Poker Tournament Results

40th World Series of Poker 2009

Event #11 - WSOP No Limit Hold'em

June 4, 2009 at 12:00 PM
Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino
Tournament Schedule

Buy-In	$2,000
Prize Pool	$2,995,720
Entries	1646
Report Available Live Coverage

Anthony Harb

Place	Name	Prize
1	Anthony Harb (Westland, MI, USA)	$569,199
2	Peter Rho (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$350,019
3	Jim Geary (Phoenix, AZ, USA)	$230,670
4	Adam Adler (Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA)	$161,768
5	Jonathan McGowan (San Diego, CA, USA)	$116,833
6	Adrian Dresel-Velasquez (Sacramento, CA, USA)	$92,867
7	Scott Hall (Fayetteville, AR, USA)	$76,390
8	Michael Dyer (Houston, TX, USA)	$65,905
9	Brent Sheirbon (The Dalles, OR, USA)	$59,315
10	Mike Carlson (Shakopee, MN, USA)	$41,640
11	David Mandt (East Gull Lake, MN, USA)	$41,640
12	John Hartery AKA "the_main" (Mississauga, ON, Canada)	$41,640
13	Jeff Finucane (Long Grove, IL, USA)	$29,148
14	Eric Ladny (Mercerville,, NJ, USA)	$29,148
15	Chris Taylor (Alhambra, CA, USA)	$29,148
16	Kenneth Smaron (Philadelphia, PA, USA)	$20,400
17	Jason Koon (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$20,400
18	Olav Prinz Von Sachsen (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$20,400
19	Jovan Sudar (Omaha, NE, USA)	$14,828
20	Pilar Tucker (Seattle, WA, USA)	$14,828
21	Steven Fager (Sequim, WA, USA)	$14,828
22	Michael Simpson (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$14,828
23	Jose Rosenkrantz (Miami, FL, USA)	$14,828
24	Warren Woodall (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$14,828
25	Robert Goodson (Tucson, AZ, USA)	$14,828
26	Nicolas Walters (New York, NY, USA)	$14,828
27	Brian Fleming (Edmonton, AB, Canada)	$14,828
28	Tommy Chen (San Jose, CA, USA)	$12,761
29	Phil Hellmuth Jr (Palo Alto, CA, USA)	$12,761
30	Kevin McColgan (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$12,761
31	Ryan Gentry (La Jolla, CA, USA)	$12,761
32	Jonathan Aguiar (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$12,761
33	Scott Blackman AKA "scott" (Rochester, NY, USA)	$12,761
34	Steven Goosen (Abbotsford, BC, Canada)	$12,761
35	Mark Tarich (North Miami Beach, FL, USA)	$12,761
36	Terry Stewart (Duluth, GA, USA)	$12,761
37	Alexander Korolev (Moscow, Russia)	$10,425
38	Romik Vartzar (Glendale, CA, USA)	$10,425
39	Eddylee Martin (Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands)	$10,425
40	Roy Gillie (Galena Park, TX, USA)	$10,425
41	Yesniel Pulido AKA "Jessy" (Pembroke Pines, FL, USA)	$10,425
42	Dong Bai Xu (Rosemead, CA, USA)	$10,425
43	Kenneth Dunford (Dundas, ON, Canada)	$10,425
44	Aaron Kweskin (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$10,425
45	Howard Widman (Lakeview, NY, USA)	$10,425
46	Michael Schmidt (Monterey Park, CA, USA)	$8,807
47	Troy Mclain (Tucson, AZ, USA)	$8,807
48	Blake Stepp (Spokane, WA, USA)	$8,807
49	Trevor Hackworth (Bowling Green, OH, USA)	$8,807
50	Kenneth Hicks (Huntington, WV, USA)	$8,807
51	Alexander Millar (Northants, UK)	$8,807
52	Yue Huang (San Francisco, CA, USA)	$8,807
53	Tom McEvoy AKA "pokerchump" (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$8,807
54	Jeffrey Vanchiro (Brooklyn, NY, USA)	$8,807
55	Minneapolis Jim Meehan (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$7,639
56	Ryan Milisits AKA "dank stax" (Pittsburgh, PA, USA)	$7,639
57	Bobby Bresner (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$7,639
58	Allen Le (Huntington Beach, CA, USA)	$7,639
59	Zachary Weiler (St Paul, MN, USA)	$7,639
60	Jason Gray (Troutdale, OR, USA)	$7,639
61	Randy Tedy (Thornton, CO, USA)	$7,639
62	Jeremy Coon (Salt Lake City, UT, USA)	$7,639
63	Jason Mercier AKA "treysfull21" (Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA)	$7,639
64	Tyler Smith (Smithsdale, MS, USA)	$6,770
65	Sean Getzwiller AKA "Tucson Sean" (Tucson, AZ, AZ, USA)	$6,770
66	Neil Ho (Orange, CA, USA)	$6,770
67	Keith Baker (Chicago, IL, USA)	$6,770
68	Francis Mahiout (Paris, France)	$6,770
69	Michael Blanovsky (Staten Island, NY, USA)	$6,770
70	James Rodney Tapp (Augusta, SC, USA)	$6,770
71	Perry Friedman AKA "The Baiter" (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$6,770
72	Christopher Parsons (Calgary, AB, Canada)	$6,770
73	Patrick O'Malley (Claremont, CA, USA)	$6,081
74	Patrick Minton (Seatle, WA, USA)	$6,081
75	Peter Christensen (St. Paul, MN, USA)	$6,081
76	Christopher G Bush (Mission, BC, Canada)	$6,081
77	Umberto Sabato (Masagne, Unknown)	$6,081
78	Ben Lamb (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$6,081
79	Jesse Chaney (Rockledge, FL, USA)	$6,081
80	Kevin Okeefe (Vacaville, CA, USA)	$6,081
81	Jack Grigsby (Kennewick, WA, USA)	$6,081
82	Jesse Mull (Fort Irwin, CA, USA)	$5,452
83	David Finkelstein (Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA)	$5,452
84	Mike Sica AKA "Little Man" (North Brunswick, NJ, USA)	$5,452
85	Dau Ly AKA "Tommy Ly" (Duluth, GA, USA)	$5,452
86	Sean Golin (Castle Rock, CO, USA)	$5,452
87	Faraz Jaka AKA "The-Toilet" (San Jose, CA, USA)	$5,452
88	Jeffrey Scholz (Colgate, WI, USA)	$5,452
89	Michael Parizon (Canton, MI, USA)	$5,452
90	Kyle Bowker (Walton, NY, USA)	$5,452
91	Chad Siu (Vancouver, BC, Canada)	$4,942
92	Philippe Xie (Dorval, QC, Canada)	$4,942
93	Patrick Stemper (Austin, TX, USA)	$4,942
94	Richard Newman (Collegeville, PA, USA)	$4,942
95	Marc R Whitford AKA "moneygreen" (Rockford, MI, USA)	$4,942
96	Thomas Franklin (Gulfport, MS, USA)	$4,942
97	Jack Land (Ocoee, FL, USA)	$4,942
98	Michael Dietrich (Centralia, ON, Canada)	$4,942
99	Gabriel Sack (Weston, FL, USA)	$4,942
100	Doyle Depratter (Burleson, TX, USA)	$4,523
101	T.J. Cloutier (Richardson, TX, USA)	$4,523
102	Jeremiah Fitzpatrick (Charlotte, NC, USA)	$4,523
103	David Pederson (Crystal, MN, USA)	$4,523
104	Cody Shedd (Mission Viejo, CA, USA)	$4,523
105	Cherie Beasley (San Francisco, CA, USA)	$4,523
106	Jen Yue Chiang (Mesa, AZ, USA)	$4,523
107	Nancy Moskowitz (Oak Park, CA, USA)	$4,523
108	Andrew Chen (Mississauga, ON, Canada)	$4,523
109	Tommy Pope (Raleigh, NC, USA)	$4,523
110	Lawrence Lin (New York, NY, USA)	$4,523
111	Jeffrey Hakim (Wexford, PA, USA)	$4,523
112	Howard Boyd AKA "Terry" (West Chester, OH, USA)	$4,523
113	James St. Hilaire (College Park, MD, USA)	$4,523
114	John Gordon (Johnston, IA, USA)	$4,523
115	Maximillian Singer (Telloride, CO, USA)	$4,523
116	Jamie Brown (UK)	$4,523
117	Stephen Hvonen (Lake Mary, FL, USA)	$4,523
118	Anna Calder (Toronto, ON, Canada)	$4,194
119	Josh Sorenson (Littleton, CO, USA)	$4,194
120	John Morstad (Portage, WI, USA)	$4,194
121	Cicero Feltrin (Blumenau, SC, USA)	$4,194
122	Danny Noam (Cave Creek, AZ, USA)	$4,194
123	Michael Schwartz (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$4,194
124	Sean Paul Seatelli (Bastia, France)	$4,194
125	Michael Mauerhan (Fort Worth, TX, USA)	$4,194
126	Joseph Dulaney (Magnolia, TX, USA)	$4,194
127	Lucian Cappello (New Rochelle, NY, USA)	$4,194
128	Justin Newton (Tuscon, AZ, USA)	$4,194
129	Larry Gurney (Kingston, TN, USA)	$4,194
130	Fausto Lendeborg (Miami Lakes, FL, USA)	$4,194
131	Thomas Brown (Lake View, NY, USA)	$4,194
132	Jared Hamby AKA "TheWacoKidd" (Henderson, NV, USA)	$4,194
133	Brian Kee (Visalia, CA, USA)	$4,194
134	Anthony Ditomaso (El Cajon, CA, USA)	$4,194
135	Cory Albertson (Houston, TX, USA)	$4,194
136	Steven Ungrey (Rockford, MI, USA)	$4,194
137	Thomas Alenius (Stockholm, Sweden)	$4,194
138	Harry Thomas (Hamilton, OH, USA)	$4,194
139	Jordan Smith AKA "scarface_79" (Tool, TX, USA)	$4,194
140	Mike Somma AKA "dragon balls" (Middle Village, NY, USA)	$4,194
141	Kevin Song (Diamond Bar, CA, USA)	$4,194
142	Thanh Chau (San Jose, CA, USA)	$4,194
143	Nicholas Slepica (Reston, VA, USA)	$4,194
144	Arnold Kirschenmann (Bakersfield, CA, USA)	$4,194
145	Leonard van Cruchten (Stevensweert, Netherlands)	$3,894
146	Steve Rassi (Morton, IL, USA)	$3,894
147	A Ram Hong (Seoul, South Korea)	$3,894
148	Steven Taxarchis (Santa Rosa, CA, USA)	$3,894
149	Christos Liandzi (England, UK)	$3,894
150	Brian Brunner (Carmel, IN, USA)	$3,894
151	Brad Waddell (El Paso, TX, USA)	$3,894
152	Hector Quinones (La Costellana, Dominican Republic)	$3,894
153	Danny Goossens (Istanbul, Turkey)	$3,894
154	Jiachen Gong (Pointe-Claire, QC, Canada)	$3,894
155	Scott Montgomery AKA "r_a_y" (Perth, ON, Canada)	$3,894
156	Jonathan Gamerov (Sydney, Australia)	$3,894
157	Matthew Zola (Williamsburg, VA, USA)	$3,894
158	Bruce Buffer AKA "Buff" (Marina Del Rey, CA, USA)	$3,894
159	Bartlett Jeffrey (El Cajon, CA, USA)	$3,894
160	Deaitra Virden Burks (Amarillo, TX, USA)	$3,894
161	Adam Ross (Dallas, TX, USA)	$3,894
162	Jerome Johnson (Antioch, IL, USA)	$3,894
163	Joseph Montervino (Yardville, PA, USA)	$3,894
164	Matthew Cutler (Del Mar, CA, USA)	$3,894
165	Michael Maher (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$3,894
166	David Farber (Heathrow, FL, USA)	$3,894
167	Allen Bari (West Orange, NJ, USA)	$3,894
168	Christopher Andler (Skoude, Sweden)	$3,894
169	Eric Neal (Burlington, NC, USA)	$3,894
170	Maria Mayrinck AKA "Maridu" (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)	$3,894
171	Tu Ta (Richmond Hill, ON, Canada)	$3,894

Tournament Report

Tournament Highlights:

The Winner

The 2009 World Series of Poker $2,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em championship is Anthony Harb, from Canton, Michigan.

Harb is a 28-year-old professional poker player.

Harb was born in Southfield, MI.

Harb collected $569,254 for first place. He was also awarded his first WSOP gold bracelet. This marked his third time to cash in a WSOP event.

“The gold bracelet means a lot,” Harb said in an interview, conducted moments after his victory. “It means I am here to stay. I made it through this very tough field, against all these pros. I can say that I hung with the best of the best.”

“The money helps out a lot,” Harb said afterward. “It gives me a big bankroll. It means I have the opportunity to play a lot more tournaments.”

Harb stated that he came to the WSOP hoping to satellite into several events. “I am a goal-setter,” he said. “I’m a grinder. I grind it out.”

Harb revealed that he usually comes to the WSOP every year on a one-way ticket, since he rarely knows when he will return home. He stays with a group of friends in a rented house. “I play with a lot of good people and have my friends around me which means I can only get better,” Harb said.

Among Harb’s close friends is Justin Scott, from Redford, MI. Scott won a gold bracelet in 2006.

Harb is primarily an online player. He has numerous wins and cashes in online tournaments. His two previous WSOP in-the-money finishes were 121st in 2008 Event 32 and 436th in 2009 Event 4. Prior to this victory, Harb’s total live career tournament earnings amounted to just $5,991. He earned nearly 100 times that amount with this victory.

Harb had a good-luck charm while at the table. He used a small back turtle as his card protector during the entire tournament. “I have never used a card protector before and (a friend) gave me this turtle. I really like the concept of the turtle. He is chubby and slow. But when he strikes, he bites hard. He does not win a lot of races, but when he comes out of his shell, he’s dangerous.” Harb said he has a name for his turtle – “This is Pedro. Don’t mess with Pedro,” he said.

The Players

The final table was comprised of no former WSOP gold bracelet winners. This was the fifth event of eleven finales held so far this year which guaranteed a first-time winner.

The runner up was Peter Rho, a Korean-born poker pro from Las Vegas, NV. Rho is a graduate of Duke University. He also finished second in the 2009 Aussie Millions Championship. Second place in this event paid $350,019.

The third-place finisher was Jim Geary, from Phoenix, AZ. He is a master gamesman. Geary is a former college chess champion, represented the U.S. at the Scrabble World Championships, and came up just short of winning his first gold bracelet. Third place paid $230,670.

Jim Geary joined Ville Wahlbeck (who accomplished the same feat at an adjacent table on the same day) as the first two players at this year’s WSOP to make two final table appearances. He finished 7th in the $1,500 buy-in Omaha High-Low Split event.

The fourth-place finisher was Adam Adler, from Ft. Lauderdale, FL. He is the CEO of “UltimateCollegeModel.com,” which is the first publicly-traded social networking and modeling company. Fourth place paid $161,768.

The fifth-place finisher was Jonathan “Cosmo” McGowan. This marked his third time to cash in a WSOP. McGowan prefers to play in cash games, calling tournament tournaments a “lottery.” McGowan scratched off $116,833 in prize money.

The sixth-place finisher was Adrian Dresel-Velasquez, from Sacramento, CA. The Nigerian-born attorney once served in the Peace Corps in Guatemala. He was the Assistant Attorney General for the state of Wisconsin in the previous administration.

The seventh-place finisher was Scott Hall, from Fayetteville, AR. He has numerous cashes in online tournaments. Hall says he started playing poker as part of the “Moneymaker boom.” This was his best WSOP finish.

The eighth-place finisher was Michael Dyer, from Houston, TX.

The ninth-place finisher was Brent Sheirbon, from The Dalles, OR. Sheirbon has cashed in each of the past two WSOP Main Events. He came in 392nd in 2007 and 135th in 2008.

Former gold bracelet winners who cashed in this event included -- Perry Friedman, Harry Thomas, “Little Man” Michael Sica, Jason Mercier, Kevin Song, “Minneapolis Jim” Meehan, David “the Dragon” Pham, Tom McEvoy, T.J. Cloutier, and Phil Hellmuth.

Hellmuth’s cash in this event was the 70th of his career. He is ranked first on the all-time cashes list at the WSOP.

T.J. Cloutier’s cash in this event was the 54th of his career. He is ranked fifth on the all-time list.

The defending champion in this event was Matt Keikoan, from Richmond, CA. He entered this tournament, but did not cash.

Odds and Ends

Attendance for this tournament has increased steadily year-by-year. In 2007, this same event attracted 1,531 players. Last year, the number of entries increased to 1,592. This year, 1,646 players entered this tournament, up three percent over last year.

For those who remember the early days of the WSOP, the $569,254 in first-place prize money in this event merits some perspective. Consider that none of none of the first 13 WSOP Main Events reached this grand sum.

The tournament was played over three days. On Day Three, the final table was dealt out on the ESPN stage, also known as the “feature table.” The so-called “secondary” final table, located adjacent to the main stage area, hosts the other finale played on the same day. This year at the WSOP, most days will include two final tables.

This was the third WSOP event of the year to be featured by Bluff Media. Bluff will feature 22 more WSOP events to be held over the next month. The broadcasts usually begin daily at 2 pm PST. Note: On some days, events will begin later due to unforeseen tournament length times on the previous day. Viewers around the world can log on at either www.espn360.com or www.bluffmagazine.com and watch final tables live. For more info on which events are scheduled for broadcast, visit: http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/tourney/tourneydetails.asp?groupID=607

The official WSOP gold bracelet ceremony takes place on the day following the winner’s victory. The ceremony takes place on at center stage of the main tournament room and begins during the break of the noon tournament. The ceremony usually starts around 2:20 pm. The national anthem of the winner’s nation is played. The entire presentation is open to both public and media. Video and photography is permitted by both media and the public.

The Event

The $2,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event attracted 1,646 entrants. This created a prize pool totaling $2,995,720. The top 171 finishers collected prize money.

When final table play began, the chip leader was Michael Dyer. He took a few early hits and exited quickly. The remaining players traded the chip lead a number of times before Anthony Harb emerged as the winner.

The final hand of the night came when Harb was dealt Q-10 against Peter Rho’s 9-8. After the final board showed K-9-8-J-4 Rho moved all-in with two pair. Harb insta-called with the nut-straight and scooped the last pot of the tournament.

Harb revealed that he had very little sleep during this tournament. “The most sleep I had any one night was six hours,” he said. “I’m exhausted.”

The tournament officially began on Thursday, June 4th, at 12:00 noon. The tournament officially ended on Sunday, June 7th, at 12:45 am.

WSOP Statistics

Through the conclusion of Event #12, the 2009 WSOP has attracted 15,644 entries. $28,999,425 in total prize money has been awarded to winners.

Through Event #12, ten Americans have won gold bracelets. One Russian player has won. One Finnish player has won. No other nations have been represented on the gold bracelet stand. So far, this is a far cry from last year, when 16 of the 55 gold bracelet events were won by non-Americans (29 percent). This number increased to 19 of 59 events (32 percent), including the four gold bracelet tournaments played at WSOP-Europe.

All 50 U.S. states have had at least one entrant into this year’s WSOP.

All ten Canadian provinces have had at least one entrant into this year’s WSOP.

Non-Americans (international players) make up about 15 percent of the field, in events played so far. Note that this number is expected to grow higher when the Main Event is played next month, which attracts an even greater number of international visitors. It’s important to remember that last year, one international visitor named Peter Eastgate came to the WSOP and won the world title and $9,152,416.

The Event #11 winner Anthony Harb is to be classified as a pro player. He plays poker full-time (online). Accordingly, the “Pro-Am” gold bracelet scoreboard (excluding Event #1 – Casino Employees) currently reads:

Professionals -- 6 wins

(Thang Luu, Steven Sung, Jason Mercier, Phil Ivey, Rami Boukai, Anthony Harb)

Amateurs -- 3 wins

(Freddie Ellis, Ken Aldridge, Travis Johnson)

Semi-Pros -- 1 win

(Vitaly Lunkin)

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