Event Headlines -
1. Poker Pro Jeffrey Lisandro Wins Second WSOP Gold Bracelet
2. All in the Family: Uncle-Nephew Combination of Rod Pardey, Sr. and Eric Pardey Make it to the Final Table
The Winner
• The 2009 World Series of Poker $1,500 buy-in Seven-Card Stud championship is Jeffrey Lisandro, from Salerno, Italy.
• Lisandro was born in Perth, Australia. However, he has lived in three different countries -Australia, Italy, and the United States. Lisandro owns a home in Santa Barbara, CA -but still calls Salerno, Italy his home.
• Prior to playing poker full-time, Lisandro was a real estate investor.
• Lisandro's trademark is a black fedora, which he commonly wears at the poker table.
• Lisandro's poker nickname is 'The Iceman,' given to him for his seemingly cold and calculating disposition while playing.
• Lisadro is a top high-stakes cash game player. He also plays in most of the world most prestigious poker tournaments.
• Prior to winning his first gold bracelet in 2007, Lisandro was near the top of everyone's list of 'best players never to have won a gold bracelet. He now owns two.
• With this victory, Lisandro has sealed his reputation as one of the world's top Seven-Card Stud players. He won his previous gold bracelet two years ago playing Seven-Card Stud. He also finished ninth in this year's ($10,000 buy-in) Seven-Card Stud World Championship, which concluded last week.
• Lisandro collected $124,975 for first place.
• According to the official records, Lisandro now has two wins, 10 final table appearances, and 27 in-the-money finishes at the WSOP, with his first cash coming back in 1997. He also holds a WSOP Circuit championship earned at Lake Tahoe in 2005.
• At his gold bracelet ceremony, Lisandro (who has close ties to three different nations -Australia, Italy, and the United States) requested the national anthem of Australia to be played.
The Final Table
• The final table contained three former WSOP gold bracelet winners -Jeffrey Lisandro, John Juanda, and Rod Pardey, Sr.
• The runner up was Rod Pardey, Sr. from Seattle, WA. He is a two-time WSOP gold bracelet winner, with titles coming in 1984 and 1989. Both previous wins came in Seven-Card Stud. Had Pardey won this tournament, he would have joined Artie Cobb for the most wins in this form of poker.
• The third-place finisher was Steven Stencil, a registered nurse from Estacada, OR.
• The fourth-place finisher was Nick Frangos, a.k.a. 'Little Nicky,' from Mays Landing, NJ. Frangos now has a second, third and three fourth-place finishes at the WSOP.
• The fifth-place finisher was four-time WSOP gold bracelet winner John Juanda, from Las Vegas, NV. This marked Juanda's first time to cash since winning last year's WSOP-Europe Main Event championship. Juanda now has 44 career WSOP cashes, which places into a 12th-place tie with Dewey Tomko on the all-time list.
• The sixth-place finisher was Eric Pardey, a poker dealer from Tukwila, WA. Pardey is the nephew of Rod Pardey, Sr. who finished second.
• The seventh-place finisher was Daniel Studer, from Steinhausen, Switzerland. This was his third time to make it to a WSOP final table.
• The eighth-place finisher was Mitch Schock, from Bismarck, ND. He now has eight WSOP cashed and finished 29th in the 2006 WSOP Main Event, which was the largest live poker tournament in history.
• The defending champion from 2008 was Michael Rocco, from Las Vegas, NV. He finished 12th in this event, which was the second-best defending champion performance within the past two years. Thang Luu successfully defended his title this year in the Omaha High-Low Split event, and Rocco came closest among the remaining 71 gold bracelet winners -- since the start of the 2008 WSOP.
Other In-the-Money Finishers
• Other former WSOP gold bracelet winners who cashed in this event included -Gary Benson, Jason Mercier, Chris Reslock, 'Miami John' Cernuto, Thor Hansen, Barbara Enright, Dutch Boyd, and Howard 'Tahoe' Andrew.
• This was two-time gold bracelet winner Howard 'Tahoe' Andrew's first WSOP cash in two years, finishing 33rd. He won the first two events of the 1976 WSOP. Had Andrew won this event, he would have set the record as the player with the longest gap between wins, at 33 years.
• With 'Miami John' Cernuto's 11th place finish in this event he now has 46 cashes, which ranks ninth on the all-time list.
Odds and Ends
• In official WSOP records, the 'final table' of Seven-Card Stud events includes the top eight finishers, since the final table is comprised of just eight players, instead of the customary nine for flop games.
• The tournament was played over three consecutive days. On Day Three, the final table was dealt out on ESPN's secondary stage. The feature table located nearby, hosted the other finale played on the same day. Most days at the WSOP this year will include two final tables.
• 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 public and media. Video and photography is permitted by both media and the public.
The Event
• The $1,500 buy-in Seven-Card Stud event attracted 359 entrants. This created a prize pool totaling $490,035. The top 40 finishers (five tables) collected prize money.
• Seven-Card Stud first debuted at the WSOP back in 1973. Puggy Pearson was the very first stud champion.
• Six players in WSOP history own two gold bracelets in Seven-Card Stud. They are Johnny Moss, Bones Berland, Marty Sigel, Ted Forrest, Mel Judah, Rod Pardey, Sr. and Men 'the Master' Nguyen.
• Artie Cobb is the only player in WSOP history who has won three gold bracelets in Seven-Card Stud. He did not enter this event. Note: Cobb's fourth gold bracelet came in Seven-Card Stud High-Low Split -which more precisely gives him four wins in Stud.
• Other former Seven-Card Stud winners include two poker legends, Stu Ungar and Chip Reese.
• Lisandro earned a wire-to-wire victory at the final table. He maintained a decisive chip lead throughout the nearly five-hour finale.
• The final hand came when Jeffrey Lisandro made a diamond flush on seventh-street against Rod Pardey, Sr., who made a straight.
• The tournament officially began on Friday, June 6th, at 5 pm. The tournament officially ended on Sunday, June 8th, at 7:22 pm.
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