Poker Tournament Results

40th World Series of Poker 2009

Jerrod Ankenman

Tournament Report

Tournament Highlights: Event Headlines – 1. Jerrod Ankenman Wins First WSOP Gold Bracelet 2. After Two Previous Second-Place WSOP Finishes, Third Time is a Charm for Poker Pro and Strategist Ankenman 3. Mixed Games Proves to be the Ultimate Test of All-Around Skill -- Featuring Eight Different Poker Games The Champion -- The 2009 World Series of Poker $2,500 buy-in Mixed Games champion is Jerrod Ankenman, from Avon, CT. Ankenman is a 32-year-old poker pro and book author. Prior to poker, he was a quantitative analyst. Ankenman actually flunked out of college during his first year at UC-Davis. Ankenman is married. He and his wife recently had their first child. Ankenman once worked for Washington Mutual (Bank). He started out as a database programmer. Ankenman started playing poker seriously when he was in his early 20s. He started playing regularly in Los Angeles area cardrooms and gradually worked his way to the point he was a full-time professional. Ankenman is the co-author of “The Mathematics of Poker,” along with two-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Bill Chen. As the book shows, Ankenman is a dedicated researcher and analyst. The book is not for the faint-hearted, as it explains poker situations in highly-detailed mathematical terms. Prior to writing “The Mathematics of Poker,” Ankenman exchanged many complex ideas with his co-author Bill Chen. The duo eventually put many of those ideas and theories into practice in live and online games, which provided the groundwork for their success as authors and poker players. Ankenman finished as the runner up twice in previous WSOP events. He took second place in the 2006 $3,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em event, as well as the 2008 $10,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em world championship. Ankenman collected $241,654 for first place. He was also awarded his first WSOP gold bracelet. According to official records, Ankenman now has 1 win, 9 final table appearances, and 9 in-the-money finishes at the WSOP. His career WSOP earnings now total $769,128. Ankenman is a popular member of the social poker group known as BARGE, which comes to Las Vegas every August. Other BARGE members include Greg “Fossilman” Raymer, Andy Bloch, Richard Brodie, Sabyl Cohen, Bill Chen, Rob Lauria, Gavin Smith, Alan Jaffray, J.P. Massar, Perry Friedman, Rafe Furst, Phil Gordon, and many others. Several of the BARGE group were on hand to cheer and support Ankenman. Winner Quotes (Jerrod Ankenman) – On his collaboration with Bill Chen on The Mathematics of Poker: “We wrote the book together. On his latest projects: “Before the WSOP started, I was playing poker, doing some research, and even worked for an options-trading company for a time.” Note: The firm Ankenman is referring to is Susquehanna (SIG), one of the most respected privately-owned financial institutions in the world. On his two previous second-place finishes: “Those second-place finishes were bittersweet. It’s really nice to get the prize.....In the first one, I had Ian Johns all-in (but lost). Then I lost like 30 hands in a row and finished second (laughing). In the second one, I was down about 3-1 in chips to Rob Hollink and he made a hand at the end and won.” On playing heads-up versus Sergey Altbregin: “I felt pretty confident. I had played a lot of heads-up before....I am very confident in my ability to play heads-up, especially in flop games. It was a combination of being confident and then getting a nice rush of cards that helped me to win.” On his preference for certain games in the Mixed Game format: ”I really wanted to get into the shorter-handed flop games. I have played hundreds of hours and thousands of hands. I did not want to get into coin-flip situations in the PLO or the other games, because I thought I had the advantage in Hold’em.” On his thoughts about Mixed Games tournaments: “I think this is a great tournament and great format. You get to play all kinds of different games. Most of the players are good at some games but are not that good at others....I really like the Mixed Games format because it really shows off your chops as a good all-around player, instead of just all these tournaments everywhere else where they playing nothing but Hold’em.” On the WSOP and this tournament: “The WSOP is the last bastion of these kinds of games. Most of the other tournaments around Las Vegas and everywhere else it always is no-limit, no-limit, no-limit, no-limit – whatever. It’s nice to be able to come here and play a wider variety of games.” On seeing some of his friends win gold bracelets, and now finally getting one himself: “Yeah, that is really nice. I was happy for Bill Chen when he won. That was the greatest WSOP ever (in 2006). I am very happy to finally get one for myself.” The Final Table -- The final table included two former WSOP gold bracelet winners – Layne Flack (6 wins) and Dario Alioto (1 win). There were players from three different nations represented at the final table – including Italy, Russia, and the United States. The runner up was Sergey Altbregin, from St. Petersburg, Russia. This was his first time to cash at the WSOP. For the second consecutive event, a Russian player finished as the runner up. Both times, American players began heads-up play with a sizable disadvantage, but were able to overcome the odds and win. The third-place finisher was Christopher Klodnicki, from Voorhees, NJ. This was his eighth time to cash, in just the past three years. Klodnicki has accumulated more than $800,000 in WSOP winnings at the age of 24. The fourth-place finisher was Jeff Tims, from Houston, TX. He won a gold ring at the WSOP Circuit two years ago at Harrah’s New Orleans. He now has more nearly $400,000 in tournament earnings. The fifth-place finisher was Jon Turner, from Winston-Salem, NC. He is better known as “Pearl Jammer” online. This was his second final table appearance this year, after finishing fifth in the Omaha High-Low Split event. The sixth-place finisher was Eric Crain, from Murphysboro, IL. He won a WSOP Circuit gold ring at the Tunica Grand in 2006. The seventh-place finisher was Layne Flack, from Las Vegas, NV. Flack is a six-time WSOP gold bracelet winner, who his last title last year. His quest for win number seven fell way short in this event, as he was never a factor as the final table’s shortest stack. The eighth-place finisher was Dario Alioto, from Palermo, Sicily (Italy). He was also severely short-stacked from the start and was never able to generate any momentum. Alioto won his gold bracelet playing Pot-Limit Omaha at WSOP-Europe in 2007. The ninth-place finisher was James Fricke, from Las Vegas, NV. This was his second final table appearance and fifth time to cash at the WSOP. In-the-Money Finishers -- Former WSOP gold bracelet finishers who cashed in this event included – Dario Alioto, Layne Flack, Jens Voertmann, Thang Luu, Rami Boukai, Bob Slezak, and Blair Rodman. There was no defending champion, since the only Mixed Event played in 2008 was a $5,000 buy-in. That event was won by Anthony Rivera. Odds and Ends -- Mixed Games is a new event which debuted at last year's WSOP. It was the first time in history that a major poker tournament included eight different poker games. These games include: 1. No-Limit Hold'em 2. Pot-Limit Omaha 3. Triple-Draw Lowball 4. Limit Hold'em 5. Omaha High-Low Split 6. Razz 7. Seven-Card Stud 8. Seven-Card Stud Eight-or-Better Games are played on a rotation basis. Games change every eight hands. Mixed Games is similar to a HORSE tournament, except there are eight different games played instead of five. This is only the third Mixed Games event in WSOP history. The final table was played out on ESPN’s main stage. Coverage was broadcast live over the Internet. Five 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 $2,500 buy-in Mixed Games event attracted 412 entries. The total prize pool amounted to $947,600. The top 40 finishers collected prize money. The tournament was played over three consecutive days. Jerrod Ankenman came to the final table on Day Three ranked second in chips. The heads-up match between Jerrod Ankenman and Sergey Altbregin began with the Russian player holding nearly a 2 to 1 chip advantage. But Ankenman won most of the key hands in the duel and ended up which his first WSOP victory. The final table lasted about six hours. The tournament officially began on Sunday, June 21st, at 5 pm. The tournament officially ended on Wednesday, June 24th, at 12:30 am. WSOP Statistics – Through the conclusion of Event #42, the 2009 WSOP has attracted 40,607 entries. $82,864,182 in total prize money has been awarded to winners. Through Event #42 – the nationalities of WSOP gold bracelet winners reads as follows: United States – 28 United Kingdom – 2 Canada – 2 Russian Federation – 1 Finland – 1 Australia – 1 Sweden – 1 Mexico – 1 Italy – 1 Holland – 1 Hungary – 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 #42 winner Jerrod Ankenman is to be classified as a professional player. Accordingly, the “Pro-Am” gold bracelet scoreboard (excluding Event #1 – Casino Employees) currently reads: Professionals -- 28 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, Richard Austin, Marc Naalden, Matt Graham, Peter Traply, and Jerrod Ankenman) Amateurs -- 5 wins (Freddie Ellis, Ken Aldridge, Travis Johnson, Zac Fellows, Michael Eise) Semi-Pros -- 5 wins (Vitaly Lunkin, Brian Lemke, Lisa Hamilton, Leo Wolpert, Ray Foley) Eleven of the 42 winners this year (25 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 42 , the WSOP “Player of the Year” standings reads as follows (with point totals): 255 – Ville Wahlbeck 255 – Jeffrey Lisandro 242 – Phil Ivey 220 – Brock Parker 220 – James Van Alstyne 195 – Roland de Wolfe 185 – Vitaly Lunkin 180 – Angel Guillen 175 – Pete “the Greek” Vilandos 165 – Daniel Alaei 165 – Daniel Negreanu