Poker Tournament Results

40th World Series of Poker 2009

Place	Name	Prize
1	Jeff Carris (Wadsworth, OH, USA)	$313,673
2	Jason Somerville (Stony Brook, NY, USA)	$194,004
3	Andrew Margolis (Chicago, IL, USA)	$124,158
4	Christopher Moore (Sterling, VA, USA)	$82,322
5	Joe Cutler (Bay Shore, NY, USA)	$56,440
6	Brandon Wong (Fresno, CA, USA)	$39,968
7	Eugene Katchalov (Brooklyn, NY, USA)	$29,195
8	Michael McNeil (Wheeling, WV, USA)	$21,981
9	Joshua Tieman (Kildeer, IL, USA)	$17,045
10	Mike Shannon (Atlanta, GA, USA)	$13,609
11	Arkadiy Tsinis (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$5,236
12	Jan Skampa (Czech Republic)	$5,236
13	Marco Liesy AKA "Kill-Bill" (Otterstadt, Germany)	$5,236
14	Jonathan Jaffe (W Springfield, MA, USA)	$5,236
15	Kyle Brossia (Perrysburg, OH, USA)	$5,236
16	Chris Klodnicki (Voorhees, NJ, USA)	$5,236
17	Thomas Fuller (Boulder, CO, USA)	$5,236
18	Rajesh Vohra (Lake Worth, FL, USA)	$5,236
19	Jeffrey Siegal (Daly City, CA, USA)	$5,236
20	Nicholas A Binger (Raleigh, NC, USA)	$5,236
21	Ronnie Chin (Levittown, NY, USA)	$5,236
22	Petr Jelinek (Prague, Czech Republic)	$5,236
23	Brian Saltus (Scottsdale, AZ, USA)	$5,236
24	Gary Tang (Ithaca, NY, USA)	$5,236
25	Gregory Thorson (Miami Beach, FL, USA)	$5,236
26	Peter Jetten (Toronto, ON, Canada)	$5,236
27	Robert Fikac (Sterling, VA, USA)	$5,236
28	Alan Fixel (Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, USA)	$5,236
29	Chad Burum (Novato, CA, USA)	$5,236
30	Franco Brunetti (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$5,236
31	Antoine Amourette (Pontivy, France)	$5,236
32	Srinivasa Yarlagadda (Winter Springs, FL, USA)	$5,236
33	Erika Trenck (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$5,236
34	Theo Tran (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$5,236
35	Nathan Tuthill (Falmouth, VA, USA)	$5,236
36	Tim Kahlmeyer (Heide, Germany)	$5,236
37	Scott Freeman (Oak Park, CA, USA)	$5,236
38	John Racener AKA "Spikey" (Port Richey, FL, USA)	$5,236
39	Matthew Wood (Whitby, ON, Canada)	$5,236
40	Daniel Hirleman (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$5,236
41	Maura Harris (Chesterfield, MO, USA)	$5,236
42	William Vechnak (Raymore, MO, USA)	$5,236
43	Bo Fric (Calgary, AB, Canada)	$5,236
44	Howard Boyd AKA "Terry" (West Chester, OH, USA)	$5,236
45	Matt Woodward (Waterboro, ME, USA)	$5,236
46	Phong Ly (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$5,236
47	Keith Block AKA "Dr. Fells" (Pomona, NY, USA)	$5,236
48	Tony Cousineau (Daytona Beach, FL, USA)	$5,236
49	Shay Scruggs (Bryan, TX, USA)	$5,236
50	Alex Bolotin AKA "Diesel" (Brooklyn, NY, USA)	$5,236
51	Quinn Do (El Monte, CA, USA)	$5,236
52	Annand "Victor" Ramdin (Bronx, NY, USA)	$5,236
53	Barry Shulman (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$5,236
54	Kai Landry (Biloxi, MS, USA)	$5,236
55	Anh Van Nguyen (Toronto, ON, Canada)	$5,236
56	Jody Garaventa (Raleigh, NC, USA)	$5,236
57	Cristiano Blanco AKA "lalanco" (Roma, Italy)	$5,236
58	Jared Hamby AKA "TheWacoKidd" (Henderson, NV, USA)	$5,236
59	Juan Carlos Alvarado AKA "J.C." (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$5,236
60	Dana Forden (Brooks, AB, Canada)	$5,236
61	Steven Fung (Walnut, CA, USA)	$5,236
62	Lupi Massimiliano (Roma, Italy)	$5,236
63	Andrew Badecker (Verona, CT, USA)	$5,236
64	Ping Chan (Markham, ON, Canada)	$5,236
65	Michael Simhai (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$5,236
66	Joel Casper (Chicago, IL, USA)	$5,236
67	Derric Haynie (Lincoln, CA, USA)	$5,236
68	John Michael (Henderson, NV, USA)	$5,236
69	Jared Davis (Philadelphia, PA, USA)	$5,236
70	Joe Beevers (Hendon, UK)	$5,236
71	Zelong Dong (Saint Louis, MO, USA)	$5,236
72	Tam Hang AKA "Tommy" (Lynnwood, WA, USA)	$5,236
73	Steve Gross (Marlboro, NJ, USA)	$5,236
74	Tom Braband (Oshkosh, WI, USA)	$5,236
75	Clark Hamagami (Vancouver, BC, Canada)	$5,236
76	Andrew Scott (Australia)	$5,236
77	Jonas Mackoff (North Vancouver, BC, Canada)	$5,236
78	Matthew Stout AKA "All In At 420" (Galloway, NJ, USA)	$5,236
79	Gary Frierson (Houston, TX, USA)	$5,236
80	Joe Deniro (Studio City, CA, USA)	$5,236
81	James Sowers AKA "Mike" (Charlotte, NC, USA)	$5,236
82	Robert Husa (Chicago, IL, USA)	$5,236
83	William Moorer (Moncks Corner, SC, USA)	$5,236
84	Brent Hanks AKA "B" (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$5,236
85	Sami Banizurali (Salt Lake City, UT, USA)	$5,236
86	Alan Smurfit (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$5,236
87	Mats Gavatin (Lidingo, Sweden)	$5,236
88	Kirill Rabtsov (Moscow, Russia)	$5,236
89	Tyson Marks (Missoula, MT, USA)	$5,236
90	Malte Strothmann (Frankfurt, Germany)	$5,236
91	Sammy Johnson (Beverly Hills, CA, USA)	$5,236
92	Leon Yanovsky (Haifa, Israel)	$5,236
93	Matt Berkey (Leechbug, PA, USA)	$5,236
94	Brent Bibby (San Dimas, CA, USA)	$5,236
95	Jose Velador (Lake Elsinore, CA, USA)	$5,236
96	David Baker (Rochester Hills, MI, USA)	$5,236
97	Dutch Boyd (Columbia, MO, USA)	$5,236
98	Marc Sander (Gran Canarie, Spain)	$5,236
99	John Dolan (Bonita Springs, FL, USA)	$5,236
100	Paul Keesey (Huntington Beach, CA, USA)	$5,236

Tournament Report

Event Headlines – 1. Jeff Carris Wins First WSOP Gold Bracelet 2. WSOP No-Limit Hold’em Shootout Sells Out The Winner · The 2009 World Series of Poker $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Shootout champion is Jeff Carris, from Las Vegas, NV. · Carris is a 23-year old professional poker player. He is originally from Wadsworth, OH. · Carris graduated from the University of Akron (Akron, Ohio). He earned his degree in criminal justice two years ago. · Carris brought along a large cheering section to the final table. His supporters all wore bright orange t-shirts, which were made up the previous night. The shirts were lettered with the words, “Jeff ‘the Wildcat’ Carris,” with a photo of his face plastered on a wildcat. · Carris’ parents flew in on a red-eye flight at the last minute from Ohio to watch their son play at the final table and win his first major victory. · Carris moved to Las Vegas two years ago, just prior to the start of the 2007 WSOP. · Carris collected $313,673 for first place. He was also awarded his first WSOP gold bracelet. · According to the official records, Carris now has 1 win, 1 final table appearance, and 2 in-the-money finishes at the WSOP. · Carris’ only previous cash at the WSOP was a 138th-place finish in last year’s $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event during opening weekend. · Carris currently has $318,232 in WSOP winnings. Winner Quotes (Jeffrey Carris) · On what it means to win a WSOP gold bracelet: “Before the final table, I didn’t even realize I wanted a bracelet. But when you get that far, it’s all you think about.” · On his large cheering section: “I knew it was going to be crazy because they all said they were going to be drunk....They stayed up all night until 10 am making those shirts. I had no idea what was going to be on them.” · On his future plans and pursuing a career in criminal justice: “Not for now. We’ll see.” · On how he started playing poker: “It started in high school and then, there was the big poker boom. That was pretty much it.” The Final Table · The final table contained no former WSOP gold bracelet winners. This was the ninth of 22 finales held so far this year with no former winners -- which guaranteed a first-time champion. · This was the first all-American final table of the 2009 WSOP (other than the Casino Employees Championship). All top ten finishers live in the United States. · The Shootout final table was comprised of ten players, instead of nine in a conventional Hold’em finale. This is necessary because of the Shootout format. · Six of the ten finalists were aged 28 and under. · Three of the ten finalists were from Chicago. · The runner up was Jason Somerville, from Stony Brook, NY. He does not normally play in many tournaments, but has cashed six times at the WSOP. Somerville is a poker instructor at an online site. · The third-place finisher was Andrew Margolis, from Chicago, IL. He is a recreational player who works full time in marketing. · The fourth-place finisher was Chris Moore, from Chicago, IL. Moore holds a number of impressive finishes at other major poker tournaments. But this was his highest WSOP finish yet. · The fifth-place finisher was Joe Cutler, from Bay Shore, NY. · The sixth-place finisher was Brandon Wong, from Fresno, CA. This was his fourth WSOP final table appearance. · The seventh-place finisher was Eugene, Katchalov, from New York, NY. He is originally from the Ukraine and has a number of high cashes in other major event. Katchalov bought his parents a new home after he won a big event back in 2007. · The eighth-place finisher was Michael McNeil, from Wheeling, WV. · The ninth-place finisher was Josh Tieman, from Chicago, IL. · The tenth-place finisher was Mike Shannon, from Atlanta, GA. He is the Vice President of an optical company who got his start as a former Army optician. Other In-the-Money Finishers · Other former WSOP gold bracelet finishers who cashed in this event included – Tony Cousineau, Quinn Do, Jose-Luis Veladro, Peter Smurfit, and Russ “Dutch” Boyd. · The Cousineau cash express keeps rolling along. He cashed for the fourth time at this year’s Series. Cousineau added to his enviable (yet frustrating) record as the player with the most cashes in WSOP history without winning a gold bracelet – which now stands at 38. · The defending champion from 2008 was Jason Young, from Suffern, NY. He did not enter this year’s tournament. Odds and Ends · Attendance for this tournament was the same as last year, with 100 starting tables. Since the tournament format requires players to win a series of single-table shootouts, entries were limited to 1,000 players. The event sold-out the night before the event began. · A “Shootout” means the objective is to win all the chips at a table in order to advance to the next round. On Day One, the tournament began with 999 players competing in what amounted to a ten-handed Sit n' Go. One player from each table (the winner) progressed to play in the second round. On Day Two, the 100 winners were divided into ten tables, each playing a ten-handed Sit n' Go. The ten winners from this round progressed to Day Three and took seats at the final table – which was played ten-handed. Essentially, the winner of the tournament was required to win three consecutive Sit n' Go’s. · A Shootout emphasizes short-handed poker skills. This generally requires competitors to play cards out of the standard range of starting-hand requirements. It also makes post-flop skill paramount to victory. In a sense, each round is a “final table” for all the competitors since the objective is to eliminate opponents. · The tournament was played over three consecutive days. On Day Three, the final table was dealt out on ESPN’s secondary table. The feature table, located nearby, hosted the $10,000 buy-in Deuce-to-Seven Draw Lowball championship finale. 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 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout championship attracted 999 entries. The total prize pool amounted to $1,313,673. The top 100 finishers collected prize money. · At the start of each round, all players started with the same number of chips. So, there was no End of Day One chip leader. · There was no chip leader at the start of the final table (see above). · The final table lasted about eight hours. · When heads-up play began, Carris enjoyed a 3 to 1 chip lead over Jason Somerville. Play lasted about 20 minutes. · The final hand of the tournament came Somerville was short-stacked and pushed all-in. The bet was called by Carris who won the final hand of the tournament with king-high. · The tournament officially began on Wednesday, June 10th, at 12 noon. The tournament officially ended on Friday, June 12th, at 11:15 pm.