Tournament Notes:
" The $2,500 buy-in Half Omaha High-Low Split / Half Seven-Card Stud High-Low
Split event attracted 388 players, creating a prize pool totaling $892,400.
" This tournament debuted at last year's WSOP and attracted 327 players.
Hence, the turnout was 16 percent higher this year.
" These two games tend to attract more experienced players who appreciate
the nuances of limit poker. The average age of players in the tournament was
a bit higher than usual, reflected in the composition of the finale table which
had four players aged 44+.
" The tournament was played over three days. Day Three featured final
table play, which took place adjacent to the ESPN stage. Given the presence
of a few poker celebrities, a standing-room only crowd circled the table.
" When the final table began, Farzad Rouhani was the chip leader. He earned
what amounted to a wire-to-wire victory.
" The winner was Farzad "Freddy" Rouhani, from Germantown, MD.
He is a 44-year-old professional poker player.
" Rouhani was born in Iran. He arrived in the U.S. in 1985 to attend college.
In fact, he planned to attend medical school. "I came to the U.S. 23 years
ago to become a doctor," Rouhani said in a post-tournament interview. "But
instead, I became a pro poker player. Go figure."
" Rouhani plays mostly in Atlantic City. He once frequented local poker
games in the suburban Washington, DC area, where he now lives. But the stakes
proved too low for the more serious Rouhani.
" Winning a WSOP gold bracelet obviously meant something special to the
new champion. While playing, Rouhani wore another bracelet on his left wrist
- which was presented to him for winning a tournament at the Jack Binion World
Poker Open back in 2003. "I must admit that I really do need the money,"
Rouhani said. "Everyone needs the money. But this gold bracelet to me means
a whole lot more. It is the thing that everyone in poker dreams of."
" Rouhani earned a well-deserved victory. He collected $232,911 for first
place. He also earned his first WSOP gold bracelet. Rouhani came very close
to winning a few years ago when he took second place in a No-Limit Hold'em event.
To date, Rouhani now has eight WSOP cashes, two final table appearances, and
more than $800,000 in career winnings at the WSOP.
" Given that high-low split games tend to be somewhat monotonous, the
final table was expected to run long. However, the finale concluded in about
6 hours, due largely to Rouhani's dominant stack size throughout, making it
the quickest of ten final tables thus far at the 2008 WSOP.
" The final hand came at 9:10 pm PST. Rouhani was dealt 9-8-3-2. The final
board showed 7-3-3-A-3, giving the new champion quad-threes with an eight-low.
After exposing his four-of-a-kind, the often demonstrative poker pro jokingly
remarked, "If I knew they would show my hand to the audience, I would play
better cards than (9-8-3-2).
" The runner up was Tom Chambers, from Chicago, IL. The former teacher
and basketball coach now has four career cashes at the WSOP.
" Widely-respected poker pro "Miami John" Cernuto finished third.
The former air-traffic controller has won three WSOP gold bracelets. But his
bid for his first victory since 2002 fell short.
" This marked the 17th career WSOP cash for the fourth-place finisher,
Rich Zhu.
" While the final table was being played, poker jester Gavin Smith waddled
over to the table cheer on his friend and protégé, Greg Pappas.
Since Pappas wears full head of very long white hair, Smith nicknamed him "Big
White." Meanwhile, longtime poker veteran and ex-horseracing trainer Jim
Bucci was standing at tableside and remarked that favorite Big Brown had just
lost the Belmont Stakes moments earlier. Smith couldn't resist writing a mock
headline and shouted out for everyone to hear: "On the Day Big Brown Chokes
in the Big Race, Big White Gets the Bracelet." It proved to be a premature
assumption. Pappas, a.k.a. "Big White" ended up fifth.
" Sixth-place finisher John Racener won the WSOP Circuit championship
event at Harrahs Atlantic City last year.
" Michael "the Grinder" Mizrachi has enjoyed astounding success
in poker tournaments in recent years. His career winnings total more than $6
million. But for all his accolades elsewhere, Mizrachi has not fared particularly
well at the WSOP. This was his first-ever final table appearance. Unfortunately,
he went out in eighth place.
" Several former WSOP gold bracelet winners cashed in this tournament.
The included Hoyt Corkins (14th), Jeffrey Lisandro (19th), Tony Ma (20th), Allen
Cunningham (22nd), Gary Benson (23rd), Barbara Enright (26th), Berry Johnston
(30th), and Scott Clements (39th).
" Eccentric sports bettor and poker convert Alan Boston took 37th place.
Boston is widely acknowledged as one of the best college basketball handicappers
in the world.
" Last year's champion was Tom Schneider, who went on to win the 2007
WSOP "Player of the Year" race. Schneider was unable to defend his
crown in this event as he was still alive in another tournament at the time,
the Mixed Games championship, which played its Day Two when this tournament
began.
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