That amounts to three final tables in the last four WSOP Omaha tournaments. Two years ago, Jamison won the Omaha High-Low Split championship at the Tunica Grand series, part of the WSOP Circuit. Suffice it to say, Greg Jamison knows how to play Omaha High-Low Split.
· The final table lasted ten hours. The heads-up match went for about 75 minutes.
· Six of the final ten players were former WSOP gold bracelet winners. Oddly enough, the top three spots all went to players who had previously not won at the World Series.
· Former WSOP gold bracelet winner Toto Leonidas finished in fourth place.
· Three-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Mike Matusow made his second final table appearance at this year’s World Series. He won the No-Limit Deuce-to-Seven Draw championship (Event #18) and took fifth place in this tournament.
· Former WSOP gold bracelet winner Ram Vaswani finished in seventh place. Vaswani is a member of the popular poker team called “The Hendon Mob,” from London.
· Four-time WSOP gold bracelet winner David Chiu finished in eighth place. This marked his 39th career WSOP cash, which now ranks in a tie for 17th place on the all-time in-the-money list.
· Former WSOP gold bracelet winner Tony Ma finished ninth in this tournament.
· 1986 world champion and Poker Hall of Fame member Berry Johnston finished in 10th place. This marked Johnston’s 54th career WSOP cash. He now ranks fifth on the all-time list.
· Three-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Chau Giang finished in 13th place. This marked his 43rd career WSOP cash, which ranks 11th on the all-time list.
· Two-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Brent Carter finished in 15th place, which marked his 44th career WSOP cash. This places him into a tie for ninth on the all-time cashes list.
· Poker legend Doyle Brunson nearly made it into the money. However, he busted out late on Day Two when play was down to four tables.
· Through Event #37, only two players have made three final table appearances – Jacobo Fernandez and David Benyamine. Sixteen players have made two WSOP final table appearances. This list includes – Chris Bjorin, Andy Bloch, Alex Bolotin, Scott Clements, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Barry Greenstein, Fu Wong, Greg Jamison, Mike Matusow, Erick Lindgren, Minh Ly, Daniel Negreanu, David Singer, J.C. Tran, Theo Tran, and Tim West.
· Nikolay Evdakov, from Moscow, Russia is the only player at this year’s WSOP who has cashed seven times – just one off the all-time record mark. Evdakov is positioned to break the record set for “Most WSOP Cashes in a Single Year,” shared by five players — Michael Binger (2007), Chad Brown (2007), Phil Hellmuth (2006), Richard Tatalovich (2006), and Humberto Brenes (2006), with eight.
· France becomes the eighth nation to produce a gold bracelet winner at this year’s WSOP. This list now includes Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Russia, and the United States.
· Soheil Shamseddin was the chip leader at the End of Day One for this event. He did not cash. Hence, through Event #37, the End of Day One chip leaders have gone on to cash 74 percent of the time — 26 of 35 occasions (the chip leader was not applicable on two events). Ten of these same 35 chip leaders (29 percent) made it to the final table. Only one chip leader went on to win the event. That lone wire-to-wire winner was Vanessa Selbst in Event #19.
· David Benyamine was the chip leader at the start of this final table. He ended up as the winner. Through Event #37, sixteen of 35 chip leaders at the start of the final table (46 percent) went on to win the event. Twenty-two of 35 chip leaders (63 percent) went on to finish in the top three spots. Two events did not have a chip leader (Heads-Up and Shootout tournaments).
· Another bit of trivia is the player with the most cashes, but no wins in WSOP history. Tony Cousineau now has 35 in-the-money finishes in his WSOP career, which began in 1999. However, he has yet to win a gold bracelet. His highest finish was 4th place back in 2001.
· It should be noted that the Milwaukee’s Best Light “Player of the Year” rankings will now include points accrued from the $50,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. championship.
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Official Report
Event # 38
Pot-Limit Hold’em
Buy-In: $ 2,000
Number of Entries: 605
Number of Re-Buys: NA
Total Net Prize Pool: $ 1,101,100
June 20-22, 2008
Final Results:
1 Davidi Kitai $244,583 Brussels Belgium
2 Chris Bell $155,805 Raleigh North Carolina
3 Keith Greer $94,694 Fort Worth Texas
4 Jan Von Halle $77,077 Hamburg Germany
5 Lee Watkinson $63,313 Longbranch Washington
6 Robert Cheung $50,100 Vancouver British Columbia, Canada
7 Ayaz Mahmood $39,089 Houston Texas
8 Ben Roberts $30,830 London England
9 Michele Greco $22,572 London England
10 Benjamin Zamani $14,314 Boca Raton Florida
11 Michael Binger $14,314 Las Vegas Nevada
12 Charles Lehr $14,314 Bossier City Louisiana
13 Jeffrey Sluzinski $11,561 Westland Michigan
14 Amato Galasso $11,561 Ridgewood New Jersey
15 Christopher Dombrowski $11,561 Dade City Florida
16 Neil Channing $8,808 Maida Vale England
17 Davood Mehrmand $8,808 Frankfurt Germany
18 Eugene Todd $8,808 Brooklyn New York
19 Daniel Quinn $6,606 Toronto Ontario, Canada
20 Robert Perry $6,606 Highland Beach Florida
21 Alan Adler $6,606 Bakersfield California
22 Phillip Lowery $6,606 Atlanta Georgia
23 David Brooker $6,606 Stuart Florida
24 Jonathan Tamayo $6,606 Humble Texas
25 Blake Stepp $6,606 Spokane Washington
26 Noam Freedman $6,606 Cambridge Massachusetts
27 Brett Wiesner $6,606 Las Vegas Nevada
28 Gavin Polone $5,505 Beverly Hills California
29 Shaun Linefsky $5,505 Arlington Virginia
30 Trevor Lawson $5,505 Cueshire Australia
31 Paul Foltyn $5,505 Doncaster England
32 Shawn Van Asdale $5,505 Reno Nevada
33 Shane Schleger $5,505 Santa Monica California
34 Clonie Gowen $5,505 Murphy Texas
35 David Chicotsky $5,505 Fort Worth Texas
36 Marco Traniello $5,505 Las Vegas Nevada
37 Derek Dempsey $4,404 Pittsburgh Pennsylvania
38 Thomas Fuller $4,404 Boulder Colorado
39 George Shahrezay $4,404 Paramount California
40 Anthony George $4,404 Las Vegas Nevada
41 Matthew Hilger $4,404 Suwanee Georgia
42 Eric Lupovich $4,404 Mont-Royal Quebec, Canada
43 Sunny Chattha $4,404 Lee England
44 Dale Pinchot $4,404 Yardley Pennsylvania
45 Thomas Sanduski $4,404 Las Vegas Nevada
46 Larry Wright $4,074 McQueeny Texas
47 James Gorham Jr. $4,074 Pasadena California
48 Cristian Dragomir $4,074 Bucharest Romania
49 Olivia Boeree $4,074
50 Kyle Wilson $4,074
51 Christopher Howard $4,074 Hampshire England
52 David Machowsky $4,074
53 Jeffrey Langdon $4,074 Santa Fe New Mexico
54 Veronica Castellana $4,074 Tampa Florida
55 Rado Boltryk $3,743 Glenview Illinois
56 Roy Winston $3,743
57 Vanessa Rousso $3,743
58 Andre Johnstone $3,743 Cape Town South Africa
59 Josef Bachar $3,743 Rmat Gan Israel
60 Andrew Rosskamm $3,743 Gates Mills Ohio
61 Paul Quade $3,743
62 Michael Cordell $3,743 Little Rock Arkansas
63 Clifford Spiro $3,743 Naperville Illinois
Tournament Notes:
· The $2,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Hold’em championship (Event #38) attracted 605 entries, creating a prize pool totaling $1,101,100. The top 63 finishers collected prize money.
· Attendance at this year’s event increased slightly over 2007. Last year, there were 599 entries for this same event.
· Pot-Limit Hold’em was not introduced as part of the WSOP schedule until 1992. Past winners of WSOP gold bracelets in Pot-Limit Hold’em include – John Bonetti, T.J. Cloutier, Jay Heimowitz, Phil Hellmuth, David “Devilfish” Ulliott, Daniel Negreanu, Layne Flack, Steve Zolotow, Mickey Appleman, and Johnny Chan.
· Oddly enough, no player has ever won two gold bracelets in Pot-Limit Hold’em. It is one of the few games in WSOP history with no multiple winners.
· This is the third of three Pot-Limit Hold’em events on the 2008 WSOP schedule. Previous winners Nenad Medic (Event #1) and David Singer (Event #3) both entered this event, but did not cash.
· The tournament was played over three consecutive days. The final table was played on the ESPN main stage. This was the only final table scheduled on this day.
· Last year’s champion Greg Hopkins did not enter this tournament. This brings the current streak to 38 straight non-cashes for defending champions in their respective events.
· The 2008 $2,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Hold’em champion is Davidi Kitai. He is a 28-year-old economic analyst from Brussels, Belgium. Kitai was born in Antwerp, Belgium.
· Kitai works for a banking institution in Belgium and deals with macroeconomic investment issues.
· Kitai becomes the first WSOP gold bracelet ever from the nation of Belgium.
· Belgium becomes the ninth nation to produce a gold bracelet winner at this year’s WSOP. This list now includes Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Russia, and the United States.
· Kitai was cheered on by his father, who sat in the audience. He also had about a dozen or so fans and fellow poker players from the Benalux region in his cheering section.
· Kitai won $244,583 for first place. This was also his first WSOP gold bracelet victory.
· The second-place finisher was tournament circuit regular, Chris Bell, from Raleigh, NC.
· The heads-up match between Kitai and Bell was the longest to date at this year’s WSOP. It clocked in at nearly five hours and went 186 hands. By contrast, the first seven players were knocked out in a relatively quick 3.5 hour span and included only 101 hands.
· Chris Bell dominated much of the final table play. He knocked out five of the first seven players.
· The Kitai-Bell duel included ten chip-lead changes.
· Kitai was ranked second in chips after Day One of play.
· The final table included players from five different countries. Nations represented included Belgium, Canada, England, Germany, and the United States.
· The third-place finisher was Keith E. Greer, Jr. – from Ft. Worth, TX. He staged quite a huge comeback in this tournament. On the fourth hand of play, after starting out with 4,000 in chips, Greer lost an all-in hand just three minutes after the tournament began. He was left with just 225 in chips and was prepared to make an early exit. Amazingly, Greer not only recovered and regained chips, he made it all the way to the final table. His faith and persistence in the event paid off to the tune of $94,694 in prize money.
· Former WSOP gold bracelet winner Lee Watkinson finished in fifth place. This was is his fourth time to cash at the 2008 World Series. Watkinson also made it all the way to the Main Event final table last year, finishing eighth.
· Former WSOP gold bracelet winner Robert Cheung finished sixth.
· Pakistani-born poker pro Ayaz Mahmood cashed for the 16th time in his career at the WSOP, by taking seventh-place in this event.
· High-stakes cash game player Ben Roberts, from London, England finished in eighth place. Roberts finished sixth in the 1998 WSOP Main Event.
· English actor Michael Greco finished ninth. Greco was a regular cast member on a popular British soap opera called “East Enders” which ran from 1998 through 2002.
· Michael Binger took 11th place. Binger now has 11 cashes since the start of the 2007 WSOP.
· Former WSOP gold bracelet winner Ted Lawson (30th)
· Through Event #38, only two players have made three final table appearances – Jacobo Fernandez and David Benyamine. Sixteen players have made two WSOP final table appearances. This list includes – Chris Bjorin, Andy Bloch, Alex Bolotin, Scott Clements, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Barry Greenstein, Fu Wong, Greg Jamison, Mike Matusow, Erick Lindgren, Minh Ly, Daniel Negreanu, David Singer, J.C. Tran, Theo Tran, and Tim West.
· Nikolay Evdakov, from Moscow, Russia is the only player at this year’s WSOP who has cashed seven times – just one off the all-time record mark. Evdakov is positioned to break the record set for “Most WSOP Cashes in a Single Year,” shared by five players — Michael Binger (2007), Chad Brown (2007), Phil Hellmuth (2006), Richard Tatalovich (2006), and Humberto Brenes (2006), with eight.
· Winner Davidi Kitai is officially listed as being from Brussels, Belgium. Through the conclusion of Event #38 at this year’s World Series of Poker, the gold bracelet count by nations and states reads as follows:
10 – Nevada
6 – California
4 – New York
2 – Canada
2 – Germany
2 – Italy
2 – Missouri
1 – Belgium
1 – Denmark
1 – France
1 – Holland
1 – Maryland
1 – Michigan
1 – Pennsylvania
1 – Russia
1 – South Carolina
1 – Wisconsin
· The Event #38 winner Davidi Kitai is to be classified as an amateur, since he plays poker part-time and has a full-time occupation. Accordingly, the “Pro-Am” gold bracelet scoreboard currently reads:
Professionals – 30 wins
Amateurs — 6 wins
Semi-Pros – 2 wins
· Michael Binger was the chip leader at the End of Day One for this event. He cashed. Hence, through Event #38, the End of Day One chip leaders have gone on to cash 75 percent of the time — 27 of 36 occasions (the chip leader was not applicable on two events). Ten of these same 36 chip leaders (28 percent) made it to the final table. Only one chip leader went on to win the event. That lone wire-to-wire winner was Vanessa Selbst in Event #19.
· Jan Von Halle was the chip leader at the start of this final table. He ended up as the fourth-place finisher. Through Event #38, sixteen of 36 chip leaders at the start of the final table (44 percent) went on to win the event. Twenty-two of 36 chip leaders (61 percent) went on to finish in the top three spots. Two events did not have a chip leader (Heads-Up and Shootout tournaments).
· It should be noted that the Milwaukee’s Best Light “Player of the Year” rankings will now include points accrued from the $50,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. championship.
· The Milwaukee’s Best Light “Player of the Year” standings currently shows Jacobo Fernandez as the current leader, with David Benyamine close behind. Here are the top five ranked players:
1. Jacobo Fernandez – 222 points
2. David Benyamine – 220 points
t-3. Barry Greenstein – 185 points
t-3. Erick Lindgren – 185 points
5. Daniel Negreanu – 170 points
For a complete “Player of the Year” points list, see: http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/players/2008.asp?sort=poypts
· David Benyamine is now the leader on the 2008 prize money list, having won the most money at the WSOP, to date. His accrued winnings total $941,651.
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