Tournament Notes:
• The champion is Jesper Hougaard, from Copenhagen, Denmark. Hougaard is a 24-year-old professional poker player.
• This was Hougaard's second career WSOP gold bracelet victory. He won Event 38 at the 2008 WSOP – a $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em tournament.
• Hougaard's victory means he now becomes the first player in history to win WSOP gold bracelets on both sides of the Atlantic. He won his first WSOP title in Las Vegas. This victory occurred in London.
• Hougaard's win also means there were two multiple gold bracelet winners within this year's WSOP (calendar year). Poker pro John Phan also won two gold bracelets in 2008, both in Las Vegas.
• Hougaard had the chip lead at one point on Day Two. But he ran badly late in the day and arrived at the final table ranked eighth in the chip count. Hougaard re-gained the chip lead when play was three-handed and closed out the victory in slightly more than seven hours, minus a mandatory two-hour dinner break.
• A victory by a Danish player means all four WSOPE tournaments have been won by Europeans.
• Hougaard's win had added significance for a poker player living somewhere in Denmark. Hougaard won his way into this tournament by winning a poker "boot camp" sponsored by Betfair. The popular poker site agreed to give the second-place finisher in that same boot camp 50 percent of whatever prize money was earned by Hougaard. The name of the lucky player has not yet been released. However, he/she is now £72,109 richer – thanks to Huogaard and Betfair.
• When Hougaard was heads up against Fuad Serhan, the Dane enjoyed a 4 to 1 chip advantage over his opponent. However, on what turned out to be the final hand of the tournament, Serhan held a huge advantage. With about 500,000 in chips invested in the pot, Serhan had A-K versus Hougaard's A-J (two diamonds). The flop was a horrible beat for Serhan, as three diamonds fell – giving Hougaard a flush. Serhan was left drawing dead while Hougaard won WSOP victory number two.
• A large crowd of spectators filled the main floor inside the Casino at the Empire. Most of the players at the final table had cheering sections. The casino was nearly filled to capacity most of the day, as the H.O.R.S.E. event started while the final table was being played.
• Hougaard collected first place prize money totaling £144,218, equivalent to about $264,019 in US dollars.
• Hougaard now has two wins, five cashes, and $920,488 in career WSOP earnings.
• The runner up was Fuad Serhan, from Cobham, England. He is a 58-year-old retiree. Serhan also finished as the runner up in a European Poker Tour Event (in London) held last year. "This is the impossible dream," Serhan said when he was playing heads up versus Hougaard. "I really want win that gold bracelet. The money is nice. But that (bracelet) is what I am here for." Serhan will have to wait until next time. He could be consoled with a payout totaling £89,175.
• A rarity: The first and second place finishers both arrived as the lowest stacks at the final table. In fact, both players combined started with less than four percent of the total chips in play.
• Ukrainian-born Yevgeniy Timoshenko, now living in Washington State (USA) ended up as the third-place finisher. He recently won a tournament on the Asia Pacific Poker Tour.
• Neil Channing took fourth place. Prior to the start of the final table, Channing stated that he had staked nine players in this event. That meant he had invested no less than £15,000 in combined entry fees. Fortunately, Channing managed to make nearly £30,000 in net profit by outlasting several opponents.
• John Dwyer came in fifth. This was quite an accomplishment considering Dwyer was one of the lowest stacks in the tournament, when 60 players remained in Day Two.
• The final table was a bittersweet experience for 20-year-old Adam Junglet. He was the chip leader at the end of both previous days and began play in the finale with a significant advantage (holding about one-third of the total chips in play). However, Junglet took two bad beats at the final table and ended up going out in sixth place.
• Linda Lee, the seventh-place finisher, works for Cardoza Publishing, which has produced poker books by Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, and other famous names. This was her first WSOP final table appearance.
• Ian Woodley, the eighth-place finisher is noteworthy for being the first person in history to win over £1,000,000 on a television game show. Last year, Woodley appeared on the UK's "TFI Friday" program and won the record cash prize.
• Terry Cook, who took 30th place in this event, also finished in-the-money (19th place) in the 2007 WSOPE championship event. He was the only player to appear on both cash lists.
• The buy-in amount for WSOPE Event 1 was £1,500, equivalent to about $2,755 (USD) at the current exchange rate.
• The final table was played on Monday, September 2nd. Play began at 1 pm and ended at 8 pm – lasting about seven hours. However, actual play was about five hours as there was a dinner break, as well as two shorter 20-minute breaks.
• Poker pro Andy Bloch finished in 15th place.
• Four-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu finished in 24th place.
• Former WSOP gold bracelet winner, Brandon Cantu finished in 27th place. Cantu also finished 20th in the 2008 WSOP Main Event.
• Nikolay Evdakov, from Moscow, Russia played in this event, but did not cash. Evdakov set a new record for "most cashes in a single year" at the 2008 WSOP, when he finished in-the-money ten times (the previous record was eight cashes). He has three more opportunities to add to his record, with three WSOPE events still to be played.
• Eleven different nations were represented amongst the 45 players who cashed. Countries included Norway, Finland, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Australia, Canada, Spain, the United States, and Great Britain.
• This is classified as "WSOPE Event 1," but WSOP Event 56 as it is the 56th WSOP gold bracelet event of the 2008 calendar year.
• World Series of Poker Europe Presented by Betfair includes the final four gold bracelet events of the 2008 season. WSOP events 1-55 were played in Las Vegas, Nevada (USA) from 28 May through 14 July. Events 56-59 are played in London, England from 19 September through 3 October.
• All WSOPE results are included in official WSOP records -- including all-time wins, cashes, final table appearances, etc.
• This marks the second consecutive year of WSOPE Presented by Betfair. In 2007, three WSOP gold bracelet events were played in London.
• The turnout for WSOPE Event 1 was so large that two starting days (grouped into 1-A and 1-B) were necessary. Day 1-A attracted 191 entries. Day 1-B attracted 219 entries. The combined field size for Event 1 was 410 players.
• The turnout for WSOPE Event 1 makes this the largest poker tournament in London history. The previous record was the European Poker Tour-London final, held in September 2007, which attracted 392 entries.
• This is the first WSOP gold bracelet event played in 66 days. The last event, the $10,000 buy-in world championship, took place through Monday, July 14th, when play was suspended at nine players. The "November Nine" (Event 54) returns to Las Vegas on November 9-10, 2008 to determine then 2008 world champion.
• WSOPE Presented by Betfair began with a short pre-tournament ceremony. Tournament Director Jack Effel was joined by two impersonators, resembling pop icons Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe. Last year's WSOP-E Main Event champion Annette Obrestad had the honor of starting the tournament with the customary "Shuffle Up and Deal" announcement. Obrestad was also presented with several miniature cakes, as she had celebrated her 20th birthday just a day earlier.
• Two distinguished gaming executives were on hand to start the tournament. Michael Silberling, Chief Operating Officer of London Clubs, International, and Ben Freid, Head of Poker for BetFair, welcomed players with introductory remarks.
• Betfair, official tournament sponsor of WSOP-Europe, sent 104 players to Event 1. One of the qualifiers was 26-year-old Simon Fox. He won a 1,500 (GBP) entry fee, a free poker lesson from 2007 WSOP-E champion Annette Obrerstad, and his own private masseuse for the duration of the tournament. Fox was also given (believed to be the first time in poker history) his own "railbird," who was paid to attend and cheer on the aspiring poker star. Unfortunately, the rent-a-railbird tactic did not work for Fox, as he busted out on Day 1-A.
• Notable former WSOP gold bracelet winners and poker pros who played in WSOPE Event 1 included: Jesper Hougaard, Phil Hellmuth, John Phan, Jean-Robert Bellande, Michael Binger, Howard Lederer, Jeff Madsen, Sorel Mizzi, David Williams, David "Devil Fish" Ulliott, Andrew Black, Andreas Krause, Andy Bloch, Ben Roberts, Jeffrey Lisandro, Annette Obrestad, John Juanda, Mike Matusow, Phil Ivey, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Erik Seidel, Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, John Juanda, Thor Hansen, Max Pescatori, Layne Flack, Brandon Cantu, Chris Bjorin, Melissa Hayden, Allen Cunningham, Robert Williamson III, Jennifer Tilly, Phil Laak, Mickey Wernick, and others.
• A special note about Mickey Wernick: Born in Wolverhampton, UK Wernick was a true British poker pioneer. In 1970, he founded one of England's first poker clubs. Wernick was also one of the first foreign-based players to play in the WSOP in Las Vegas. He was largely responsible for helping to popularize poker throughout the Midlands region. Wernick played in this event, but was eliminated on the first day.
• All four events this year are played at Casino at the Empire, located in Leicester Square, in Central London. Leicester Square is best known as the theatre district of the city. Casino at the Empire is part of London Clubs, International, which is owned by Harrah's Entertainment.
• The Casino at the Empire holds 25 poker tables. Gaming tables were removed during the 16-day duration of WSOPE in order to make necessary room for the large turnout of players and spectators.
• This year's World Series of Poker is the largest in history. A grand total of 59,130 players have entered the 56 gold bracelet events held so far – with three WSOPE events still to be played. This number exceeds last year's total entries, which was 54,288.
• This was the richest World Series of Poker in history. A grand total of $181,803,002 in prize money awarded (so far) in 2008 makes this the richest event in all of sports. Note: This figure does not include three upcoming WSOPE events. These figures represent an increase of 14 percent over 2007.
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