Poker Tournament Results

40th World Series of Poker 2009

Event #39 - WSOP No Limit Hold'em

June 20, 2009 at 12:00 PM
Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino
Tournament Schedule

Buy-In	$1,500
Prize Pool	$3,705,974
Entries	2715
Report Available Live Coverage

Ray Foley

Place	Name	Prize
1	Ray Foley (Northville, MI, USA)	$657,969
2	Brandon Cantu (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$403,951
3	Wei Mu (Pearl City, HI, USA)	$269,609
4	Alex Jacob (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$190,857
5	Tyler Spalding (New Orleans, NE, USA)	$143,421
6	Jonathan Markham (Elkhorn, WI, USA)	$114,514
7	Chairud Vangchailued (Chandler, AZ, USA)	$96,355
8	Richard Lutes (Henderson, NV, USA)	$85,608
9	Patrick O'Connor (Dublin, Ireland)	$80,049
10	Matt Livingston (North Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$56,071
11	Kelvin Crawford AKA "Kelly" (Mattoon, IL, USA)	$56,071
12	Shawn Glines (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$56,071
13	Raymond Davis AKA "The Amazing" (Bell, CA, USA)	$39,246
14	Donald Nicholson (Oak Ridge, TN, USA)	$39,246
15	Zac Humphrey (Bellingham, WA, USA)	$39,246
16	Michael Iacovone (Cleveland, OH, USA)	$27,461
17	Nicholas Derke (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$27,461
18	John Woolen (Temecula, CA, USA)	$27,461
25	Steven Mohs (Savage, MN, USA)	$19,234
26	Jim Mitchell (Newport Beach, CA, USA)	$19,234
27	Johannes Korberhillejan (Dortmund, Germany)	$19,234
28	Kevin MacPhee AKA "ImaLuckSac" (Coeur’D Alene, ID, USA)	$15,268
29	Javier Corzo (Van Nuys, CA, USA)	$15,268
30	Benjamin Kang (Berlin/Koln, Germany)	$15,268
31	Lucas Priour (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$15,268
32	Douglas Luther (Greenwood Village, CO, USA)	$15,268
33	Tristan Wade AKA "Cre8ive" (Boynton Beach, FL, USA)	$15,268
34	Chris Crockett AKA "Crockett" (Costa Mesa, CA, USA)	$15,268
35	Thomas Antonucci AKA "Nooch" (Germantown, MD, USA)	$15,268
36	Magnus Persson (Gothenburg, Sweden)	$15,268
37	Mary Jones (Henderson, NV, USA)	$11,488
38	Kwan Leung (Houston, TX, USA)	$11,488
39	Venancio Torres (Mount Airy, NC, USA)	$11,488
40	Dmitry Boshenyatov (Murmansk, Russia)	$11,488
41	Mario Delis (Bakersfield, CA, USA)	$11,488
42	Ray Bonavida (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$11,488
43	Minor Scott AKA "Sam" (Denver, CO, USA)	$11,488
44	Fred Jensen (Copenhagen, Denmark)	$11,488
45	Zak Gilbert (Reno, NV, USA)	$11,488
46	Marc Suckman (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$9,079
47	Torrey Korsog (Maumee, OH, USA)	$9,079
48	Darius Campo (Sherman Oaks, CA, USA)	$9,079
49	Jon Peachey AKA "Alex" (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$9,079
50	Sven Wedekin (Grand Junction, CO, USA)	$9,079
51	Tom McCormick AKA "The Shamrock Kid" (Fargo, ND, USA)	$9,079
52	Cartigny Franck (Lomme, France)	$9,079
53	Kevin Dwyer (Vacaville, CA, USA)	$9,079
54	John Ray (Bullard, TX, USA)	$9,079
55	Sergey Pomerantsev (Moscow, Russia)	$7,449
56	Thomas Coan (Bohemia, NY, USA)	$7,449
57	Tommy Le (Tustin, CA, USA)	$7,449
58	Desmond Portano (Brooklyn, NY, USA)	$7,449
59	Lillian Allen (Oakland, CA, USA)	$7,449
60	Richard Walker (Austin, TX, USA)	$7,449
61	Sebastian Bauer (Bickenbach, Switzerland)	$7,449
62	Craig Young	$7,449
63	Lester Lenart (Rohnert Park, CA, USA)	$7,449
64	Eugene Tito AKA "The Machine" (Glendale, CA, USA)	$6,300
65	Hubert Evans (Middle River, MD, USA)	$6,300
66	Paul Stanechewski (Lutz, FL, USA)	$6,300
67	Robert F Linden (Henderson, NV, USA)	$6,300
68	Uwe Bamminger	$6,300
69	Sean Peterson (Rogers, AK, USA)	$6,300
70	Ben van Klink (Frisco, TX, USA)	$6,300
71	John Repetti (Henderson, NV, USA)	$6,300
72	Adam Levy AKA "Roothlus" (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$6,300
73	Amanda Baker AKA "Mandy" (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$5,447
74	Sean Paul Seatelli (Bastia, France)	$5,447
75	David A Fox AKA "Dr. Fox" (Coram, NY, USA)	$5,447
76	Tommy Grimes (Loves Park, IL, USA)	$5,447
77	Napoleon Ta (Boulder, CO, USA)	$5,447
78	Julie Farkas (Albuquerque, NM, USA)	$5,447
79	Ronald Verstappen (Incline Village, NV, USA)	$5,447
80	Vitor Coelho (Tampa, FL, USA)	$5,447
81	Maarten Meijer (Ede, Netherlands)	$5,447
82	Samuel Woo (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$4,706
83	Michael Pitzulo (Poland, OH, USA)	$4,706
84	Jerliyn Totani (Chicago, IL, USA)	$4,706
85	Brett Wiesner (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$4,706
86	Maikel Leeuwen	$4,706
87	Lauchlin McKinnon (Donahue, IA, USA)	$4,706
88	Sebastien Roy (Quebec, ON, Canada)	$4,706
89	Anthony Bustamante (Sayville, NY, USA)	$4,706
90	Shane Demler (Newton, UT, USA)	$4,706
91	David Tighe (Birmingham, England, UK)	$4,113
92	Craig O'Neil (Saltburn, UK)	$4,113
93	Jody Howe (Delta, BC, Canada)	$4,113
94	Thithi Tran (Cerritos, CA, USA)	$4,113
95	Kambic Zamani	$4,113
96	Mark Newhouse AKA "Truffle Shuffle" (Chapel Hill, NC, USA)	$4,113
97	Matthias Neu (Weilbach, Germany)	$4,113
98	Matt Calhoun (Phoenix, AZ, USA)	$4,113
99	Albert Iversen (London, UK)	$4,113
100	Frank Rusnak (Chicago, IL, USA)	$3,631
101	Joshua Engerdahl (Abbotsford, BC, Canada)	$3,631
102	Zachary Clark (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$3,631
103	Daniel Pinto (Toronto, ON, Canada)	$3,631
104	Robert McLaughlin AKA "Jeremy" (Washington, DC, USA)	$3,631
105	Jan Christoph Von Halle AKA "50outs" (Hamburg, Germany)	$3,631
106	Scott Seiber (Medina, WA, USA)	$3,631
107	Jesse Correa (Yucaipa, CA, USA)	$3,631
108	Luke Pauls (Overland Park, KS, USA)	$3,631
109	Brent Vail (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$3,631
110	Luis Sanchez (La Habra, CA, USA)	$3,631
111	Matthew Berto (Vallejo, CA, USA)	$3,631
112	Keith Greer (Fort Worth, TX, USA)	$3,631
113	Darryll Fish AKA "Fish" (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$3,631
114	Kevin Fassino (Roughand Ready, CA, USA)	$3,631
115	Chang Luo (Seattle, WA, USA)	$3,631
116	Farzad Etemadi (Torrance, CA, USA)	$3,631
117	Chandrasekhar Billavara (San Francisco, CA, USA)	$3,631
118	Kelly Armstrong (Dickinson, ND, USA)	$3,631
119	Bryan Carlin (Parma, OH, USA)	$3,631
120	Audley Harrison (Westlake Village, CA, USA)	$3,631
121	Tai Phan (Chandler, AZ, USA)	$3,631
122	David Grove (Stow, OH, USA)	$3,631
123	Tracey Nguyen (Henderson, NV, USA)	$3,631
124	Tommy Vinas (Houston, TX, USA)	$3,631
125	John Nixon (Toronto, ON, Canada)	$3,631
126	Andreas Ramadanis (Denver, CO, USA)	$3,631
127	William Brewin (Bristol, UK)	$3,631
128	Steven Davis (Salt Lake City, UT, USA)	$3,631
129	Michael Carroll (Carson, CA, USA)	$3,631
130	Shan Jing AKA "PacMan" (Arcadia, CA, USA)	$3,631
131	Claus Vallo (Vanlose, Denmark)	$3,631
132	Arkadiy Tsinis (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$3,631
133	Oliver Bosch AKA "ELEFANT88" (Lustenau, Austria)	$3,631
134	William Pljewski (San Francisco, CA, USA)	$3,631
135	Jeff Williams (Dunwoody, GA, USA)	$3,631
136	Micah Raskin (Old Westbury, NY, USA)	$3,298
137	Robert Johnson (Rockford, IL, USA)	$3,298
138	Thomas Johnston (Garland, TX, USA)	$3,298
139	Joseph Loguidice (Atlantic City, NJ, USA)	$3,298
140	Paul Patton (Ballinger, TX, USA)	$3,298
141	John Matteson (Edmond, OK, USA)	$3,298
142	Brian Barnes (Reno, NV, USA)	$3,298
143	Katja Svendsen (Fr. Stad, Denmark)	$3,298
144	Regis Burlot (Ploufragan, France)	$3,298
145	Zachary King AKA "Carter" (Marietta, GA, USA)	$3,298
146	Antonio Chavez (Northridge, CA, USA)	$3,298
147	Greg Arzt (Warsaw, KY, USA)	$3,298
148	Ramanan Thiagarajah (Marlton, NJ, USA)	$3,298
149	Kenneth Shelton (Dallas, TX, USA)	$3,298
150	James Pinpin (Carlsbad, CA, USA)	$3,298
151	Karlo Lopez (San Juan, Puerto Rico)	$3,298
152	Peter Mavro (Douglaston, NY, USA)	$3,298
153	Charles Threet (Austin, TX, USA)	$3,298
154	Marc Miller (Langhorne, PA, USA)	$3,298
155	Eric Lupovich (Montreal, QC, Canada)	$3,298
156	Luke Vrabel (West Hartford, CT, USA)	$3,298
157	An Vuong (Garland, TX, USA)	$3,298
158	Hieu Nguyen (Fairfax, VA, USA)	$3,298
159	Leo Labbe (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$3,298
160	Patrick Sacrispeyre (France)	$3,298
161	Charles Dolan (Fountain Valley, CA, USA)	$3,298
162	Eric Cheshier (Renton, WA, USA)	$3,298
163	Thomas Kasperski (Riverside, IL, USA)	$3,298
164	Yarron Bender (Scottsdale, AZ, USA)	$3,298
165	Judy Lepine (Berkeley, CA, USA)	$3,298
166	Kyle Hegeman (Long Island, NY, USA)	$3,298
167	Mikael Olsson (Stockholm, Sweden)	$3,298
168	Marcello Del Grosso (Toronto, ON, Canada)	$3,298
169	John Utley (Morganfield, KY, USA)	$3,298
170	Mark Wilds (Biloxi, MS, USA)	$3,298
171	Chris Arvanitis (Montreal, QC, Canada)	$3,298
172	Frank Blumlein (Germany)	$3,298
173	Dennis Tilley (Redmond, WA, USA)	$3,298
174	Jorge Jesus (Vile Velha, Brazil)	$3,298
175	Priyan Demel (London, UK)	$3,298
176	Gustav Lundholm (Sweden)	$3,298
177	Robert Miller (Lone Tree, CA, USA)	$3,298
178	Chris Bigler (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$3,298
179	Ramon Vergara (Dunwoody, GA, USA)	$3,298
180	John Salis (Pleasanton, CA, USA)	$3,298
181	Jakob Testeser (Odense, Denmark)	$3,075
182	Tyler Patterson (Everett, WA, USA)	$3,075
183	Dennis Anderson (Lexington, KY, USA)	$3,075
184	Andrew Miles (Long Beach, WA, USA)	$3,075
185	Jorge Gonzalez (Madrid, Spain)	$3,075
186	Frank Diaz (Queen Creek, AZ, USA)	$3,075
187	Steve Bannasch (Royal Oak, MI, USA)	$3,075
188	Alex Donofrio (Winnabow, NC, USA)	$3,075
189	Pascal Misteli (Ispach, Switzerland)	$3,075
190	John Sias (Riverside, CT, USA)	$3,075
191	Timothy Christensen (Northfield, MN, USA)	$3,075
192	Christian Bowerman (Stockton, CA, USA)	$3,075
193	Stan Athan (Seattle, WA, USA)	$3,075
194	Leopoldo Araneta AKA "The Silent Terminator" (Monrovia, CA, USA)	$3,075
195	Brian Gray (Coral Springs, FL, USA)	$3,075
196	R M (Anytown, Unknown)	$3,075
197	Oliver Thomas Anderson (Conroe, TX, USA)	$3,075
198	Yasir Ali	$3,075
199	Jamie Acevedo (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$3,075
200	Michael Brummelhuis (Amsterdam, Netherlands)	$3,075
201	Chris Wong (Sacramento, CA, USA)	$3,075
202	Konstantin Bucherl (Regensburg, Germany)	$3,075
203	Benjamin Heinrichs (Chico, CA, USA)	$3,075
204	Kurt Maier (Rancho Cucamonga, CA, USA)	$3,075
205	Kun Tong (Temple City, CA, USA)	$3,075
206	Scott Bohlman (Homer Glen, IL, USA)	$3,075
207	Martin May (Plantation, FL, USA)	$3,075
208	Michael Hertziger (Neenah, WI, USA)	$3,075
209	Nenad Sizgoric (Mississauga, ON, Canada)	$3,075
210	Jeffrey Baylos (ON, Canada)	$3,075
211	Mike Sprando (Portland, OR, USA)	$3,075
212	Christopher Yee (Shoreline, WA, USA)	$3,075
213	Keith Murrell AKA "KASINO" (Kansas City, MO, USA)	$3,075
214	Matthew Cohen (Somerdale, NJ, USA)	$3,075
215	Neil Zimmet (Arvada, CO, USA)	$3,075
216	Jessica Mendoza (San Mateo, CA, USA)	$3,075
217	Richard Poff (Birmingham, AL, USA)	$3,075
218	Jonathan Gumapas (San Diego, CA, USA)	$3,075
219	Denny Robinson (Henderson, NV, USA)	$3,075
220	John Crino (Crofton, MD, USA)	$3,075
221	Hayden Fitzgerald (Dana Point, CA, USA)	$3,075
222	Michael Larimer (Brooklyn, NY, USA)	$3,075
223	Shawn Pilot (North Hills, CA, USA)	$3,075
224	Waylon Frey (New Braunfels, TX, USA)	$3,075
225	David Lam (Anaheim, CA, USA)	$3,075
226	David Smith (Alpharetta, GA, USA)	$2,890
227	Richard Hollman (Culver City, CA, USA)	$2,890
228	Denise Molloy (La Jolla, CA, USA)	$2,890
229	Micheal Baxter (Pacific Palisades, CA, USA)	$2,890
230	Thu Tran (Revere, MA, USA)	$2,890
231	Angel Guillen AKA "Boloban" (Mexico City, Mexico)	$2,890
232	Carman Cavella (Turnersville, NJ, USA)	$2,890
233	Catherine Calhoun (Henderson, NV, USA)	$2,890
234	Al Barbieri AKA "Sugar Bear" (Long Beach, CA, USA)	$2,890
235	Brandon Brumback (Winston, OR, USA)	$2,890
236	Jason Landon (Houston, TX, USA)	$2,890
237	Luke McIntyre (Sydney, Australia)	$2,890
238	Brad Steinberg (Westlake Village, CA, USA)	$2,890
239	Bruce Dye (Hilliard, OH, USA)	$2,890
240	Jeff Harris (Visalia, CA, USA)	$2,890
241	Terry Wolthuis (Rapid City, SD, USA)	$2,890
242	Daniel Hood (University Park, TX, USA)	$2,890
243	Evgeny Serebryakov AKA "Teach Me Pls" (Moscow, Russia)	$2,890
244	Brad Beard (College Station, TX, USA)	$2,890
245	John Miller (Dearborn Heights, MI, USA)	$2,890
246	Jorge Fregoso (San Diego, CA, USA)	$2,890
247	Rishabh Gupta (Overland Park, KS, USA)	$2,890
248	Mike Souza (San Diego, CA, USA)	$2,890
249	Ching Choy (Torrence, CA, USA)	$2,890
250	Matt Matros (Bronxville, NY, USA)	$2,890
251	Larry Gerek (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$2,890
252	Thomas Maser (Stateline, NV, USA)	$2,890
253	Peter Osbourne (Portland, OR, USA)	$2,890
254	Katherine Baxter (Exeter, CA, USA)	$2,890
255	John Erting (Napa, CA, USA)	$2,890
256	Justin Bonomo (Sherman Oaks, CA, USA)	$2,890
257	Todd Baker (Washington, DC, USA)	$2,890
258	Harry Pozetsky (Glovesrville, NY, USA)	$2,890
259	Jason Jung (Torrance, CA, USA)	$2,890
260	Anthony Robinson (San Ramon, CA, USA)	$2,890
261	Veronica Dabul (Buenos Aires, Argentina)	$2,890
262	Tri Ma (Houston, TX, USA)	$2,890
263	William Woodzell (White Lake, MI, USA)	$2,890
264	Arnaud Grumiaux (Loos, France)	$2,890
265	Grant Hinkle (Overland Park, KS, USA)	$2,890
266	Serguei Timofeev (Richmond Hill, ON, Canada)	$2,890
267	Bryan Uyeda (Pearl City, HI, USA)	$2,890
268	Richard Aronow AKA "comeback kid" (San Diego, CA, USA)	$2,890
269	Thorsten Schaefer (Rodgau, Germany)	$2,890
270	Yueqi "Rich" Zhu (Rowland Heights, CA, USA)	$2,890

Tournament Report

Tournament Highlights:

Event Headlines –

1. Ray Foley Wins WSOP Gold Bracelet

2. Chrysler Worker from Michigan Drives Away with $657,969 and Poker’s Most Coveted Prize

3. Another Big Turnout at the 2009 WSOP – 2,715 Entries Pack the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Event

The Winner --

The 2009 World Series of Poker $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em champion is Ray Foley, from Northville, MI.

Foley is a 37-year-old employee of Chrysler Financial. He works as a business manager in financial services.

Foley is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University. He earned his degree in accounting, followed by an M.B.A.

Foley has been married for 12 years and is the proud father of two children.

Foley plays poker recreationally. He started playing about five years ago. However, he is a winning player who has supplemented his income in recent years by playing poker. Foley has been contemplating turning to poker full time, given the problems of the American automotive industry. He states that decision might be easier to make now that he has won such a large cash prize.

Foley collected $657,969 for first place. He was also awarded his first WSOP gold bracelet.

According to official records, Foley now has 1 win, 1 final table appearance, and 4 in-the-money finishes at the WSOP. He has also accumulated $733,031 in career WSOP winnings.

Foleuy has entered only 7 tournaments at the WSOP (lifetime) and has cashed in 4 of them. Despite the huge fields, he has finished – 22nd, 15th, 21st, and now 1st. This is as impressive a record as any player at the WSOP during the past two years in the mega-field sized No-Limit Hold’em events.

Foley entered only two events this year – the $2,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event and this tournament. He had his return airline ticket already booked for a Sunday night departure (the tournament began on Saturday). Foley survived Day Two and therefore lost his return portion of the ticket. Meanwhile, a few friends could not afford the luxury of paying hundreds of extra dollars more for a flight and so they returned to Michigan. Upon landing in Detroit and hearing that Foley had made it to the final table, they immediately got back on a plane just hours, later and flew all the way back to Las Vegas to cheer Foley on toe victory.

Winner Quotes (Ray Foley) –

On how he came to the WSOP: “My friends and I usually play in only one event per year. We have a poker league where we send nine guys to play a $2K event. I played in that and busted out at the fifth level. So, I bought into the $1,500 buy-in on Saturday and I was supposed to fly out Sunday night and midnight. I was second in chips at the end of Day Two. I missed my flight and fortunately….that’s about it.”

On winning a WSOP gold bracelet and $657,969 in prize money: “They both mean a lot. The bracelet….I can’t even….its still unbelievable at this point that I have a bracelet. I can’t event describe it. And $660,000 – that’s a lot of money. It’s hard to believe there were 2,715 people in this tournament.”

On what it takes to win: “I’m on the great side of variance.”

On his future plans: “(Before this win) I was contemplating going to poker full-time, mostly online. So this will help make that jump a little easier. This is great timing.”

On what his goals were coming into this year’s WSOP: “The gold bracelet. Check it off.”

On what’s the next goal: “The Main Event bracelet is the next goal.”

The Final Table --

The final table contained only one former WSOP gold bracelet winner – Brandon Cantu (1 win).

This was the most amateur-heavy final table of any final table played so far this year. Five of the nine finalists were non-pros.

The runner up was Brandon Cantu, from Vancouver, WA. He won his gold bracelet in one of the $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em events played in 2006. That was his first WSOP cash, and launched his poker career. Since then, Cantu has earned over $1.5 million at the WSOP. He also finished 20th in last year’s Main Event. Second place in this event paid $403,951. But all Cantu seemed to think about as he departed the final table was the disappointment of coming up short in his quest for another gold bracelet.

The third-place finisher was Wei Mu, from Honolulu, Hawaii. Mu has a pretty impressive record for someone who has been playing poker seriously for only about a year. He has cashed in 3 of the 5 $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em events played this year. Third place paid $269,609.

The fourth-place finisher was Alex Jacob, from Las Vegas, NV. The afro-clad Dylanesque Yale graduate and talented poker pro enjoyed his best WSOP finish in two years in this tournament. Jacob burst onto the poker scene in 2006 and made three WSOP final tables within two years. He holds one of the best in-the-money records of any WSOP player during the past four years, with 19 cashes.

The fifth-place finisher was Tyler Spalding, from Chicago, IL. He is an engineer. Amazingly, this was Spalding’s first WSOP event ever.

The sixth-place finisher was Jonathan Markham, from Milwaukee, WI. He is a former construction worker who is now playing poker professionally. This was his third time to cash and was his best WSOP finish ever.

The seventh-place finisher was Chairud Vangchailued, from Phoenix, AZ. This was his first time to cash in a WSOP tournament.

The eighth-place finisher was Richard Lutes, from Henderson, NV. He is a restaurant owner (“Carmines Little Italy” in Henderson). Lutes has done well in various Las Vegas tournaments, most notably cashing four times at the most recent Caesars Palace poker series.

The ninth-place finisher was Patrick O’Connor, from Sligo, Ireland. He is a dentist and predominantly a cash game player. But O’Conner has also enjoyed some tournament success. He final tabled the Irish Poker Open a few years ago. O’Connor also finished 38th in the 2004 WSOP Main Event.

In-the-Money Finishers --

Former WSOP gold bracelet finishers who cashed in this event included – Brandon Cantu, Angel Guillen, Grant Hinkle, and Jim Mitchell.

The defending champion from 2009 was David Woo, from Atlanta, Ga. He entered this event but did not cash.

Odds and Ends --

This was the third-largest tournament (in attendance) of the 2009 WSOP.
This is the 26th of 39 tournaments completed thus far at this year’s WSOP, with more than a $1 million prize pool.
his is the fifth of seven $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em tournaments on the 2009 WSOP schedule. This game and buy-in level has consistently proven to be the most popular draw on the schedule in recent years, aside from the Main Event.
An alternative lower buy-in No-Limit Hold'em tournament (less than $10,000) has been included as part of the WSOP schedule every year since 1973. Over the years, these buy-in amounts have ranged from $1,000 up to $5,000. However, more $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em tournaments have now taken place at the WSOP over the past 39-years than any other event.
The previous four $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em events held this year attracted 2,791 -- 2,506 -- 2,638 – and 2,095 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.
The final table was played on ESPN’s secondary stage. The Main Stage was reserved for the $10,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha world championship, which was broadcast live over the Internet. Five more events are schedule, 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.

No-Limit Hold’em Leaders --

The player with the most WSOP gold bracelets (wins) in Hold’em events (all variations) is Phil Hellmuth, currently with 11.

The player with the most lifetime WSOP cashes in Hold’em events (all variations) is Phil Hellmuth, currently with 44.

The player with the most WSOP gold bracelets (wins) in No-Limit Hold’em is Phil Hellmuth, currently with 7.

The player with the most lifetime WSOP cashes in No-Limit Hold’em events is Phil Hellmuth, currently with 28.

The Event --

The $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em championship attracted 2,715 entries. The total prize pool amounted to $3,705,974. The top 270 finishers collected prize money.

The tournament was played over three consecutive days.

At the end of Day One, the chip leader was Mohsin Charania, from Chicago, IL. He ended up finishing in 19th place.

The chip leader at the start of the final table was Ray Foley. He lost the lead early and had to play catch up most of the way. But Foley overcame a 2 to 1 chip disadvantage to Brandon Cantu when play went heads-up and won a few momentous pots that determined the outcome of the match.

Foley was all-in for his tournament life a few times, but got very fortunate to avoid elimination. He had A-7 and was all-in against Cantu’s A-Q. But a split pot saved Foley.

The final hand of the tournament came when Foley ended up having the best hand – J-Q versus Cantu’s J-7 after the flop came jack-high. Foley’s queen kicker ended up playing, which scooped the final pot of the tournament.

The tournament officially began on Saturday, June 20th, at noon. The tournament officially ended on Tuesday, June 23rd, at 3:00 am.

WSOP Statistics –

Through the conclusion of Event #39, the 2009 WSOP has attracted 39,620 entries. $77,827,582 in total prize money has been awarded to winners.

Through Event #39 – the nationalities of WSOP gold bracelet winners reads as follows:

United States – 27

United Kingdom – 2

Canada – 2

Russian Federation – 1

Finland – 1

Australia – 1

Sweden – 1

Mexico – 1

Italy – 1

Holland – 1

Note: Last year 19 of the 59 gold bracelet events were won by non-Americans (32 percent). In, 2007, the number was 15 of 55 (29 percent). In 2006, the number was 5 of 45 (11 percent).

Event #39 winner Ray Foley is to be classified as a semi-pro player (at the time of victory). He plays part-time to supplement his income. Accordingly, the “Pro-Am” gold bracelet scoreboard (excluding Event #1 – Casino Employees) currently reads:

Professionals -- 26 wins

(Thang Luu, Steven Sung, Jason Mercier, Phil Ivey-1, Rami Boukai, Anthony Harb, Ville Wahlbeck, Keven Stammen, Brock Parker-1, Jeffrey Lisandro- 1, Daniel Alaei, Brock Parker-2, John-Paul Kelly, Jeff Carris, Nick Schulman, Phil Ivey-2, Pete Vilandos, Tomas Alenius, Roland de Wolfe, J.C. Tran, James Van Alstyne, Angel, Guillen, Greg Mueller, Eric Baldwin, Jordan Smith, Jeffrey Lisandro-2, Marc Naalden)

Amateurs -- 6 wins

(Freddie Ellis, Ken Aldridge, Travis Johnson, Zac Fellows, Michael Eise, Richard Austin)

Semi-Pros -- 5 wins

(Vitaly Lunkin, Brian Lemke, Lisa Hamilton, Leo Wolpert, Ray Foley)

Ten of the 39 winners this year (26 percent) were previous gold bracelet winners. There have been three double winners in 2009 -- Brock Parker, Phil Ivey, and Jeffrey Lisandro.

Through the conclusion of Event 39, the WSOP “Player of the Year” standings reads as follows (with point totals):

255 – Ville Wahlbeck

255 – Jeffrey Lisandro

225 – Phil Ivey

220 – Brock Parker

220 – James Van Alstyne

195 – Roland de Wolfe

175 – Pete “the Greek” Vilandos

175 – Angel Guillen

165 – Daniel Alaei

165 – Daniel Negreanu

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