| The winner is Sherkhan Farnood. He is a 46-year-old duel resident
of Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates. Farnood is chairman of
Kabulbank, one of the largest banks in Afghanistan.
·Farnood, who spends considerable time in both Dubai (United Arab
Emirates) and his native homeland, is reported to be one of the richest
persons in Afghanistan.
· In 2005, Farnood became the first poker player ever to cash from
the nation of Afghanistan. At the time, Farnood –half-jokingly announced
that he was Afghanistan's most famous poker player – an ironic statement
considering he's probably the *only* Afghani who plays regularly on the
poker tournament circuit.
· Farnood is the first player to ever win a WSOP gold bracelet from
Afghanistan. He is also believed to be the first full-time resident of the
Middle East to win poker's most coveted prize.
· Could there now be such a thing as 31 million gold bracelet
winners? Perhaps. "This is for the people of Afghanistan," Farnood proudly
announced in a post-tournament interview. "Because (I won), all the people
of my country have a gold bracelet with me."
· This was Farnood's first WSOP gold bracelet victory. He now has
six career WSOP in-the-money finishes. This was his fourth final table
appearance. Farnood also made it to the final table of last year's WSOPE
Pot-Limit Omaha championship (6th place).
· *NOTE: Farnood is sometimes listed (incorrectly) in various poker
media as "Farnood Sherkhan." These names should be reversed and properly
listed as "Sherkhan Farnood."*
· Farnood collected first place prize money totaling ₤76,999,
equivalent to about $192,894 in US dollars.
· Farnood's victory means that the five WSOPE tournaments played so
far have been won by players from England (2), Norway, Denmark, and
Afghanistan.
· When heads-up play began, rival Ivo Donev enjoyed a 3 to 2 chip
advantage over Sherkhan Farnood. However Farnood recovered from an all-in
situation late and stormed back to dominate the final 30 minutes of
play. Farnood
scooped virtually every pot in the later stages of the tournament.
· The runner up was Ivo Donev from Lochau, Austria. In 2000, he won
a gold bracelet in the $1,500 buy-in Limit Hold'em event. This marked his
ninth time to cash in a WSOP competition. This was his fourth final table
appearance.
· Donev is the only poker player from Austria ever to win a WSOP gold
bracelet. Donev was born in Bulgaria. However, he immigrated to Austria in
1990. Prior to becoming interested in poker, Donev was (and remains) an
international chess master. In 1989, he won the prestigious CSSR
International Chess Tournament. He wrote a chess book published in German
language, which is translated as "The Most Important Ideas in the End Game."
Donev has his own German language website, with lengthy discussions on
games. It can be found at: www.ivodonev.com
· This was the most experienced final table lineup of the year,
considering all 57 WSOP events played thus far. All eight of the top
finalists had previously made WSOP final table appearances. Four players
were former gold bracelet winners.
· Two-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Howard Lederer finished in third
place. This marked his 38th career WSOP in-the-money finish. Lederer's
first time to cash came in 1987. His last WSOP victory came in 2001.
· Fourth-place finisher Jeff Duvall has a long and impressive record
of tournament finishes dating back to 2000. He has previously won events at
the European Poker Tour, Midlands Masters, Euro Poker Finals. This was his
highest WSOP-related finish ever.
Cash game pro Mark Gregorich finished in fifth place. Gregorich is
widely respected as an Omaha High-Low specialist which meant the mixed-game
H.O.R.S.E. format certainly favored his strengths. However, Gregorich
remained short on chips throughout the tournament. At one point in the
middle of Day Two, well short of the prize money, Gregorich was
second-lowest in chips. However, he managed to survive and went all the way
to fifth in the final standings.
· There was considerable interest in whether or not Phil Ivey would
record his sixth career WSOP victory. Ivey had the chip lead at various
stages of play on Days One and Two. But he struggled much of Day Three and
ended up going out in sixth place.
· Jeffrey Lisandro suffered a series of brutal beats at the final
table. He was primed to make a run at winning his second WSOP title. But
about four hours into play the Italian/Australian pro lost three critical
pots that took him down to the felt. Lisandro ended up as the seventh-place
finisher.
· Yuval Bronshtein finished in tenth place. Last year in this same
event, Bronshtein took sixth place.
· Eleven-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth finished in 12
th place. This was Hellmuth's 69th career cash at the WSOP. He is the
all-time leader in that category. He continues to distance himself from the
pack.
· It was a case of déjà vu all over again for Marc Goodwin, from
Birmingham, UK. Goodwin took 15th place in 2007 and 15th place again this
year.
· Thomas "Buzzer" Bihl won this event in 2007, which was the first
WSOP-related tournament ever held outside the U.S. Bihl played again this
year but did not make it into the money.
· Nikolay Evdakov, from Moscow, Russia played in this event, but did
not cash. In 2008, Evdakov shattered the record for "most cashes in a
single year" at the WSOP, when he finished in-the-money ten times (the
previous record was eight cashes). He has two more opportunities to add to
his record, with two WSOPE events still to be played.
· This was the second H.O.R.S.E. tournament to be played at WSOP
Europe. Last year's tournament attracted 102 entries. This year, 110
players signed up. H.O.R.S.E. is a rotation of the five most popular forms
of poker played in cardrooms today – including Hold'em, Omaha High-Low,
Razz, Seven-Card Stud, and Stud High-Low.
· The buy-in amount for WSOPE Event 1 was ₤2,500, equivalent to about
$4,640 (USD) at the current exchange rate.
· The final table was played on Wednesday, September 22nd. Play
began at 3:30 pm and ended at about 5 am – lasting 13.5 hours.
· This tournament is classified as "WSOPE Event 2," as well as "WSOP
Event 57" as it is the 57th 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 2 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 2 was 110 players, up from the 105 who
played in this event last year.
· This tournament attracted one of the most formidable fields in WSOP
history. About a quarter of the players who entered – 26 out of 110 -- were
former WSOP gold bracelet winners. This list of former champions included:
David Benyamine
Chris Bjorin
Thomas Bihl
Doyle Brunson
Brandon Cantu
Allen Cunningham
Ivo Donev
Chris "Jesus" Ferguson
Layne Flack
Barry Greenstein
Thor Hansen
Phil Hellmuth
Phil Ivey
John Juanda
Howard Lederer
Jeffrey Lisandro
Jeff Madsen
Mike Matusow
Daniel Negreanu
Max Pescatori
John Phan
Erik Seidel
David "Devilfish" Ulliott
Jen Voertmann
David Williams
Robert Williamson III
· All four WSOPE 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.
· 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 59,240 players have entered the 57 gold bracelet events held
so far – with two 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 $182,060,002 in prize money awarded (so far) in 2008 makes this the
richest event in all of sports.* Note: This figure does not include two
upcoming WSOPE events. These figures represent an increase of 14 percent
over 2007.
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