Poker Tournament Results

40th World Series of Poker 2009

Event #28 - WSOP No Limit Hold'em

June 13, 2009 at 12:00 PM
Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino
Tournament Schedule

Buy-In	$1,500
Prize Pool	$3,600,870
Entries	2638
Report Available Live Coverage

Mike Eise

Place	Name	Prize
1	Mike Eise AKA "The Force" (Troy, MO, USA)	$639,331
2	Jeff Chang (New York, NY, USA)	$392,494
3	Adolfo Ramirez (Centennial, CO, USA)	$261,963
4	Jason Potter (Tulsa, OK, USA)	$185,444
5	Barry S Berger (Englewood, NJ, USA)	$139,353
6	Zack Fritz (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$111,266
7	Avi Braz	$93,622
8	Jose Franco (Tulare, CA, USA)	$83,180
9	Mike Zulker	$77,778
10	Joseph Brattole AKA "The Silent Killer" (Parsippany, NJ, USA)	$54,481
11	Mark Silvanovich (North Vancouver, BC, Canada)	$54,481
12	Mikkel Madsen (Copenhagen, Denmark)	$54,481
13	Jake Solis AKA "Jake" (Pleasanton, CA, USA)	$38,133
14	Joe Simmons (Philadelphia, PA, USA)	$38,133
15	Mickey Neuberger	$38,133
16	Tilman Kieschke	$26,682
17	Drew Daniels	$26,682
18	Fred Louie (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$26,682
19	Marco Johnson	$18,688
20	Arthur Evans (Davie, FL, USA)	$18,688
21	Jim Coyle (Plano, TX, USA)	$18,688
22	Mehdi Alaei	$18,688
23	Shoaib Makani (Palo Alto, CA, USA)	$18,688
24	Josef Samanek (Czech Republic)	$18,688
25	Gary Wright (Annandale, VA, USA)	$18,688
26	Fouad El Adli (Rancho Palos Verde, CA, USA)	$18,688
27	Adam Lippert AKA "Lippy" (Brooklyn, NY, USA)	$18,688
28	Lance Tahata (Downey, CA, USA)	$14,835
29	Grace Gurganus (Deerfield Beach, FL, USA)	$14,835
30	David Sands (Bozman, MT, USA)	$14,835
31	Vandung Nguyen (Hoogvliet, Netherlands)	$14,835
32	Magne Bo (Sauda, Norway)	$14,835
33	Cobahuynh Cao (San Jose, CA, USA)	$14,835
34	Richard Johnson (Dacula, GA, USA)	$14,835
35	Robert Meyers (Lawrence, KS, USA)	$14,835
36	James Jewett (Meridan, ID, USA)	$14,835
37	Charles Croft (Chapin, SC, USA)	$11,162
38	Robert Perkins (Dallas, TX, USA)	$11,162
39	Mark Calamusa (Roswell, GA, USA)	$11,162
40	Anthony Consumano (Manassass, VA, USA)	$11,162
41	Seyed-Ali Jafari (Houston, TX, USA)	$11,162
42	Clark Hamagami (Vancouver, BC, Canada)	$11,162
43	Nicholas Cohen (London, UK)	$11,162
44	Brian Patrick (Garden Grove, CA, USA)	$11,162
45	Stanley Weiss (Nashville, TN, USA)	$11,162
46	Mats Gavatin (Lidingo, Sweden)	$8,822
47	Jie Shi (Burke, VA, USA)	$8,822
48	Mark Nagle (Brooklyn, OH, USA)	$8,822
49	Peter Clarke (Oakhurst, CA, USA)	$8,822
50	John Calligeros (Calabasas, CA, USA)	$8,822
51	Jeffrey Cole (Manahawkin, NJ, USA)	$8,822
52	Michael Cardosa (San Jose, CA, USA)	$8,822
53	Robert Willems (Sahuarita, AZ, USA)	$8,822
54	Nick "Chairman" Mao (Long Beach, CA, USA)	$8,822
55	Anthony Welsh (Carlsbad, CA, USA)	$7,237
56	Christian de Leon Angeles AKA "Grillo" (Mexico City, Mexico)	$7,237
57	Liv Boeree (East Molesy, UK)	$7,237
58	David Carey (Marion, IA, USA)	$7,237
59	Stephen Cain (Palmetto Bay, FL, USA)	$7,237
60	David Lewis (Beverly Hills, CA, USA)	$7,237
61	Dylan Bircheff (Sante Fe, NM, USA)	$7,237
62	Eric Adelstein (Chicago, IL, USA)	$7,237
63	Zsolt Cserhati (Budapest, Hungary)	$7,237
64	Jakob Karlsson (Sweden)	$6,121
65	Darren Miller (Grahamstown, South Africa)	$6,121
66	Kai Danilo Paulsen AKA "KingKai84" (Trondheim, Norway)	$6,121
67	Adam Croffut (Shoreline, WA, USA)	$6,121
68	Joshua Weiss (La Jolla, CA, USA)	$6,121
69	Champie Douglas (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$6,121
70	Alexandre Gauron (Ste. Therese, QC, Canada)	$6,121
71	Jon Jarvinen (Hanko, Finland)	$6,121
72	Matthew Butler (Washington, DC, USA)	$6,121
73	Doris Wagner (Plano, TX, USA)	$5,293
74	Philipp Mohr (Hamburg, Germany)	$5,293
75	David Levi (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$5,293
76	Samuel Iola (Redlands, CA, USA)	$5,293
77	Stuart Elkin (Delray Beach, FL, USA)	$5,293
78	Mark Rubin (Avondale, AZ, USA)	$5,293
79	Rodrigo Portaleoni (Santos, Brazil)	$5,293
80	Corey Burbick (Davie, FL, USA)	$5,293
81	Dana Forden (Brooks, AB, Canada)	$5,293
82	Pierre Neuville AKA "COLUMBO" (Knokke-Heist, Belgium)	$4,573
83	Felix Mok (New York, NY, USA)	$4,573
84	Ali Ayoub (Mississauga, ON, Canada)	$4,573
85	Christopher Miller (La Selva Beach, CA, USA)	$4,573
86	Ari Rabin-Havt (Washington, DC, USA)	$4,573
87	Chris Marr (Spokane, WA, USA)	$4,573
88	Randy Rodgers (Reno, NV, USA)	$4,573
89	Adam Hudson (Highland Ranch, CO, USA)	$4,573
90	Andrew Teng AKA "Golfpro699" (London, UK)	$4,573
91	Kim Frederiksen (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$3,996
92	Priyan Demel (London, UK)	$3,996
93	Grant Woods (Lakeside, CA, USA)	$3,996
94	Nick Glow (Santa Cruz, CA, USA)	$3,996
95	Michael Lesle (Wildomar/Lake Elsinore, CA, USA)	$3,996
96	Carlo Maltese (St. Catherines, ON, Canada)	$3,996
97	Jackson Baber (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$3,996
98	Frederic Winter (La Grange, IL, USA)	$3,996
99	Romuald Pycior (Henderson, NV, USA)	$3,996
100	Philip Lowery (Atlanta, GA, USA)	$3,528
101	Richard Monroe (Sedalia, CO, USA)	$3,528
102	Georgios Antoniou (Glendale, AZ, USA)	$3,528
103	Anthony Venturini (Shelby Township, MI, USA)	$3,528
104	Peng Cheng (Campbell, CA, USA)	$3,528
105	David Gutfreund (Chicago, IL, USA)	$3,528
106	Arthur Susi (Columbus, OH, USA)	$3,528
107	Michael Gambony (Phoenix, AZ, USA)	$3,528
108	Stanley Tavanese (Oldsmar, FL, USA)	$3,528
109	Eva Farha (Houston, TX, USA)	$3,528
110	Adam Vinson (London, UK)	$3,528
111	Derek Tomko (Winter Haven, FL, USA)	$3,528
112	Michael Glasser (Boca Raton, FL, USA)	$3,528
113	Slimane Mameche (Duingt, France)	$3,528
114	Dean Nyberg (Woodcroft/Adelaide, Australia)	$3,528
115	Delfo Chialva (Carmagnola, Italy)	$3,528
116	Rodney Brown (Brea, CA, USA)	$3,528
117	Marcello Del Grosso (Toronto, ON, Canada)	$3,528
118	Neil Channing AKA "Bad Beat" (Maida Vale, London, UK)	$3,528
119	Adam Darvin (Colorado Springs, CO, USA)	$3,528
120	R M (Anytown, Unknown)	$3,528
121	Keith Hodos (Canfield, IL, USA)	$3,528
122	Kelly Kim (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$3,528
123	Matthew Wasick (Albion, MI, USA)	$3,528
124	Stephan Edgar (Missoula, MT, USA)	$3,528
125	Asa Smith (Hererefordshire, UK)	$3,528
126	Huy Pham (Denver, CO, USA)	$3,528
127	Chulwoo Park (Ulsan, South Korea)	$3,528
128	Mark Ketteringham (Santa Monica, CA, USA)	$3,528
129	Antonio Karman (Budapest, Hungary)	$3,528
130	Tomi Aalto (Helsinki, Finland)	$3,528
131	Joseph Just (Crozet, VA, USA)	$3,528
132	Bryce Ebeling (Menifee, CA, USA)	$3,528
133	Michael Bellan (Seattle, WA, USA)	$3,528
134	William Blake (Yorba Linda, CA, USA)	$3,528
135	Steve Balezentes (Santa Maria, CA, USA)	$3,528
136	David Schulman (Scarborough, NY, USA)	$3,204
137	Ronald Cross (Eastlake, OH, USA)	$3,204
138	Todd Terry (Hoboken, NJ, USA)	$3,204
139	Peter Lockwood (Arlington, TX, USA)	$3,204
140	Roman Paradiso (Downey, CA, USA)	$3,204
141	Kyle Hegeman (Long Island, NY, USA)	$3,204
142	Monique Fisher (Victorville, CA, USA)	$3,204
143	Leonid Vernik (Toronto, ON, Canada)	$3,204
144	Hanno Offen (Ahrensburg, Germany)	$3,204
145	Ernesto Pena (Corona, CA, USA)	$3,204
146	Michael Miller (Ledyard, CT, USA)	$3,204
147	Jonathan Markham (Elkhorn, WI, USA)	$3,204
148	Roberto Durante (Barrie, ON, Canada)	$3,204
149	Rafael Martinez (Katy, TX, USA)	$3,204
150	Evan Wrenn AKA "Berk" (Wesley Chapel, FL, USA)	$3,204
151	Edwin Winfield (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$3,204
152	Daryl Yarosh (Green Pond, NJ, USA)	$3,204
153	Curtis Rutt (Belwood, ON, Canada)	$3,204
154	Donald Belanger (Welland, ON, Canada)	$3,204
155	Joseph Ryan (Troy, NY, USA)	$3,204
156	Chad Wiedenhoeft (Whitewater, WI, USA)	$3,204
157	Thomas Fuller (Boulder, CO, USA)	$3,204
158	Claudio Baptista (Santa Carina, Brazil)	$3,204
159	Peter Turmezey (Budapest, Hungary)	$3,204
160	Howard Boyd AKA "Terry" (West Chester, OH, USA)	$3,204
161	Luke Vrabel (West Hartford, CT, USA)	$3,204
162	Jesper Petersen (Aarhus, Denmark)	$3,204
163	Norton Balber (St Louis, MO, USA)	$3,204
164	Elizabeth Montizanti (Hastings, NE, USA)	$3,204
165	Randall Martinat (Garden City, ID, USA)	$3,204
166	Neil Blatner (Visalia, CA, USA)	$3,204
167	Rayan Nathan (Beaumont, TX, USA)	$3,204
168	Brian Pajer (Costa Mesa, CA, USA)	$3,204
169	Dang Hai (Evry, France)	$3,204
170	Jonathan Evans (Houston, TX, USA)	$3,204
171	Kate Nguyen (Federal Way, WA, USA)	$3,204
172	Marc Wolpert (Marietta, GA, USA)	$3,204
173	Stian Stabell (Hesseng, Norway)	$3,204
174	Tristram Coffin AKA "TC" (Ithaca, NY, USA)	$3,204
175	Daniel Corbin (Toronto, ON, Canada)	$3,204
176	Siripol Tung (West Covina, CA, USA)	$3,204
177	Marcus Speigel (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$3,204
178	Chris Platt (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$3,204
179	Jamie McCarrel (Lafayette, CA, USA)	$3,204
180	Richard Novak (Fairfax, IA, USA)	$3,204
181	James Petrillo (South Easton, MA, USA)	$2,988
182	Mirko Amadei (Fidenza, Italy)	$2,988
183	Armond Aghakhani (Glendale, CA, USA)	$2,988
184	Kenneth Kubey (Sunnyvale, CA, USA)	$2,988
185	Chester Adamson (Cape Coral, FL, USA)	$2,988
186	Stephen Foutty (Santa Rosa, CA, USA)	$2,988
187	Robert Orf (Wentzville, MO, USA)	$2,988
188	Charles Sizemore (San Francisco, CA, USA)	$2,988
189	joshua Bylund (Muskegon, MI, USA)	$2,988
190	Jasper Wetemans AKA "Aasisdebaas" (Amsterdam, Netherlands)	$2,988
191	Justin Hoffman (Alpharetta, GA, USA)	$2,988
192	Jessica Hanna (Beaumont, TX, USA)	$2,988
193	Gary Futterman (Saugus, CA, USA)	$2,988
194	Leo Labbe (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$2,988
195	Timothy Malson (Durham, OK, USA)	$2,988
196	Salim Zakhem (Houston, TX, USA)	$2,988
197	Julien Brecard (Paris, France)	$2,988
198	John Froehlich (Bellmore, NY, USA)	$2,988
199	Arman Adjemian (Glendale, CA, USA)	$2,988
200	Anthony Nardi (Madison, WI, USA)	$2,988
201	Dean Gilford (Van Nuys, CA, USA)	$2,988
202	John Pekmezaris (Houston, TX, USA)	$2,988
203	Yongli Jin (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$2,988
204	Laurent Olive (Paris, France)	$2,988
205	Nils Bardsley (Denver, CO, USA)	$2,988
206	Christopher Martin (New York, NY, USA)	$2,988
207	Matt Molinari (New York, NY, USA)	$2,988
208	Eduard Kapitonov (Moscow, Russia)	$2,988
209	Timothy Stearns (Burbank, CA, USA)	$2,988
210	Michael Pfau (Indianapolis, IN, USA)	$2,988
211	Tarik Bouregba (Bagneux, France)	$2,988
212	Hien Truong (Garden Grove, CA, USA)	$2,988
213	Thomas Newman (Yorktown Heights, NY, USA)	$2,988
214	George Rocchi (Park City, UT, USA)	$2,988
215	Michael Emick (Lamar, CO, USA)	$2,988
216	Herbert Sims (Leawood, KS, USA)	$2,988
217	Robert Delvo (Winnipeg, MB, Canada)	$2,988
218	Daniel McGuire (Chicago, IL, USA)	$2,988
219	Darrell Lackey (Sellersburg, IN, USA)	$2,988
220	Jeffrey Reiter (Leclaire, IA, USA)	$2,988
221	Ronnie Sharp (Knoxville, IA, USA)	$2,988
222	Shaheen Ladhani (Houston, TX, USA)	$2,988
223	John Dolan (Bonita Springs, FL, USA)	$2,988
224	Michael Crowe AKA "Mike" (Elizabethtown, KY, USA)	$2,988
225	Melissa Bucci (Pembroke Pines, FL, USA)	$2,988
226	Jeffrey Yarchever (Newport Coast, CA, USA)	$2,808
227	Dennis Loo (Cambridge, MA, USA)	$2,808
228	Dennis Clough (Wakefield, England, UK)	$2,808
229	Stephen Bredfeldt (Nashville, TN, USA)	$2,988
230	David Singh (Winter Garden, FL, USA)	$2,808
231	Robert Armour (Flagstaff, AZ, USA)	$2,988
232	Todd Wenzel (Corona, CA, USA)	$2,808
233	Anthony Lee (Honolulu, HI, USA)	$2,808
234	Pascal Lefrancois (Rosemere, QC, Canada)	$2,808
235	Todd Lundwall (Scottsdale, AZ, USA)	$2,808
236	Bernie Chir (Riverside, CA, USA)	$2,808
237	Lawrence Park (Wilmington, CA, USA)	$2,808
238	Shawn Nguyen AKA "Nguyen Nguyen" (Simi Valley, CA, USA)	$2,808
239	James Flynn (New York, NY, USA)	$2,808
240	Vineet Pahuja AKA "Vinny" (New York, NY, USA)	$2,808
241	Irving Chen (San Francisco, CA, USA)	$2,808
242	Thang Nguyen (Atlanta, GA, USA)	$2,808
243	John Cavanaugh (Berlin, CT, USA)	$2,808
244	Max Norling (Mantorp, Sweden)	$2,808
245	Domenic Durante (Kirkland, QC, Canada)	$2,808
246	Ben Palmer AKA "Withered" (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$2,808
247	Tony Ververis (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$2,808
248	Ivan Demidov (Moscow, Russia)	$2,808
249	Eric Mazza (Beaucaire, France)	$2,808
250	William Carey (Clearwater, FL, USA)	$2,808
251	Shannon Pratt (Salem, OR)	$2,808
252	Curt Raines (Encino, CA, USA)	$2,808
253	Andrew Hansen (Anchorage, AK, USA)	$2,808
254	Raymond Muzyka (Edmonton, AB, Canada)	$2,808
255	Mark Mitzel (Fresno, CA, USA)	$2,808
256	James Farley (Sanderson, FL, USA)	$2,808
257	Alexey Yuzikov (Volgodonsk, Russia)	$2,808
258	Steven Carp (North Miami Beach, FL, USA)	$2,808
259	Josh Van Duyn (San Diego, CA, USA)	$2,808
260	Cesar Perez (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, USA)	$2,808
261	Dan Hicks (Tampa, FL, USA)	$2,808
262	Craig Bradley (Beachwoors, OH, USA)	$2,808
263	Walter Neil (Palm Desert, CA, USA)	$2,808
264	Thor Hansen (El Segundo, CA, USA)	$2,808
265	David Landy (Inglewood, CO, USA)	$2,808
266	Mallor Ross (New York, NY, USA)	$2,808
267	David Lucchesi (Walnut Creek, CA, USA)	$2,808
268	Mark Brewster (Caledonia, NY, USA)	$2,808
269	Jonathan Stamm (Glenview, IL, USA)	$2,808
270	Grayson Ramage (Red Hook, NY, USA)	$2,808

Tournament Report

Tournament Highlights:

Event Headlines –

1. Mike “the Force” Eise Wins First WSOP Gold Bracelet

2. St. Louis-Area Pipefitter Wins $639,331 First Prize

3. 2009 WSOP Continues to Roll -- $1,500 Buy-In No-Limit Hold’em Event Draws another Big Crowd

The Winner --

The 2009 World Series of Poker $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em champion is Mike Eise, from Troy, MO.

Eise is known as “the Force.” A group of poker friends gave him the nickname because he is one of the toughest players in local poker games.

Eise lives in the St. Louis area. He is married to wife Katie. The couple has three daughters.

Eise is pronounced “ice.”

Eise is a 30-year-old pipefitter. He is a proud member of Local 562, of the Plumbers and Pipefitters Union.

Eise was born in St. Charles, MO.

This was Eise’s first time to visit Las Vegas.

Eise came to this year’s WSOP with a group of friends. They are members of a St. Louis-area poker club called “Wanna’ Be Poker Series.” Membership in the club requires regular dues to be paid. Every year, the club holds a few small tournaments to determine which members get to fly to Las Vegas and play in the WSOP. Four members of the club entered this tournament – one of them being Mike Eise.

Eise was cheered to victory by his wife, sister, brother-in-law and several friends.

Eise plays poker occasionally with Dennis Phillips, who is also from the St. Louis area. Phillips finished third in last year’s WSOP Main Event. The two regularly play in the same cash games.

Eise collected $639,331 for first place. He was also awarded his first WSOP gold bracelet.

Eise has no previous finishes at the WSOP.

According to the official records, Eise now has 1 win, 1 final table appearance, and 1 in-the-money finishes at the WSOP.

Eise currently has $639,331 in WSOP winnings.

Eise had previously won numerous daily poker tournaments held at casinos located in the St. Louis area. He plays poker mostly at Ameristar Casino and Harrah’s. His regular poker game is $1-3 blind No-Limit Hold’em and some $5-10 blind No-Limit Hold’em.

Eise has not had time to consider the full impact of his victory and $639,331 in winnings. However, he stated that he plans to continue working and remain very much as he was before the victory.

Winner Quotes (Mike “the Force” Eise) --

On how it feels to win a WSOP gold bracelet: “It’s surreal. It’s something I always wanted to win.”

On how he got into this tournament: “I always wanted to come to Las Vegas and play in the World Series. I had one chance to get into this event, and here I am. I won the bracelet.”

On how his goals changed as he went deeper in the tournament: “I had benchmarks. I just wanted to reach benchmarks (last the first day, making the money, etc.) and as I reached them I made a new benchmark and then I reached it again. With 2,600 people (who entered) you can’t expect first. But you hope for it.”

On his poker club in St. Louis: “Its called the ‘Wanna’ Be Poker Series.’ I guess it’s the ‘To Be Poker Series” now, since I’m not a wanna’ be anymore.”

On what his plans and goals were before his WSOP victory: “This is the only event I played. This is the only event I wanted to play. I wanted to concentrate on this. So, I didn’t play any other ones. I figure ‘one event = one win’ really means something.”

On what he plans to do with the money: “I have kids to take care of, and health insurance, and I plan to keep going at what I’m doing. But my three little girls are going to be excited because I’m going to take them to Disneyland.”

On if the win and $639,331 in prize money is life changing: “Definitely.”

The Final Table --

The final table contained no former WSOP gold bracelet winners. This was the tenth of 29 finales held so far this year with no former winners -- which guaranteed a first-time champion.

The runner up was Jeff Chang, from New York, NY. This was his first time ever to cash at the WSOP. Chang works as a private equity trader.

The third-place finisher was Rico Ramirez, from Centennial, CO. He is a retired former police officer. Ramirez also served in the U.S. Air Force. This was Ramirez best tournament performance ever and marked his first time to cash at the WSOP.

The fourth-place finisher was Jason Potter, from Tulsa, OK. He won a WSOP Circuit event held at Caesars Indiana last year. Potter, a recent graduate of Oklahoma State University, was cheered on by the loudest crowd of supporters yet at this year’s WSOP. Every hand he played, the crowd mimicked the fortunes of their hero. This provided a great amount of final table excitement and drama since rival Mike Eise had his own vocal group of supporters.

The fifth-place finisher was Barry Berger, from Englewood, NJ. He is a lawyer who has previous tournament wins and cashes at Foxwoods, and elsewhere.

The sixth-place finisher was Zach Fritz, from Denver, CO. He works as an energy trader. This was Fritz’ sixth time to cash at the WSOP and marked his highest finish ever.

The seventh-place finisher was Avi Braz, from Los Angeles, CA. He is an attorney who has a number of high finishes at the Hustler Casino in Southern California.

The eighth-place finisher was Jose-Luis Franco, who is originally from Mexico and now lives in Santa Ana, CA.

The ninth-place finisher was Mike Zulker, from Scottsdale, AZ. He has now cashed in 2 of the 3 WSOP events he has entered.

In-the-Money Finishers --
Former WSOP gold bracelet finishers who cashed in this event included – Thor Hansen (264th).

Hansen remains tied for 15th place on the all-time WSOP cashes list with 43.

Given 270 players received payouts, this was the lowest number of former gold bracelet winners ever to cash in a field of comparable size. A majority of the players who cashed finished in the money for the first time at the WSOP.

Odds and Ends --

This is the third of seven $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em tournaments on the 2009 WSOP schedule. Aside from the Main Event, this is the most popular game and entry/buy-in level on the schedule, which mandates multiple tournaments being offered.

The previous two $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em events held this year attracted 2,791 and 2,506 players respectively. Attendance this year is consistent with previous years when the earlier events tend to attract bigger fields, followed by a slight decline at the WSOP enters its third and fourth week.

Several WSOP tournaments are being broadcast online this year. Fifteen more events are scheduled, which are split between ESPN 360 and Bluff Media.

For a complete broadcast schedule of all events, go to:

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 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 event attracted 2,638 entries. The total prize pool amounted to $3,600,870. The top 270 finishers collected prize money.

The tournament was played over three consecutive days.

The biggest two hands of the night took place when Rico Ramirez lost two devastatingly tough hands. First, he had Mike Eise covered and all-in with A-8 versus his opponent’s A-9. That turned out to be a huge hand which tipped the balance in Eise’s favor. Eise seized the chip lead on that hand when he managed to double up. A few minutes later, Ramirez lost a brutal hand to Eise once again, when he flopped trip jacks. Eise managed to make a full house when he caught a nine on the turn to match his pocket nines. One could argue that critical hand settled the tournament – eliminating Ramirez while at the same time giving Eise a sizable chip lead going into heads-up play.

When heads-up play began, Mike Eise held more than an 8 to 1 chip leader over Jeff Chang.

The final hand of the tournament came when Chang was dealt A-J. Eise had 8-7. The flop did not help either player when it showed 6-3-3. Eise could afford to push a bluff and moved all-in with essentially no hand. Chang made a tough (and correct) call holding A-J. The ace-high was in the lead. But a seven on the turn gave Eise a pair, which held up. Eise won, with Chang ending up in second place.

The tournament officially began on Saturday, June 13th, at 5 pm. The tournament officially ended on Tuesday, June 16th, at 12:20 am.

WSOP Statistics –

With the conclusion of this event, the 2009 WSOP has reached the midway point in terms of number of events. This is the 29th of 57 gold bracelet events on the schedule. However, the WSOP is no where near the halfway point in terms of number of days. This is 20th of 46 days with tournament play scheduled, not counting WSOP-Europe or the November Nine.

Through the conclusion of Event #29, the 2009 WSOP has attracted 29,217 entries. $57,532,883 in total prize money has been awarded to winners.

Through Event #29 – the nationalities of winners reads as follows:

United States – 21

United Kingdom – 2

Russian Federation – 1

Finland – 1

Australia – 1

Sweden – 1

Canada – 1

Note: Last year 19 of the 59 gold bracelet events were won by non-Americans (32 percent).

Among American winners, the follow states have produced champions this year:

4 – Nevada

3 – California

1 – Florida

1 – New York

1 – Texas

1 -- Missouri

Event #28 winner Mike Eise is to be classified as an amatuer poker player. Accordingly, the “Pro-Am” gold bracelet scoreboard (excluding Event #1 – Casino Employees) currently reads:

Professionals -- 18 wins

(Thang Luu, Steven Sung, Jason Mercier, Phil Ivey-1, Rami Boukai, Anthony Harb, Ville Wahlbeck, Keven Stammen, Brock Parker-1, Jeffrey Lisandro, Daniel Alaei, Brock Parker-2, John-Paul Kelly, Jeff Carris, Nick Schulman, Phil Ivey-2, Pete Vilandos, Tomas Alenius, Roland de Wolfe)

Amateurs -- 5 wins

(Freddie Ellis, Ken Aldridge, Travis Johnson, Zac Fellows, Mike Eise)

Semi-Pros -- 3 wins

(Vitaly Lunkin, Brian Lemke, Lisa Hamilton)

Eight of the 28 winners this year (30 percent) were previous gold bracelet winners. There have been two double winners in 2009 -- Brock Parker and Phil Ivey.

Through the conclusion of Event 27, the WSOP “Player of the Year” standings reads as follows (with point totals):

250 – Ville Wahlbeck

220 – Brock Parker

220 – Phil Ivey

175 – Pete “the Greek” Vilandos

160 – Steve Sung

155 – Daniel Negreanu

150 – Jeffrey Lisandro

147 – Jason Mercier

145 – Roland de Wolfe

135 – Scott Clements

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