Poker Tournament Results

40th World Series of Poker 2009

Greg Mueller

Tournament Report

Tournament Highlights: Event Headlines – 1. Greg “FBT” Mueller Wins Second WSOP Gold Bracelet 2. Three Former WSOP Gold Bracelet Winners Finish 1-2-3 in Limit Hold’em Shootout 3. “2009 – Year of the Repeat?” – Another Former Champion Wins Yet Again 4. A WSOP First – 2009 Series Produces Four Double-Winners (Previous Mark of Three Double Winners in a Single Year Falls with Mueller’s Victory) The Champion -- The 2009 World Series of Poker $1,500 buy-in Limit Shootout champion is Greg Mueller, from Vancouver, BC (Canada). “FBT” stands for “Full-Blown Tilt.” Mueller is a 37-year-old professional poker player. He is a regular player on the major tournament circuit. Prior to playing poker for a living, Mueller played professional ice hockey in Europe. He played for nine seasons for a team based in Germany. He retired in 1999. Mueller is fluent in both English and German languages. Mueller has done modeling and has been featured in television commercials. Mueller is 6’4” and weighs 225 pounds. Mueller started playing poker seriously on his many road trips while a hockey pro. He insists that poker is a game that allows him to exercise the same competitive instincts he utilized as a pro athlete. Mueller’s first WSOP cash took place in 2003. Prior to his first victory which took place on July 17th, Mueller endured two emotionally-crushing runner-up finishes. He appeared on the first ESPN broadcast of the 2007 and lost heads-up to Steve Billirakis, who at the time became the youngest WSOP gold bracelet winner in history. Last year, he finished second again, losing the gold bracelet to Philip Tom. Mueller says he has played about half of the events on this year’s schedule, to date. Mueller collected $194,854 for first place. He was also awarded his second WSOP gold bracelet. In Event #33, Mueller won the $10,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em World Championship. This victory (again, in Limit Hold’em) reaffirms his status at the best limit tournament player in the world at this time. This was Mueller’s third final table appearance at this year’s WSOP – finishing 1st, 1st, and 7th. According to official records, Mueller now has 2 wins, 6 final table appearances, and 19 in-the-money finishes at the WSOP. His career WSOP earnings now total $1,516,206. Mueller becomes the fourth player to win two (or more) gold bracelets at this year’s WSOP – joining Jeffrey Lisandro, Phil Ivey, and Brock Parker. This is the first time in the 40-year-history of the WSOP that four players have won gold bracelets within a single year. The previous record was three players in one year, which has happened two times (1993 and 2002). Winner Quotes (Greg Mueller) -- On winning a second WSOP gold bracelet so quickly after winning his first: “They say good things come in threes. There are still two more events, so who knows? It feels unbelievable, especially because the player I beat (Marc Naalden) is such a great Limit Hold’em player. He was the player coming into today who I thought would be the toughest to beat. I’m really, really happy with this one.” On his confidence level playing Limit Hold’em (as opposed to other games): “A few times I valued bet with ace-high, and got paid off. When (Naalden) turned his cards over and was staring at the board (in defeat), it just pumped me up more because I was really making some thin value bets.” On former gold bracelet winners finishing 1-2-3 at the final table and the experience factor: “Oh, experience is important big time. The last two final tables I won I caught a lot of cards and got lucky for sure. But when you get into this situation, experience counts. You don’t panic when you get into a negative situation. It’s just like in sports. You see sports team when they get into a playoff drive -- they sign a 40-year-old experienced player who might be a little slower. But the experience is more important.” One what he is doing different this year than in years past: “I know the tournament is won late in the night. If I lose a hand early, I’m not going to get rattled. If I miss a bet, I’m just going to shake it off. These are long tournaments, and I think that adjustment has really helped me.” On the comparison between his first win and his second: “Obviously, the first victory is really special. It’s your first accomplishment. But winning two in one year is so tough and it puts me into a very elite category. Phil Ivey did it and the others, too. It also shows that my first win was not a fluke and that I can play a good Limit Hold’em game.” On feeling pressure to win: “There was less pressure this time, because I (had) already won one. But you always want to win. If I would have got second, I would have gone home and pouted. But as far as pressure goes, I don’t think I had much pressure until I got heads-up and had the chip lead. Then, I said to myself – ‘I can’t blow this.’ That’s when the pressure comes.” The Final Table -- The final table included three former WSOP gold bracelet winners – David Williams (1 win), Greg “FBT” Mueller (1 win), and Marc Naalden ( 1 win) . The final table included players from four different nations – including Argentina, Canada, Holland, and the United States. This is unquestionably becoming the “Year of the Repeat Winner.” There have already been 14 former champions who won bracelets again this year. Four players are repeat winners during this year alone. It was notable that the top three finishers in this event were all former winners. This comes after the final table held on the previous day, when the top two finishers were former bracelet winners. It was particularly striking that the top two finishers both previously won their gold bracelets playing Limit Hold’em. The runner up was Marc Naalden, from Antwerp, Belgium (Note: He is Dutch). Naalden won the $2,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em event, held last week. For second place, Naalden collected $120,614 in prize money. The third-place finisher was David Williams, from Las Vegas, NV. He won his gold bracelet in 2006 playing Seven-Card Stud. Williams is perhaps best known for his second-place finish to Greg Raymer in the 2004 WSOP Main Event. Williams has now accrued over $4.3 million in career WSOP earnings. The fourth-place finisher was Millie Shiu, a.k.a. “Poker Snoopy.” She is from Las Vegas, NV. Shiu missed becoming the first female gold bracelet winner at this year’s WSOP. She was the sixth female to make it to a final table in 2009. Shiu is a poker pro who previously worked as a hair stylist. The fifth-place finisher was Matt Sterling, from Brownstown, IN. He won a WSOP Circuit gold ring at Harrah’s Rincon last year. With was Sterling’s eighth time to cash at the WSOP. The sixth-place finisher was Flaminio Malaguti, from Greenville, NC. This was his first time to cash in three years at the WSOP. The seventh-place finisher was Joep Van Den Bigaart, from Nijmegen, Holland. This was his first time to cash at the WSOP. The eighth-place finisher was Jose “Nacho” Barbero, from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Had Barbero won, he would have become only the second South American WSOP gold bracelet champion in history (Alexandre Gomes, from Brazil was the first). This was Barbero’s fifth time to cash, and was his highest WSOP finish, to date. In-the-Money Finishers -- Former WSOP gold bracelet finishers who cashed in this event included – Marc Naalden, David Williams, Greg Mueller, Humberto Brenes, Tom Schneider, Ben Ponzio, Brock Parker, and Dan Heimiller. Humberto Brenes’ in-the-money finishes gives him 55 for his career. This currently ranks fifth on the all-time cashes list – behind Phil Hellmuth, Men “the Master” Nguyen, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, and Berry Johnston. Dan Heimiller’s in-the-money finish gives him 36 for his career. This currently ranks 29th on the all-time cashes list. The defending champion in the event from 2008 was Matthew Graham, from Pearland, TX. He entered this year’s tournament, but did not cash. Odds and Ends -- A shootout tournament means players advance based on winning a series of table matches. The shootout format is single elimination. The number of matches depends on the number of tournament entries. In this event, the winner was required to win three consecutive matches. Each match is played like a single-table satellite, with only one winner from each table. Day One began with 571 players. There were 64 matches played – with an average of 8 players starting at each table. The shortest match lasted 7 hours. The longest match lasted 13 hours. At the end of Day One, 64 players (all the winners) advanced to Day Two. Day Two resumed with 64 players. There were 8 matches played with 8 players starting at each table. At the end of Day Two, 8 players (all the winners) advanced to Day Three, which was the final table. Day Three resumed with 8 players, which was the final table. The ESPN broadcast stage was dark on this day. Three 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 Limit Hold’em championship attracted 571 entries. The total prize pool amounted to $779,024. The top 64 finishers collected prize money. The tournament was played over three consecutive days. All events at this year’s WSOP give players triple chips (three times the amount of the buy-in). Players began Round 1 with 4,500 in chips. Winners advanced and began Round 2 with 45,000 in chips. Winners advanced and began Round 3 with 450,000 in chips. When heads-up play began, Mueller enjoyed a 4 to 1 chip advantage over Naalden. The Dutch player drew event and then took the lead temporarily, in a duel that lasted two hours. But Mueller regained his advantaged and gradually wore down Naalden in a fury of raises and re-raises whenever he believed he held the edge. The final hand came when Mueller and Naalden both flopped top pair (kings), but Mueller’s higher kicker played and scooped the pot. After Mueller’s win, several experienced poker players watching the action remarked that Mueller never seemed to miss a bet and was able to extract the most chips out of his opponent when he held the advantage during a hand. This was arguably the key difference in the match. For the third consecutive night, the final table drew a very large and enthusiastic crowd. Several hundred spectators crammed around the ESPN secondary stage and cheered back and forth as favored players traded chips. Mueller and Naalden seemed to enjoy the most vocal crowd support, which was fitting since they ended up finishing 1-2. The final table lasted about nine hours – about average in duration. The tournament officially began on Friday, June 26th, at noon. The tournament officially ended on Sunday, June 28th, at 11:30 pm. WSOP Statistics – Through the conclusion of Event #50, the 2009 WSOP has attracted 46,283 entries. $97,204,540 in total prize money has been awarded to winners. Multiple Gold Bracelet Winners at the 2009 WSOP: Jeffrey Lisandro -- 1st, 1st, 1st Brock Parker -- 1st, 1st Phil Ivey -- 1st, 1st Greg Mueller – 1st, 1st Gold Bracelet Plus 2nd-Place Finishers at the 2009 WSOP: Ville Wahlbeck -- 1st, 2nd (+ 3rd) James Van Alstyne -- 1st, 2nd (+ 6th) Pete "The Greek" Vilandos -- 1st, 2nd Angel Guillen -- 1st, 2nd Vitaly Lunkin -- 1st, 2nd  Brandon Cantu – 1st, 2nd Marc Naalden – 1st, 2nd Multiple Top-Three Finishers at the 2009 WSOP: Ville Wahlbeck -- 1st, 2nd, 3rd Steve Sung -- 1st, 3rd Scott Clements -- 2nd, 3rd Eric Baldwin – 1st, 3rd Through Event #50 – the nationalities of WSOP gold bracelet winners reads as follows: United States – 33 United Kingdom – 3 Canada – 3 Australia – 2 Russian Federation – 1 Finland – 1 Sweden – 1 Mexico – 1 Italy – 1 Holland – 1 Hungary – 1 Iran – 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 #50 winner Greg Mueller is to be classified as a professional player. Accordingly, the “Pro-Am” gold bracelet scoreboard currently reads (not counting Casino Employees Event): Professionals -- 36 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-1, Eric Baldwin, Jordan Smith, Jeffrey Lisandro-2, Richard Austin, Marc Naalden, Matt Graham, Peter Traply, Jerrod Ankenman, Jeffrey Lisandro-3, John Kabbaj, Jeff Ahmadi, Brandon Cantu, Greg Mueller-2) Amateurs -- 6 wins (Freddie Ellis, Ken Aldridge, Travis Johnson, Zac Fellows, Michael Eise, Michael T. Davis) Semi-Pros -- 7 wins (Vitaly Lunkin, Brian Lemke, Lisa Hamilton, Leo Wolpert, Ray Foley, Derek Raymond, Jeff Ahmadi) Fourteen of the 50 winners this year (28 percent) were previous gold bracelet winners. There have been three double winners in 2009 -- Brock Parker, Phil Ivey, and Greg “FBT” Mueller. There has been one triple winner in 2009 -- Jeffrey Lisandro. Through the conclusion of Event 48, the WSOP “Player of the Year” standings reads as follows (with point totals): 355 – Jeffrey Lisandro 275 – Ville Wahlbeck 242 – Phil Ivey 227 – Brock Parker 220 – James Van Alstyne 195 – Roland de Wolfe 185 – Vitaly Lunkin 180 – Angel Guillen 175 – Pete “the Greek” Vilandos 170 – Daniel Negreanu