Poker Tournament Results

39th World Series of Poker 2008

Maxwell Greenwood

Tournament Report

Tournament Notes: • The $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em championship (Event #44) attracted 879 entries, creating a prize pool totaling $3,240,174. The top 81 finishers collected prize money. • The prize pool which totaled more than $3.2 million is the largest in WSOP history for this event. • The $1,000 with re-buys tournament was first added to the WSOP schedule in 2004. That year proved so successful, that two events have been included on the WSOP schedule every year since. • Previous winners include - Gerry Drehobl (2004), Jiang Chen (2005), Maciek Gracz (2005), Phil Hellmuth (2006), Allen Cunningham (2006), Michael Chu (2007) and Michael Graves (2007). • The defending champion for this event in the corresponding tournament last year was Michael Graves. He did not enter this tournament. This brings the current streak to 44 straight non-cashes for defending champions in their respective events. • The tournament was played over three consecutive days. The final table was played on the ESPN main stage and was broadcast live by Bluff Media on ESPN360. • The 2008 $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em with Re-Buys champion is Max Greenwood. He is 23-years-old. Greenwood is a recent college graduate from Toronto (Ontario) Canada. • Just two weeks ago, Greenwood graduated from the University of Toronto. He received a degree in political science. • Greenwood planned to travel internationally after his college graduation. But he first wanted to play at the World Series of Poker. Greenwood stated that he had no specific career goals prior to this victory and still has not decided what he plans to pursue. However, poker is certain to be included in his future. • Greenwood becomes the third Canadian citizen to win a gold bracelet at this year's WSOP. • Greenwood won $693,444 for first place. This was his fifth time to cash within two years. His previous finishes include 53rd, 42nd, 24th, and 48th. • Greenwood stated that he plans to buy a house in Toronto with the prize money. • The second-place finisher was Rene Mouritsen, from Aarhus, Denmark. • Mouritsen has been tagged with the runner-up position three times in the last two years at the WSOP - more than any other player. He took second place at last year's Mixed Hold'em championship, as well as the 2007 Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship. Incredibly, his poker earnings total over $1 million for those three runner-up finishes alone. Nevertheless, Mouritsen was obviously disappointed that he did not win. • Mouritsen came close to becoming the second Dane to win a WSOP gold bracelet within a week. Six days ago, Jesper Hougaard became the second-ever Danish champion (Jan Sorensen was the first). • The final table began at 2 pm and ended at 7:30 pm, which totaled a relatively fast 5.5 hours of play. • The final two players attracted large and enthusiastic cheering sections. In fact, with so much chanting and cheering during the later stages of play, the final table resembled a European soccer match more than a poker game. Rene Mouritsen's fan club of Danes wore golden crowns, while Max Greenwood's Canadian supporters adorned their seating territory with a massive trail of empty cans of Milwaukee's Best Light beer. The rival camps mixed together and toasted the winner at the end of the match. • Former WSOP gold bracelet winners who cashed in this event included Eric Froehlich (13th), Mark Seif (23rd), Men 'the Master' Nguyen (57th), Humberto Brenes (77th), and Scott Clements (81). • With his cash in this event, Men 'the Master' Nguyen now has 59 in-the-money finishes in his WSOP career, which ranks second on the all-time list. • With his cash in this event, Humberto Brenes now has 52 in-the-money finishes in his WSOP career, which ties him for sixth place on the all-time list. • Television producer and writer Sam Simon, from Sherman Oaks, CA cashed in this tournament (53rd). He is best known for his association with classic TV shows Taxi and Cheers. He is also one of the creators of The Simpsons. • The most re-buys by any player in this event was 17. The player, who shall remain anonymous, did not cash. • Nikolay Evdakov, from Moscow, Russia is the only player at this year's WSOP who has cashed seven times - just one off the all-time record mark. Evdakov is positioned to break the record set for 'Most WSOP Cashes in a Single Year,' shared by five players -- Michael Binger (2007), Chad Brown (2007), Phil Hellmuth (2006), Richard Tatalovich (2006), and Humberto Brenes (2006), with eight. • Four players have cashed six times at this year's WSOP. This list includes - Chau Giang, Rolf Slotboom, Alex Jacob, and Roland Isra. • Winner Max Greenwood is officially listed as being from Toronto, Ontario (Canada). Through the conclusion of Event #44 at this year's World Series of Poker, the gold bracelet count by nations and states reads as follows: 10 - Nevada 7 - California 4 - New York 3 — Canada 3 - Germany 2 - Italy 2 - Missouri 1 - Belgium 1 - Denmark 1 - Florida 1 - France 1 - Georgia 1 - Holland 1 - Maryland 1 - Michigan 1 - Ohio 1 - Pennsylvania 1 - Russia 1 - South Carolina 1 - Wisconsin • Nine different nations have produced a gold bracelet winner at this year's WSOP. This list now includes Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Russia, and the United States. • The Event #44 winner Max Greenwood is to be classified as an amateur player. This was his first major tournament victory. Furthermore, he recently graduated from college. Accordingly, the 'Pro-Am' gold bracelet scoreboard currently reads: Professionals - 32 wins Amateurs -- 10 wins Semi-Pros -- 2 wins • Jamel Maistriaux was the chip leader at the End of Day One in this event. He finished as the 78th place finisher. Through Event #44, the End of Day One chip leaders have gone on to cash 79 percent of the time -- 33 of 42 occasions (the chip leader was not applicable on two events). Twelve of these same 42 chip leaders (29 percent) made it to the final table. Only one chip leader went on to win the event. That lone wire-to-wire winner was Vanessa Selbst in Event #19. • Jesse Chinni was the chip leader at the start of this final table. He ended up as the fifth-place finisher. Through Event #44, seventeen of 42 chip leaders at the start of the final table (41 percent) went on to win the event. Twenty-four of 42 chip leaders (57 percent) went on to finish in the top three spots. Two events did not have a chip leader (Heads-Up and Shootout tournaments). • The Milwaukee's Best Light 'Player of the Year' standings currently shows Jacobo Fernandez as the current leader, with David Benyamine close behind. Here are the top five ranked players: 1. Jacobo Fernandez - 227 points 2. David Benyamine - 220 points 3. John Phan - 215 points 4. Barry Greenstein - 190 points 5. Erick Lindgren - 185 points For a complete 'Player of the Year' points list, see: http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/players/2008.asp?sort=poypts • David Benyamine is now the leader on the 2008 prize money list, having won the most money at the WSOP, to date. His accrued winnings total $941,651. • Through the end of Event #44, twenty-five players have now earned at least $500,000 at this year's WSOP.