Poker Tournament Results

39th World Series of Poker 2008

Event #32 - WSOP No Limit Hold'em

June 17, 2008 at 12:00 PM
Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino
Tournament Schedule

Buy-In	$1,500
Prize Pool	$3,150,744
Entries	2304
Report Available Live Coverage

Luis Velador

Place	Name	Prize
1	Luis Velador (Lake Elsinore, CA, USA)	$573,734
2	Anthony Signore (Boynton Beach, FL, USA)	$366,387
3	Osmin Dardon (W Covina, CA, USA)	$243,734
4	Jae Chung (Atlanta, GA, USA)	$204,422
5	Shane Stacey (Hyde Park, VT, USA)	$166,862
6	Dean Bui (Seattle, WA, USA)	$132,088
7	Dany Georges AKA "Destroyer" (Burbank, CA, USA)	$100,638
8	Utsab Saha (Fremont, CA, USA)	$77,051
9	Justin Hoffman (Alpharetta, GA, USA)	$53,464
10	Kenneth Hughes (Baton Rouge, LA, USA)	$34,594
11	Jesse Maupin (Rowlett, TX, USA)	$34,594
12	George Lind (Gilbert, AZ, USA)	$34,594
13	Raymond Hanson (Houston, TX, USA)	$26,732
14	Courtney Harrington (Mooresville, NC, USA)	$26,732
15	Scott Kahler (Pittsburgh, PA, USA)	$26,732
16	Joel Nichols (Marion, OH, USA)	$18,869
17	Zephaniah Baer (St Paul, MN, USA)	$18,869
18	Donald Carlton (Woodstock, IL, USA)	$18,869
19	Tim Hebert AKA "The Ragin Cagun" (Lafayette, LA, USA)	$15,095
20	Scott Sitron (Milwaukee, WI, USA)	$15,095
21	David Desilva (Fort Bragg, CA, USA)	$15,095
22	Scott Bergman (AB, Canada)	$15,095
23	John Jackson (Henderson, NV, USA)	$15,095
24	Jamel Maistriaux (Marcinelle, Belgium)	$15,095
25	Brian Rissman (La Quint, CA, USA)	$15,095
26	Andrew Hoffman (Baldwin, NY, USA)	$15,095
27	Morgan Machina AKA "The Machine" (Mission Viejo, CA, USA)	$15,095
28	Yong Harrison (Ewa beach, HI, USA)	$11,950
29	Richard Lyndaker (Chaumont, NY, USA)	$11,950
30	Joseph Oneil (Anchorage, AK, USA)	$11,950
31	Steven Fager (Sequim, WA, USA)	$11,950
32	Randy Komatsu (Camarillo, CA, USA)	$11,950
33	Bob Jarman (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$11,950
34	Steven Weusten (Leeuwarden, Netherlands)	$11,950
35	Mike Allis (Post Falls, ID, USA)	$11,950
36	Thong Tran (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$11,950
37	Roger Park (So. San Francisco, CA)	$9,434
38	Andy Garza (Phoenix, AZ, USA)	$9,434
39	Matthew LaGarde (Salisbury, MD, USA)	$9,434
40	Pierre Neuville AKA "COLUMBO" (Knokke-Heist, Belgium)	$9,434
41	Hamed Choler (Troy, MI, USA)	$9,434
42	Jeff Norman (Encinitas, CA, USA)	$9,434
43	Anil Jivani (Lilburn, GA, USA)	$9,434
44	Ken McKay (Langley, BC, Canada)	$9,434
45	Michael Bayer (Cary, NC, USA)	$9,434
46	David Tashman (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$8,491
47	Brian Suttle (Boerne, TX, USA)	$8,491
48	Flavio Franco (South Jordan, UT, USA)	$8,491
49	Casey McCarrel (Lafayette, CA, USA)	$8,491
50	Frank Byrne (Manassas, VA, USA)	$8,491
51	Joanne Haas (Covington, LA, USA)	$8,491
52	Stephen Knuth (Toledo, OH, USA)	$8,491
53	Richard Toth (Miskolc, Hungary)	$8,491
54	James Lohmer (St. Paul, MN, USA)	$8,491
55	Thomas Kok (Netherlands)	$7,547
56	Kevin Peterson AKA "Bleu" (Plano, TX, USA)	$7,547
57	Sean Carlson (Brooklyn, NY, USA)	$7,547
58	Albert Iverson (Aarhus, Denmark)	$7,547
59	Craig Gold (Belmont, CA, USA)	$7,547
60	Joseph Bussey (Hermosa Beach, CA, USA)	$7,547
61	Ryan Noe (Park Ridge, IL, USA)	$7,547
62	Beth Shak (New York NY, NY, USA)	$7,547
63	David Chicotsky AKA "The Maven" (Fort Worth, TX, USA)	$7,547
64	Shawn Buchanan (Abbotsford, BC, Canada)	$6,604
65	Fabrice Soulier (Barbentane/Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$6,604
66	Stephen Guillot (Elberon, IA, USA)	$6,604
TIE	Chris Cornell (Clarksville, TN, USA)	$6,604
TIE	Chris Cornell (Clarksville, TN, USA)	$6,604
68	Ross Kline (Reno, NV, USA)	$6,604
69	Thomas Partridge (Exeter, Devon, UK)	$6,604
70	Michael Banducci (Traverse City, MI, USA)	$6,604
71	Phil Hellmuth Jr (Palo Alto, CA, USA)	$6,604
72	Gilles Paige (Collingwood, ON, Canada)	$6,604
73	Paul Hutchison (Marysville, BC, Canada)	$5,660
74	James Miller (Henderson, NV, USA)	$5,660
75	Lisa Rosenbloom (Redondo Beach, CA, USA)	$5,660
76	Glyn Banks AKA "Rachet" (Smithville, TN, USA)	$5,660
77	Travis Shatsky (Corona Del Mar, CA, USA)	$5,660
78	Jonathan Jaffe (W Springfield, MA, USA)	$5,660
79	Sarah Lee (Shoreline, WA, USA)	$5,660
80	Paul Fehlig (St. Louis, MO, USA)	$5,660
81	Jason Lanktree (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$5,660
82	Matt Culberson (New Orleans, LA, USA)	$5,031
83	Michael Katz (Manalapan, NJ, USA)	$5,031
84	Frank Placanica (Auburn, WA, USA)	$5,031
85	Anton Nikaj AKA "Texpert" (Putnam Valley, NY, USA)	$5,031
86	George Waller (Olympia, WA, USA)	$5,031
87	Benjamin Alcober (Chino Hills, CA, USA)	$5,031
88	Richard Ramsey (West Palm Beach, FL, USA)	$5,031
89	Hai Le (Huntington Beach, CA, USA)	$5,031
90	William Gallo (La Plata, MD, USA)	$5,031
91	Anthony Romano (St. Marys, GA, USA)	$4,402
92	Raquel Siegel (Orlando, FL, USA)	$4,402
93	Champie Douglas (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$4,402
94	Gerald Chasney (Warren, MI, USA)	$4,402
95	Arthur Kalantzis AKA "AK-(Big Slick)" (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)	$4,402
96	Jason Brice (Suger Land, TX, USA)	$4,402
97	David Gilbert (Ashburn, VA, USA)	$4,402
98	Michael Smith (Ann Arbor, MI, USA)	$4,402
99	Bill MacDonald (Dewinton, AB, Canada)	$4,402
100	Zephyr Peling (San Diego, CA, USA)	$3,773
101	Christopher Grzadziel (Park Ridge, IL, USA)	$3,773
102	Glenn Celentano (Derby, CT, USA)	$3,773
103	Eric Beren (Dallas, TX, USA)	$3,773
104	Sebastiano Vani (Honolulu, HI, USA)	$3,773
105	Michael Anderson (Edmondton, AB, Canada)	$3,773
106	Jon Nguyen (San Diego, CA, USA)	$3,773
107	Thomas Urbanski (Hamburg, NY, USA)	$3,773
108	Neil Channing AKA "Bad Beat" (Maida Vale, London, UK)	$3,773
109	Joe Simmons (Philadelphia, PA, USA)	$3,773
110	Timothy Jaxon (Sebastopol, CA, USA)	$3,773
111	Clayton Newman (Athens, GA, USA)	$3,773
112	Steven Miller (Key Largo, FL, USA)	$3,773
113	Kaleb Steele (Helotes, TX, USA)	$3,773
114	Wenlong Jin (Arcadia, CA, USA)	$3,773
115	William Wadrose (Hermitage, PA, USA)	$3,773
116	Brussianos Elias (Greece)	$3,773
117	Daniel Duzyk (Chula Vista, CA, USA)	$3,773
118	Pierre Horaud (Le Gosier, France)	$3,773
119	Karen Karnafel (Dearborn Heights, MI, USA)	$3,773
120	Fabien Gauthier (Beurrieres, France)	$3,773
121	Anthony Harb (Westland, MI, USA)	$3,773
122	Nicholas Treppiedi (Brooklyn, NY, USA)	$3,773
123	Sunny Chattha (London, UK)	$3,773
124	Gary Herstein (Chicago, IL, USA)	$3,773
125	Jesse Martin (Shrewsbury, MA, USA)	$3,773
126	Martin Green (Brighton, UK)	$3,773
127	Adrian Dresel-Velasquez (Sacramento, CA, USA)	$3,144
128	Kevin O'Malley (Fallbrook, CA, USA)	$3,144
129	Faraz Jaka AKA "The-Toilet" (San Jose, CA, USA)	$3,144
130	Harris Mertz (Panora, IA, USA)	$3,144
131	Jeffrey Anderson AKA "HB_HITMAN" (Hermosa Beach, CA, USA)	$3,144
132	Glen Bean (Gridley, CA, USA)	$3,144
133	Victor Lento (Sunrise, FL, USA)	$3,144
134	Leonid Vernik (Toronto, ON, Canada)	$3,144
135	Brandon Duenas (Fresno, CA, USA)	$3,144
136	Justin Scott (Redford, MI, USA)	$3,144
137	Michael Lee (Wheeling, IL, USA)	$3,144
138	Jeffrey Milkey (Carmel, IN, USA)	$3,144
139	Steven Shumaker (Monroeville, IN, USA)	$3,144
140	Michael Sanderson (Odenton, MD, USA)	$3,144
141	Joseph Bagyansky (Caledon East, ON, Canada)	$3,144
142	Danny Hernon (Manchester, UK)	$3,144
143	Melvin Russell (Bakersfiled, CA, USA)	$3,144
144	Robert DeLuna (New York, NY, USA)	$3,144
145	Sukhpaul Dhaliwal (Surrey, BC, Canada)	$3,144
146	Young Phan (Garden Grove, CA, USA)	$3,144
147	Roy Sebastien (St. Ephrem, QC, Canada)	$3,144
148	Shavarsh Pirijanian AKA "Shavo; Shawn" (Shadow Hills, CA, USA)	$3,144
149	Mark Kelly (Phoenix, AZ, USA)	$3,144
150	Kurt Paseka (Bayside, NY, USA)	$3,144
151	Denver Donaghe (Rosanky, TX, USA)	$3,144
152	Abraham Kantzabedian (Kula, HI, USA)	$3,144
153	Thomas McLaughlin (Burlington, CT, USA)	$3,144
154	Felix Osterland (Tuebingen, Germany)	$3,144
155	Ryan Talley AKA "Talleywacker" (Phoenix, AZ, USA)	$3,144
156	Rodney Fost (Baker, MT, USA)	$3,144
157	Kyle Bremer (Wildomer, CA, USA)	$3,144
158	Joshua Roberts (Jackson, CA, USA)	$3,144
159	Jeremy Hymas (Riverton, UT, USA)	$3,144
160	Richard Aldrich (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$3,144
161	John Alber (Whittier, CA, USA)	$3,144
162	Andrew Grove (Hook, UK)	$3,144
163	John Spagnuolo (Howard Beach, NY, USA)	$3,144
164	Michael Galarita (Lynnwood, WA, USA)	$2,830
165	Derek Olma (Tanasket, WA, USA)	$2,830
166	Justin Kramer (Fort Launderdale, FL, USA)	$2,830
167	King Kelly (Phoenix, AZ, USA)	$2,830
168	Sandeep Mehta (Apex, NC, USA)	$2,830
169	Tom Cage (Mammoth, CA, USA)	$2,830
170	Damon Lowell (McKinney, TX, USA)	$2,830
171	Kou Vang (Woodbury, MN, USA)	$2,830
172	Spencer Straub (Milwaukie, OR, USA)	$2,830
173	Nigel Jones AKA "Valentino" (York, UK)	$2,830
174	George Williamson (Park City, UT, USA)	$2,830
175	Lior Barlev (Israel)	$2,830
176	Dennis Loftus (Mount Clemens, MI, USA)	$2,830
177	Dimitrios Koutougos (BC, Canada)	$2,830
178	Yu Zhe (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$2,830
179	Alvin Willis (Haines City, FL, USA)	$2,830
180	Daniel Meeks (Nampa, ID, USA)	$2,830
181	William Barman (Edina, MN, USA)	$2,830
182	Bradley Smithson (Windsor, WI, USA)	$2,830
183	Barry Stoves (Orland, FL, USA)	$2,830
184	Jeffrey Zemito (Avon, OH, USA)	$2,830
185	John Henderson (Burnaby, BC, Canada)	$2,830
186	Richard Whitebrook (Miami Beach, FL, USA)	$2,830
187	Ron Lee (Durango, CO, USA)	$2,830
188	Scott Hetzler (Springboro,, OH, USA)	$2,830
189	Charles Shapiro (BC, Canada)	$2,830
190	Larry Smith (Miranda, CA, USA)	$2,830
191	Wayne Chang (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$2,830
192	David Tessler (Beverley Hills, MI, USA)	$2,830
193	Adrian Pitts (Kill Devil Hills, NC, USA)	$2,830
194	Jorge Ortuzar (Gardena, CA, USA)	$2,830
195	Brent Roberts AKA "astrolux85" (Staten Island, NY, USA)	$2,830
196	Andrew Lee (Ocean Township, NJ, USA)	$2,830
197	Marc Ricci (Lausanne, Switzerland)	$2,830
198	Jimmy Blanco (West Havan, UT, USA)	$2,830

Tournament Report

Tournament Notes:

• The $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em championship attracted another huge field as 2,304 entries created a prize pool totaling $3,144,960. The top 198 finishers collected prize money.
• This is the third 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 tournament was played over three consecutive days. The final table was played on the ESPN main stage and was broadcast by Bluff Media on ESPN360. The Seven-Card Stud High-Low Split World Championship also concluded on this day, which was played at the secondary final table.
• The curse continues. Last year's champion, David Stucke played in this event. But he did not cash. This brings the current streak to 32 straight non-cashes for defending champions in their respective events.
• The winner was Luis Velador, from Lake Elsinore, CA. He is a 44-year-old professional poker player. Velador has been playing professionally for 11 years.
• Velador was born in Mexico. He is one of the few Mexican-born winners in WSOP history. Victor Perches became the first ever to win in 2006.
• Velador has sometimes been listed at other poker tournaments as 'Jose-Luis Velador.' However, he prefers to be known as Luis Velador.
• Velador collected $574,734 for first place. He also earned his first WSOP gold bracelet. Velador has only played in three WSOP events. He has cashed in all three. In fact, Velador played in the 2006 and 2007 Main Events, and cashed both times!
• Prior to becoming a poker pro, Velador was a tile setter.
• Velador concentrates mostly on middle-limit cash games, ranging from $10-20 up to $40-80 limits. He prefers mixed games. He has played daily at the Bicycle Club Casino in the past but now plays mostly at the Commerce Casino, in Los Angeles.
• Velador‘s performance was as dominant as has been seen by any player at this year's WSOP, to date. From start to finish during the five-hour final table, Velador held at least a 2 to 1 chip advantage over his nearest adversary. Most of the time, he had every opponent at the table covered by a 5 or 6 to 1 margin.
• 'There is lot of dead money in these tournaments,' Velador said. 'Sure, there are many good players, too. But these (lower buy-in tournaments) are not like the big ones where all you see is pros.'
• 'I got hit by the deck yesterday,' Velador stated - in reference to his dominance during the last half of the tournament.
• The second-place finisher was Anthony Signore, from Boynton Beach, FL. Amazingly, this was Signore's first time to enter a major poker tournament. He collected $366,387.
• Prior to this event, a player from every U.S. state had recorded at least one cash at this year's WSOP - except Vermont. With Hyde Park, VT resident Shane Stacey's fifth place finish, all states have now sent at least one player to the Rio payout window. In addition, 37 different nations have also been represented amongst the in-the-money finishers.
• Justin Hoffman, who was playing in his first WSOP event ever, finished in ninth place. He was a cryptologist on active duty for the U.S. Navy from 1991-97. He now owns a production company that produces music festivals in Georgia.
• Michael Banducci, who won his first gold bracelet earlier in the $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em championship (Event #5) cashed for the third time this year, taking 70th place.
• Eleven-time WSOP gold bracelet winner and 1989 world poker champion Phil Hellmuth recorded his 65th career WSOP cash by finishing 71st in this event. Hellmuth continues to distance himself from the competition, as second-place Men 'the Master' Nguyen is now eight cashes behind Hellmuth, with 57 to his credit.
• Former WSOP gold bracelet winner Justin Scott also cashed, finishing in 132nd place.
• Through the conclusion of Event #32, only one player has cashed six times - Nikolay Evdakov, from Moscow, Russia. He is best positioned to challenge the record set for 'Most WSOP Cashes in a Single Year,' shared by four players -- Michael Binger (2007), Chad Brown (2007), Phil Hellmuth, Jr. (2006), and Humberto Brenes (2006), with eight in-the-money strikes.
• The current Milwaukee's Best Light 'Player of the Year' standings shows Erick Lindgren on top of the points list, with one gold bracelet win and four cashes. However, Daniel Negreanu and Barry Greenstein are now close behind.
• Through Event #32, the player who has entered the most WSOP events is Tom McCormick, a.k.a. 'The Shamrock Kid' - with 23 entries.
• Through Event #32, fourteen players have made two WSOP final table appearances this year. This list includes - Chris Bjorin, Andy Bloch, Alex Bolotin, David Benyamine, Scott Clements, Jacobo Fernandez, Fu Wong, Barry Greenstein, Erick Lindgren, Minh Ly, Daniel Negreanu, David Singer, J.C. Tran, and Theo Tran.
• Through the conclusion of Event #32 at this year's World Series of Poker, the gold bracelet count by nations and states reads as follows:
8 - Nevada
6 - California
4 - New York
2 - Canada
2 - Italy
2 - Missouri
1 - Germany
1 - Holland
1 - Maryland
1 - Michigan
1 - Pennsylvania
1 - Russia
1 - South Carolina
1 - Wisconsin
• So far, this WSOP has been deemed 'The Year of the Pro.' Professional poker players have reasserted their dominance in tournament play by winning a vast majority of gold bracelets (77 percent), especially over the first half of the schedule. However, it is important to note that amateur poker players have dominated WSOP tournaments since 2005. Here is the Pro-Am Scoreboard each year since 2000 (Note: The Casino Employees Event is not counted):
2000 - Pros 14 to Amateurs 8
2001 - Pros 18 to Amateurs 7
2002 - Pros 18 to Amateurs 16
2003 - Pros 24 to Amateurs 12
2004 - Pros 21 to Amateurs 11
2005 - Amateurs 26 to Pros 18
2006 - Amateurs 27 to Pros 17
2007 - Amateurs 34 to Pros 20
2008 (through Event #32) Pros 25 to Amateurs 7
Since 2000, pros currently lead amateurs in the Pro-Am gold bracelet race by a margin of 175 to 148.
It should be noted that the largest influx of new poker players to the WSOP took place during the period when amateurs won a majority of events. There are contrasting interpretations of what this data means. Some suggest the larger number of amateurs playing at the WSOP inflates their winning percentages by sheer volume. Others (most pros) point out that the WSOP has the best tournament structures of any poker event in the world and that professionals have a much greater opportunity to prove their superior skill under this format.
One additional factor which has bolstered the performance of pros this year is the inclusion of two events on most days. The daily 12 noon events tend to attract a greater concentration of amateur players, whereas the higher-buy-in 5:00 pm events attract smaller, but more highly-accomplished fields, with more professionals.
• The Event #32 winner Luis Velador is to be classified as a professional, since he has been playing for a living for more than a decade. Accordingly, through the conclusion of Event #32 at this year's World Series of Poker, the 'Pro-Am' gold bracelet scoreboard reads: Professionals - 25 wins
Amateurs -- 5 wins
Semi-Pros -- 2 wins
• Through Event #32, the End of Day One chip leaders have gone on to cash 80 percent of the time -- 24 of 30 occasions (the chip leader was not applicable on two events). Eight of these same 30 chip leaders (26 percent) made it to the final table. Only one chip leader went on to win the event (3 percent). That lone wire-to-wire winner was Vanessa Selbst in Event #19.
• Through Event #31, twelve of 30 chip leaders at the start of the final table (40 percent) went on to win the event. Nineteen of 30 chip leaders (63 percent) went on to finish in the top three spots. Two events did not have a chip leader (Heads-Up and the Shootout).
• CORRECTION: This will address a previous tournament report, specifically Barry Greenstein's victory in the Razz championship, which was Event #26. Greenstein's background has been widely misreported for quite some time and some confusion may continue due to the contents of that report. It should be noted that Greenstein has been a professional poker player for several decades.
Many writers, reporters, and interviewers have latched on to a widely-misreported notion that Greenstein first worked in the high-tech industry, and then retired from that field to play poker. This is simply not true. Greenstein has been playing poker professionally for many, many years. While he was playing poker as a pro, he took a position with a high-tech company for various reasons while he maintained his status as a professional poker player. The WSOP Media Relations Team kindly asks that all media correct written verbiage that makes any reference to Greenstein leaving the high-tech field to play poker. As is the case with many multi-talented poker pros, he has excelled at more than one occupation.

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