Poker Tournament Results

37th Annual World Series of Poker

Event #27 - WSOP No Limit Hold'em

July 18, 2006 at 12:00 PM
Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino
Tournament Schedule

Buy-In	$1,500
Prize Pool	$2,901,999
Entries	2126
Report Available

Matts Rahmn

Place	Name	Prize
1	Matts Rahmn (Stockholm, Sweden)	$655,141
2	Richard Toth (Miskolc, Hungary)	$333,729
3	Padraig Parkinson (Dublin, Ireland)	$203,139
4	Chris Birchby (Hollywood, CA, USA)	$145,100
5	James Sileo AKA "The Blender" (Burbank, CA, USA)	$116,080
6	Michael Binger (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$101,570
7	Jordan Morgan AKA "iMsoLucky0" (Norman, OK, USA)	$87,060
8	Ashwin Sarin (Redmond, WA, USA)	$72,550
9	Billy Duarte (Berthoud, CO, USA)	$58,040
10	Paul McKinney AKA "Cigar" (Princeton, WV, USA)	$43,530
11	Ben Staufeneger (Alliance, OH, USA)	$40,628
12	John Carver (Hampton, IL, USA)	$37,726
13	Jorge Arias (Caracas, Venezuela)	$34,824
14	Ray Abels (Danville, CA, USA)	$31,922
15	Antonio Pane (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$29,020
16	Danny Smith AKA "cpfactor" (Folsom, CA, USA)	$26,118
17	Ali Eslami (Van Nuys, CA, USA)	$23,216
18	Mike Souza (San Diego, CA, USA)	$20,314
19	Chris Tsui (Cupertino, CA, USA)	$17,412
20	Keith Wintermans (Vancouver, BC, Canada)	$17,412
21	Khongkham Phommaxahane (Denver, CO, USA)	$17,412
22	Wade Woelfel (Mawkato, MN, USA)	$14,510
23	Robert Vecchio (Mission, TX, USA)	$14,510
24	Rob Hollink (Groningen, Netherlands)	$14,510
25	Eugene Todd (Brooklyn, NY, USA)	$11,608
26	Amos Sharpe (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$11,608
27	Jon Musen (Phoenix, AZ, USA)	$8,706
28	Daniel Bokesch (Lewis Center, OH, USA)	$8,706
29	Toben Nelson (Austin, TX, USA)	$8,706
30	Hoyt Corkins (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$8,706
31	Ari Engel AKA "Alan" (Brooklyn, NY, USA)	$8,706
32	Chris Bjorin (London, UK)	$8,706
33	Thayer Rasmussen AKA "JINXY MONKEY" (Largo, FL, USA)	$8,706
34	François Charles Scapula (Paris, France)	$8,706
35	Larry Hicks (Mount Vernon, IL, USA)	$8,706
36	J.C. Tran (Sacramento, CA, USA)	$8,706
37	Billy Sanford (Bronxville, NY, USA)	$7,255
38	Colin Burton (Kelowna, BC, Canada)	$7,255
39	Josh Ronin (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$7,255
40	Hans J "Tuna" Lund (Dayton, NV, USA)	$7,255
41	Michele Whiteside (San Antonio, TX, USA)	$7,255
42	Eric Mizrachi AKA "Poker Sniper" (Sunny Isles Beach, FL, USA)	$7,255
43	Joe Leibman (Fort Atkinson, WI, USA)	$7,255
44	Jeffrey Larsen (W.Jordan, VT, USA)	$7,255
45	Phillip Gurian (Boca Raton, FL, USA)	$7,255
46	Gino Battista (Temecula, CA, USA)	$7,255
47	Harry Cheung (Portola Valley, CA, USA)	$7,255
48	Jose Arellano AKA "Tatz" (El Monte, CA, USA)	$7,255
49	Jeff Khomari (Turlock, CA, USA)	$7,255
50	Matt Smith (Craydan, PA, USA)	$7,255
51	Duy Hung Le (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$7,255
52	Robert Lewis (Miami Beach, FL, USA)	$7,255
53	Stuart Hosen (Addison, TX, USA)	$7,255
54	Jeff Fletcher (Danville, CA, USA)	$7,255
55	Mandy Calara (Chicago, IL, USA)	$5,804
56	Alex Itskov (Brooklyn, NY, USA)	$5,804
57	Bhupinder Kohli (UK)	$5,804
58	Douglas Holcomb (Roseburg, OR, USA)	$5,804
59	Todd Huynh (Chicago, IL, USA)	$5,804
60	Kevin Jessee (Preston, MD, USA)	$5,804
61	Tom Macey (Chicago, IL, USA)	$5,804
62	Robert Odishoo (Ladera Ranch, CA, USA)	$5,804
63	Miguel Mateo AKA "Exotico" (San Juan, Puerto Rico)	$5,804
64	Carlos Fernandez AKA "CubanComet" (Sunny Isles Beach, FL, USA)	$5,804
65	Brendan Hopps (Seatlle, WA, USA)	$5,804
66	Ray Liu (Sunnyvale, CA, USA)	$5,804
67	Michael Mizrachi AKA "The Grinder" (Hollywood, FL, USA)	$5,804
68	Perry Friedman AKA "The Baiter" (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$5,804
69	James Lee (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$5,804
70	Eugene Hanley (Nantucket, MA, USA)	$5,804
71	Richard Pace (Louisville, KY, USA)	$5,804
72	Eric Arreca (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$5,804
73	Ray LaPointe (Needham, MA, USA)	$5,804
74	David Sklansky (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$5,804
75	Dennis Otto (Victoria, TX, USA)	$5,804
76	Grady Talbot (Arcadia, CA, USA)	$5,804
77	Michael Banducci (Traverse City, MI, USA)	$5,804
78	Gary Lieberman (Plantation, FL, USA)	$5,804
79	Neville Eber AKA "eebs" (Johannesburg, South Africa)	$5,804
80	Carl Olson (Seattle, WA, USA)	$5,804
81	Carl Ossbahr	$5,804
82	Nathan Lang (San Antonio, TX, USA)	$4,353
83	Thomas Jean Marc (Paris, France)	$4,353
84	Peter Carini AKA "X-Ray" (Newark, CA, USA)	$4,353
85	John Bon Phan AKA "The Razor" (Stockton, CA, USA)	$4,353
86	Donnacha O'Dea (Dublin, Ireland)	$4,353
87	Paul Incerto (Norwalk, CT, USA)	$4,353
88	Gregory Hurwitz (Newton, MA, USA)	$4,353
89	Danton Orosz (Ontario, BC, Canada)	$4,353
90	Ryan Schultz (St. Louis, MO, USA)	$4,353
91	Joseph Tehan (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$4,353
92	Judson Hinton (Stockbridge, GA, USA)	$4,353
93	Tim Le (Portland, OR, USA)	$4,353
94	Russell S Minobe (Honolulu, HI, USA)	$4,353
95	John Gaudreault (Elizabeth, CO, USA)	$4,353
96	Nick Stanley (Spokane, WA, USA)	$4,353
97	Don Barton (Pahrump, NV, USA)	$4,353
98	Paul Friedberg (Berkeley, GA, USA)	$4,353
99	Mallory Smith (Aurora, CO, USA)	$4,353
100	Michael Baas (Houston, TX, USA)	$4,353
101	Dennis Andridla (Hazlet, NJ, USA)	$4,353
102	Kevin Slaughter (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$4,353
103	Johnny Johnson (Burbank, CA, USA)	$4,353
104	Russel Hudson (Glenwood Springs, CO, USA)	$4,353
105	Ernest Plutt (Boise, ID, USA)	$4,353
106	Jose Severino AKA "head2782" (Panama, Panama)	$4,353
107	Srinivasa Yarlagadda (Winter Springs, FL, USA)	$4,353
108	Marina Baroco AKA "erin" (LAS VEGAS, NV, USA)	$4,353
109	Tony Nasr AKA "TNT" (Downey, CA, USA)	$2,902
110	Amir Nurant (El Cajon, CA, USA)	$2,902
111	Bryan Micon (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$2,902
112	Mohammad Azar L (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$2,902
113	Karen Kitchen (Brand Blane, MI, USA)	$2,902
114	Mathew Cherackal (Philadelphia, PA, USA)	$2,902
115	Cornell Bowlson (Detroit, MI, USA)	$2,902
116	Ryan Larson (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$2,902
117	Manuel Benites AKA "Manny" (Minneapolis, MN, USA)	$2,902
118	Edward Teems (Trion, GA, USA)	$2,902
119	Joel Fischbein (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$2,902
120	Nathan Meyvis (Bloomfield Hills, MI, USA)	$2,902
121	Martin Henshaw (UK)	$2,902
122	Amir Naderi (Santa Monica, CA, USA)	$2,902
123	Jason Lilly (Mount Hope, AL, USA)	$2,902
124	James Stone (Fairlawn, OH, USA)	$2,902
125	Brian Fields (Berkeley, CA, USA)	$2,902
126	Tony Davis (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$2,902
127	David Franson (Pennsylvania, PA, USA)	$2,902
128	Allen Cunningham (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$2,902
129	Wendell Barnes (Charlton, MA, USA)	$2,902
130	Alex Santiago	$2,902
131	Joseph Sandora (Bloomfield, NY, USA)	$2,902
132	David Cho (Cerritos, CA, USA)	$2,902
133	David "C4" Plastik (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$2,902
134	Huck Seed (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$2,902
135	Cory Ward (Titusville, FL, USA)	$2,902
136	Canh Phan (Richardson, TX, USA)	$2,902
137	David Vanovereem (Manhattan Beach, CA, USA)	$2,902
138	Kendall Kim (Corona, CA, USA)	$2,902
139	Dennis Seagle (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$2,902
140	Todd Annoni (Los Altos, CA, USA)	$2,902
141	Robert Jones (Hermosa, CA, USA)	$2,902
142	Zack Fritz (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$2,902
143	Jeffrey Philips (Bristow, VA, USA)	$2,902
144	Wesley Cheplen (Huntsville, AL, USA)	$2,902
145	Nick Peperone (East Amherst, NY, USA)	$2,902
146	David King (Hanover, MA, USA)	$2,902
147	Brent Bibby (Cambridge, ON, Canada)	$2,902
148	Richard Gregory (Bellevue, WA, USA)	$2,902
149	Aaron Lasater (Alpharetta, GA, USA)	$2,902
150	Dominick Cantore AKA "The Zen" (Chicago, IL, USA)	$2,902
151	Michael Cummings (Grover Beach, CA, USA)	$2,902
152	T.J. Cloutier (Richardson, TX, USA)	$2,902
153	Orestes Melgarejo (Penbrooke Pines)	$2,902
154	Matthew Robertson (Lubbock, TX, USA)	$2,176
155	Nick Schulman AKA "slick" (New York, NY, USA)	$2,176
156	Kei Tanaka (Tokyo, Japan)	$2,176
157	Stephen Duggan (Manhattan, NY, USA)	$2,176
158	Mark Gregorich (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$2,176
159	Jason Su (Austin, TX, USA)	$2,176
160	Daniel Becker (Nashville, TN, USA)	$2,176
161	Cory Henen (Trumbull, CT, USA)	$2,176
162	John Anderson (San Antonio, TX, USA)	$2,176
163	John Shetter (Colleyville, TX, USA)	$2,176
164	Constantine Moustakis AKA "Dino" (Danvers, MA, USA)	$2,176
165	Bill Gazes (New York, NY, USA)	$2,176
166	W. Douglas Barnum AKA "Doug" (Columbia, SC, USA)	$2,176
167	Bradley Heffron (Pickerington, OH, USA)	$2,176
168	Michael Hill (Oxford, MS, USA)	$2,176
169	Peter Jetter (Toronto, ON, Canada)	$2,176
170	Peter Nathan (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$2,176
171	Alan Bittikofer (Hayward, CA, USA)	$2,176
172	Ron Toledo (Edmonton, AB, Canada)	$2,176
173	Laura Diamond (Evergreen, CO, USA)	$2,176
174	Helge Pederson (Odensec, Denmark)	$2,176
175	Eduardo Sants (Argentina)	$2,176
176	Robert Lee (Sacramento, CA, USA)	$2,176
177	Matt Dunbar (Indianapolis, IN, USA)	$2,176
178	Mike Laing (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$2,176
179	Young Chon (San Jose, CA, USA)	$2,176
180	Richard Tatalovich (Scottsdale, AZ, USA)	$2,176
181	Tian Ma (Chandler, AZ, USA)	$2,176
182	Tad Jurgens (Gold Canyon, AZ, USA)	$2,176
183	Joe Torres AKA "The Pro" (Long Island, NY, USA)	$2,176
184	Kyle Shigano (Pearl City, HI, USA)	$2,176
185	Andrew Bourne	$2,176
186	Gerardo Campos (Weston, FL, USA)	$2,176
187	Randy McKay AKA "Dakota Kid, Roughrider39" (Finley, ND, USA)	$2,176
188	Steve Cohn (Chandler, AZ, USA)	$2,176
189	Jean Harlan (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$2,176
190	Aristomenis Stavrapoulos	$2,176
191	Mike Friedmann (Switzerland)	$2,176
192	Aaron Ruppert (Norman, OK, USA)	$2,176
193	Nicholas Ronyecz (Goleta, CA, USA)	$2,176
194	Paul Fredricks (Winchester, CA, USA)	$2,176
195	David Chen (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$2,176
196	Paul Wolfe (Apollo Beach, FL, USA)	$1,088
197	Dennis Waterman (Sedona, AZ, USA)	$1,088
198	Anahit Galajian (Glendale, CA, USA)	$1,088
199	Nevio Nicolich (New York, NY, USA)	$1,088
200	Steve Shkolnik (Woodland Hills, CA, USA)	$1,088
201	Adam Meyer (Weston, FL, USA)	$1,088

Tournament Report

If It's Thursday, This Must Be Sweden
Swedish Poker Pro Mats Rahmn Wins His First WSOP Gold Bracelet
Three Europeans dominate no-limit hold'em final table

Las Vegas, NV- Many people might be surprised to learn that Scandinavia is one of poker's hottest new markets. Perhaps it's the cold dark winters. Perhaps it's the relatively high income and education levels. Or, perhaps it's the high-tech sophistication of the region. Scandinavians own more personal computers and cell phones, per capita, than any other population group. Not surprisingly, Swedes, Fins, Danes, and Norwegians also play more online poker than any other region.
Leading the way is Sweden, with a total population nine million. Right behind the US, the UK, and Canada- Sweden sends more players to the World Series of Poker than any other nation. Adjusted for population size, Sweden is second only to the United States in the total number of players who play in the WSOP main event. Sweden's emergence as a poker hub is also now producing world champions.
Mats Rahmn, a 26-year-old professional poker player from Stockholm, won the $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em championship at the 2006 World Series of Poker, presented by Milwaukee's Best Light. More impressive was the fact that Rahmn topped a gigantic field of 2,126 players.
After 2,117 players had been eliminated over two long days, nine players took the final table on the Rio stage. The nine finalists comprised a very tough lineup, although none had previously won a WSOP gold bracelet.

Player Name Chip Count Seat # James Sileo $144,000 1 Richard Toth $447,000 2 Mats Rahmn $511,000 3 Billy Duarte $96,000 4 Padraig Parkinson $278,000 5 Ashwin Sarin $591,000 6 Chris Birchby $497,000 7 Michael Binger $325,000 8 Jordan Morgan $307,000 9

'Boston Billy' Duarte was the first player to exit. The longtime poker pro, who plays in big cash games and at major tournaments around the country, was eliminated with ace-queen against ace-king. Duarte failed to catch a queen, putting him out in ninth place, which paid $58,040. Ashwin Sarin went out next. The software engineer from Redmond, WA arrived at the final table as the chip leader. But Sarin suffered a horrible series of hands and beats over a 90-minute period that melted his stack of chips.
Down to his last 200,000 after starting the day off with 591,000, Sarin moved all-in with pocket kings after the flop came J-8-6. His opponent called holding an eight, and then caught a second pair to eliminate Sarin in eighth place. He received $72,550.
Jordan Morgan, a 22-year-old college student from Norman, Okalahoma finished in seventh place when his pocket tens were run down a high pair. Morgan moved all-in with his last 125,000 and was called by a player with a flush draw. Instead of catching the flush however, Morgan's opponent caught a queen to make a higher pair, resulting in Morgan's abolition. The Oklahoman collected $87,060 at his first WSOP final table.
Michael Binger had chips for a while, but then went card dead. He tried to take a pot with king-jack by making a 135,000 pre-flop raise. He was called down by an opponent with 10-7 who ended up flopping a seven, good for a pair. That was all it took to knock out the Stanford graduate (PhD). Binger, a physician from California, received sixth-place prize money totaling $101,570.
James Sileo went out next. Hold'em's most classic confrontation eliminated Sileo, who held ace-king against pocket queens. Board came with all low cards, a disappointment to Sileo, who ended up taking fifth place and $116,080.
Chris Birchby, a.k.a. 'Marvin Garden' hit the rail in fourth place when he was desperately low on chips and was forced to play a sub-par hand or risk being blinded off. He moved all-in with his last 100,000 in chips on a steal attempt, but was down called by Mats Rahmn. Birchby had queen-five versus Rahmn's king-seven. A king flopped, and Birchby- the owner of a sunblock lotion company ('Coola Sunblock') got burned. Fourth place paid $145,100.
Anyone who still doubts that Europeans can play great poker would be advised to look at the three finalists in this event. After the six Americans had all gone bust, that left an Irishman, a Hungarian, and a Swede to compete for what would be a first WSOP gold bracelet.
Padriag Parkinson, who finished third in the WSOP main event back in 1999 (the year fellow Irishman Noel Furlong won it), had to settle for third place again this time around. Parkinson took a horrible beat when his ace-four was cracked by Richard Toth's ace-three. Both players flopped an ace, but a three fell on the river to make two-pair for Toth. Parkinson, who was cashing for the fourth time at this year's World Series, collected $203,139 for third place.
When heads-up play began, Richard Toth enjoyed a 2 to 1 chip lead over Mats Rahmn. The two players battled back and forth for nearly an hour before Rahmn won the decisive final hand of the tournament. The final hand came when Rahmn was dealt pocket kings versus Toth's jack-eight. Toth called a pre-flop raise. After the flop came J-10-9, Rahmn bet out 150,000 and Toth moved all in for 500,000 more. Rahmn called and showed his overpair.
Toth had top pair with an outside straight draw. However, two blanks hit the turn and the river, securing the victory for Rahmn. As the runner up, Richard Toth received $333,729. The Hungarian poker player, who works in high-tech sales, was making his first-ever appearance at the WSOP. Toth will be a force in Europe and in years to come when he plays in North America.
Mats Rahmn had few words to express the jubilation of winning his first-ever WSOP gold bracelet and $655,141. 'It feels amazing,' he said.
by Nolan Dalla
Overall Tournament Statistics (through end of Event #27):
Total Entries to Date: 25,250
Total Prize Money Distributed: $ 51,931,307
For official news and latest updates from the 2006 World Series of Poker, please visit: www.worldseriesofpoker.com
For official photographs from the 2006 World Series of Poker, please contact Eric Harkins (Image Masters PDI) at: image22@aol.com Or visit: http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/photo_store/
For additions news and information from the 2006 WSOP, please contact: nolandalla@aol.com
World Series of Poker Commissioner- Jeffrey Pollack
Director, Sponsorship and Licensing -- Ty Stewart
Director, Communications and Operations- Gary Thompson
Director, Broadcasting and New Media- Craig Abrahams
Vice President of Specialty Gaming -- Howard Greenbaum
WSOP Tournament Director- Robert Daily
WSOP Tournament Director / Director of Poker Operations for Harrah's Entertainment- Jack Effel

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