The 2008 Winnin' o' the Green concluded with the main event #26: a $2,425+$75+$100 No Limit Hold'em tournament. A field of 105 players entered the no rebuy event and built a prize pool of $254,625 with a first prize of $86,115 plus a $10,000 Legends of Poker Main Event seat. The final table was set at 3am with a 9-handed final table due to a double bust out on the final table bubble. With starting stacks of 10,000 chips, the average chip stack was 110,000 with blinds of 2,000/4,000.
The first elimination occurred on hand #3 when small blind Alex Ferrari was all-in against Cyrus Farzad in the cut off position. Alex showed K-4 and was ahead of Cyrus's 8-9. The flop was K-9-3 and Alex increased his lead by hitting top pair. Cyrus held middle pair and then the turn 8 reversed the lead giving Cyrus two pair. The river 6 did nothing for Alex and he finished in 9th place collecting $5,090.
On hand #5 Michael Woo raised 18,000 and was called by the short stack Raffi King with only 9,500. The rest of the field folded and Michael showed his monster A-A. Raffi exclaimed that both his cards were live and showed J-6. The flop came Q-6-5 giving Raffi a little bit of hope. The turn 6 gave Raffi the lead with trip 6s and the river Queen filled up Raffi. Raffi's emergency double-up could not come at a better time.
On hand #19 Raffi King had it all in again (he doubled up on hand #9 again) and showed pocket 10s against pocket 4s. The board was A-K-8-2-9 and Raffi did another double up and actually held a stack worthy enough to compete at the final table. Raffi would not be all-in for the rest of the tournament.
On hand #21 Jessica Sprintz found herself all-in with a dominating A-Q against Jeffrey Peterson's A-10. The flop was all Peterson with 10-10-6. Jessica needed runner-runner and the turn 8 ended that possibility. The meaningless river 9 fell and Jessica Sprintz Ace high was 2nd place to Jeffrey's trip 10s. Jessica was eliminated in 8th place and earned $5,730.
At about 4:30am, after evaluating a couple of chip counts, the field could not agree on a deal. The sticking point was primarily the $10,000 Legends of Poker Main event seat that was given to the winner in addition to the prize money. They played it out until hand #26 when Elliott Turner jammed it in against Jeffery Peterson. Jeffrey held a dominating A-10 (again) against Elliott's A-8. Dominating hands have not done well at this final table but the law of averages kicked back in. The flop came K-7-6 and Elliott was drawing to only runner-runner straight. The turn deuce and river deuce ended Elliott's tournament. Elliott Turner finished in 7th place and received $6,365.
The final 6 players worked on another chip count deal. After some in depth negotiations, they players arrived at an acceptable deal. The tournament concluded around 5am and Michael Woo was the chip leader by a handful of chips over Cyrus Farzad. Michael Woo was declared the winner.
-- Jay "Bugsy" Siegel
BIOGRAPHY
Michael Woo, a professional poker player, returned to the 2008 WOG Championship event aiming for the win. Michael placed 3rd in the 2007 WOG Championship event just 12 months ago and wasn't just looking for a repeat final table appearance but an outright win. Michael arrived at the final table 2nd in chips to Cyrus Farzad. Cyrus is a very tough player to beat and it was a tough battle between them as the chip lead oscillated several times.
Michael just cashed a couple of times at the 2008 LAPC and has documented major tournament wins exceeding $1.3M. Michael has made WPT final tables and a WSOP final table appearance dating back to 1989. Michael is looking for a WPT title and a WSOP bracelet and he certainly has the talent to obtain one. Michael is a gentleman at the table and took a couple of beats without it affecting his focused game. There is more to come in 2008 of Michael Woo and this title is a nice place to start that run.
| 
