Poker Tournament Results

39th World Series of Poker 2008

Ralph E Porter

Tournament Report

Tournament Notes: " The $1,500 buy-in Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em championship attracted 1,236 players, creating a prize pool totaling $1,687,140. The top 126 places were paid. " Six-Handed Hold'em emphasizes short-handed poker skills. Rather than a full table of nine players, each table is played six-handed (or less, as players bust out). This generally requires competitors to play cards out of the standard range of starting-hand requirements. It also makes post-flop skill paramount to victory. The game was included on the WSOP schedule as a concerted effort to measure as diverse a range of poker skills as possible. " The tournament was played over three days. On Day Three, the final table was played out on the ESPN stage, also known as the "feature table." The secondary final table, located adjacent to the main stage area featured the conclusion of Event #10 in a scheduling overlap. Most days at the WSOP this year will include two final tables. " Three different nations were represented at the final table, including Canada, Holland, and the United States. Through the first nine events, every final table played thus far has included a multi-national flavor. " Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em made its WSOP debut in 2005. Three Six-Handed events were included on the 2006 schedule. Last year, there was only one Six-Handed event. Former champions from these events include Isaac "The General" Galazan, Dutch Boyd, Bill Chen, Jeff Madsen, and Jason Warner. " Last year's winner was Jason Warner. He entered this tournament but did not cash. " When the final table began, John Conkright was the chip leader. He possessed about 27 percent of the total chips in play. Michael Brummelhuis was very close behind, in second place. Rep Porter ranked third. " The winner was Rep Porter. He is a 37-year-old professional poker player from Woodinville, WA - located about 45 miles north of Seattle. He is married to Lisa and they have two children. " Porter is a graduate of the University of Washington. Prior to turning pro, he worked in finance as an equity options trader. Porter plays regularly in cardrooms throughout Washington State. He also makes frequent visits to Southern California and plays in many major poker tournaments. " Porter finished as the runner up in the WSOP Circuit championship at Caesars Atlantic City in 2006. He also cashed in last year's WSOP Main Event, taking 39th place, worth $237,865. For this victory, Porter collected $372,843 for first place. He also earned his first WSOP gold bracelet. To date, he now has 10 career WSOP cashes (all within the past four years). This win also puts him across the $1 million mark in winnings for all major poker tournaments. " He made the following statements in a post-tournament interview: There were a lot of chips in play. I did not expect it to be a quick day. When push came to shove, I could have had the K-9 and he could have had the K-Q just as easily. - speaking of the final hand of the tournament when with the blinds high the two finalists got into a pre-flop raising war with Porter holding the dominant hand. I'm on cloud nine right now. I've been trying to win a gold bracelet for three years. " Nathan Templeton was the runner up. He now has two WSOP cashes, but they were both impressive. This payout amounted to $231,981. His previous fifth place finish in 2006 was for $149,240. " Through the first ten events of this the 2008 WSOP, professionals have dominated the win column. Thus far, nine bona fide poker pros have won gold bracelets, versus just one amateur. " One might have expected this to be a short final table, given the six-handed composition of the finale. However, Day Three clocked in at slightly over nine hours. The final table began at 2 pm and ended at 11:15 pm. " Notable in-the money finishers in this tournament included Richard Lee (26th) and Matt Matros (43rd). Lee made it to the final table of the 2006 Main Event, finishing sixth. Matros has achieved several major cashes in the last ten years. He wrote a book called "The Making of a Poker Player," which chronicles his transition from rank amateur to potential champion. " This was the second WSOP event of the year to be featured by Bluff Media on the ESPN360 website. Viewers around the world can log on at www.espn360.com and watch final tables live. Bluff will feature 22 more WSOP events to be held over the next month. The broadcasts begin daily at 2 pm PST. Note: On some days, events will begin later due to unforeseen tournament length times on the previous day. " This was only the fifth WSOP event in history ever to be carried in a live broadcast format. The last three Main Events were featured on Pay-Per-View. Last year's Pot-Limit Omaha championship was shown at the official WSOP website, www.worldseriesofpoker.com and the new "live" format debuted yesterday. Bluff Media's ambitions are considerably greater this year. All shows can be viewed at no charge.