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Poker Tournament Results

38th Annual World Series of Poker

Event #19 - WSOP No Limit Hold'em

June 11, 2007 at 12:00 PM
Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino
Tournament Schedule

Buy-In	$2,500
Prize Pool	$2,329,900
Entries	1013
Report Available

Francois Safieddine

Place	Name	Prize
1	Francois Safieddine (Denver, CO, USA)	$521,785
2	John Bon Phan (Stockton, CA, USA)	$330,846
3	Marcus Obser	$212,021
4	Devin Porter (Riverton, UT, USA)	$139,794
5	Shawn Hattem (Montreal, QC, Canada)	$97,856
6	Lars Bonding (Fairfax, VA, USA)	$74,557
7	Humberto Brenes (San Jose, CA, USA)	$55,918
8	Alex Bolotin AKA "Diesel" (Brooklyn, NY, USA)	$40,773
9	Bertrand Grospellier AKA "ElkY" (Melun, France)	$29,124
10	Matt Gilsdorf	$21,435
11	Mike Matusow AKA "The Mouth" (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$21,435
12	Alex Outhred (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$21,435
13	Mathios Wiberg	$19,105
14	Denise Molloy (La Jolla, CA, USA)	$19,105
15	Randall McCallum (New York, NY, USA)	$19,105
16	Joshua Ladines (St Cloud, FL, USA)	$16,775
17	John Roveto AKA "Junior" (Duluth, GA, USA)	$16,775
18	Mark Zand (Weston, FL, USA)	$16,775
19	Sean Lefort (Bowmanville, ON, Canada)	$14,445
20	Sebastian Skuja (Finspang, Sweden)	$14,445
21	Greg Mueller AKA "FBT" (White Rock, BC, Canada)	$14,445
22	Faraz Jaka AKA "The-Toilet" (San Jose, CA, USA)	$14,445
23	James Walker (Dublin, GA, USA)	$14,445
24	Martin Green (Brighton, UK)	$14,445
25	Mike Sica AKA "Little Man" (North Brunswick, NJ, USA)	$14,445
26	Lance Yuen (Atlanta, GA, USA)	$14,445
27	Justin Scott (Redford, MI, USA)	$14,445
28	Kelly Kim (Whittier, CA, USA)	$12,348
29	Roderick Cho (Santa Clara, CA, USA)	$12,348
30	Nick Nowkirk (Lincoln, NE, USA)	$12,348
31	David Redlin (Sylvania, OH, USA)	$12,348
32	John-Paul Kelly (Aylesbury, UK)	$12,348
33	Thang Pham AKA "Kido" (Garland, TX, USA)	$12,348
34	Chris Birchby (Hollywood, CA, USA)	$12,348
35	Thomas Hover (Blue Diamond, Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$12,348
36	James Ekman (Madison, WI, USA)	$12,348
37	Martyn Wilson (Shropshire, UK)	$10,485
38	Jon Turner AKA "Pearljammer" (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$10,485
39	John Shipley (Solihull, UK)	$10,485
40	Daniel Harmetz (Sacramento, CA, USA)	$10,485
41	Marlis Sawicki (Toronto, ON, Canada)	$10,485
42	Suleiman Abueid (Oak Lawn, IL, USA)	$10,485
43	David Levi (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$10,485
44	Carl Olson (Seattle, WA, USA)	$10,485
45	Marco Johnson (Walnut Creek, CA, USA)	$10,485
46	Michael Krueger (Covington, GA, USA)	$8,854
47	Dustin Woolf AKA "Neverwin" (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$8,854
48	David Margolis (Venice, CA, USA)	$8,854
49	Patrick Keogan (Elkhart, IN, USA)	$8,854
50	Mark Boudewijn (Gouda, Netherlands)	$8,854
51	Michael Meredith (Westfleid, NJ, USA)	$8,854
52	Allen Kellener	$8,854
53	Narinder Khasria (Toronto, ON, Canada)	$8,854
54	Raj Sawant (Topeka, KS, USA)	$8,854
55	Jason McKinley (Louisville, TN, USA)	$7,339
56	Richard Toth (Miskolc, Hungary)	$7,339
57	Donald Sjulstan (Phoenix, AZ, USA)	$7,339
58	Brian Wolfe (Duluth, GA, USA)	$7,339
59	Rafael Ibaibarriaga (Reno, NV, USA)	$7,339
60	Arturo Diaz (San Diego, CA, USA)	$7,339
61	Jody Phillippo (Phoenix, AZ, USA)	$7,339
62	Pontus Khosravi (Sweden)	$7,339
63	Ben "Benz" Bianco (Franklin Square, NY, USA)	$7,339
64	Steven Cersa (Northville, MI, USA)	$6,058
65	Constantine Moustakis (Danvers, MA, USA)	$6,058
66	Steven Shanks (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$6,058
67	Robert Saltiel (New York, NY, USA)	$6,058
68	Robert Castoire (Cecilia, KY, USA)	$6,058
69	Neil Creighton (Aberdeen, UK)	$6,058
70	Jason Levine (Miami, FL, USA)	$6,058
71	Karen Thomas AKA "frog" (Long Beach, CA, USA)	$6,058
72	Shawn Buchanan (Abbotsford, BC, Canada)	$6,058
73	Adam Katz (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$5,126
74	Scott Leventhal	$5,126
75	Chad Brown AKA "Downtown" (Margate, FL, USA)	$5,126
76	Dan Santoro (North Bellmore, NY, USA)	$5,126
77	Doug Sanders (Calgary, AB, Canada)	$5,126
78	Kevin Pion Kawski (San Diego, CA, USA)	$5,126
79	Matthew Carmody AKA "IrishLuck68" (Hollywood, CA, USA)	$5,126
80	Robert Eisenberg (Philadelphia, PA, USA)	$5,126
81	Motoyuki Mabuchi AKA "Moto" (Osaka, Japan)	$5,126
82	Ville Wahlbeck (Helsinki, Finland)	$4,310
83	Arnaud Mattern (Paris, France)	$4,310
84	Peter Tagliaferro (New York, NY, USA)	$4,310
85	Boulos Estafanous (Darien, IL, USA)	$4,310
86	John Matheny (Mooresville, NC, USA)	$4,310
87	Scott Glazer (Hollywood, FL, USA)	$4,310
88	Tom McCormick AKA "The Shamrock Kid" (Fargo, ND, USA)	$4,310
89	Joseph Montervino (Yardville, PA, USA)	$4,310
90	Rob Hollink (Groningen, Netherlands)	$4,310
91	Paul Zibits (Long Beach, CA, USA)	$3,844
92	Geoffrey Wilson (Gainesville, FL, USA)	$3,844
93	Jonathan Little AKA "FieryJustice" (Pensacola, FL, USA)	$3,844
94	Robert Stevanovski (Charlotte, NC, USA)	$3,844
95	Frederick Halling (Stockholm, Sweden)	$3,844
96	Mike Allis (Post Falls, ID, USA)	$3,844
97	Kelly Mulyk (Canada)	$3,844
98	Terris Preston (Toronto, ON, Canada)	$3,844
99	Robert Cole (Lexington, KY, USA)	$3,844

Tournament Report

The winner of the $2,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em championship was Francois Safieddine, from Denver, Colorado. He is 33-years-old. Saffieddine is married and has four children. His last child, a girl, was born just six months ago.

He was born in Lebanon and arrived in the U.S. during the 1980s. Safieddine is a French surname. A little-known fact is that Lebanon has a large French-speaking community. In fact, Safieddine is tri-lingual – fluent in English, French, and Lebanese. When he's not playing poker, Safieddine runs a highly successful business. He owns three of the hottest nightclubs in Denver.

"Citrus" is the name of his latest restaurant and nightclub creation, which is a vodka bar mixed with contemporary American cuisine. He is also the part owner of clubs called "The Purple Martini" and "Blue 67."

Safieddine has only been playing poker for about four years. He learned to play with his friends, and then improved drastically by reading several poker strategy books. This was his fifth time to cash at the WSOP, with 15th place being his best finish up to this tournament. First place paid a whopping $521,785.

He has only been playing poker for about four years. This was his fifth time to cash at the WSOP, with 15th place being his best finish up to this tournament. First place paid a whopping $521,785.
The final table was played on the ESPN main stage, although cameras and crew took the day off. Live radio coverage was provided by Bluff Media over the Sirius Radio Network.
The runner-up has suffered a serious case of the "second-place" blues at recent WSOPs. John "the Razor" Phan is a well-respected pro who has won millions in tournament play, yet has not won a WSOP gold bracelet. Last year, Phan finished as the runner-up in a shocking upset to Jon Friedberg. He never had the chip lead when heads-up against the eventual winner and lost the match after about 45 minutes of action.
Two-time gold bracelet winner Humberto "Shark" Brenes now has more cashes than any other player at the WSOP since 2005. He cashed for the 15th time since June 1, 2005, which surpasses Marco Traniello by one count. Brenes is also the first player at this year's World Series to reach three final tables. He has a 3rd, 7th, and 8th –place finish on his record.
This was another final table heavy with international flair. Players represented Belarus, Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, France, Lebanon, and the United States.
Mike "the Mouth" Matusow holds an impressive record, having made it to at least one final table every year at the WSOP since 1999. His bid to extend his record fell just short in this event, as Matusow went out late on Day Two in 11th place.
by Nolan Dalla
Day 2 action click here.