WSOP Event #12

World Series of Poker Event #12, Limit Hold’em, 6-8 June 2008

Entrants: 883
Buy in: $1,500
Prize pool: $1,205,295

Final results:

1. Jimmy Shultz, $257,049

2. Zac Fellows, $165,165

3. Vinny Vinh, $99,099

4. Teddy Monroe, $82,883

5. Brendan Taylor, $67,868

6. Markus Golser, $53,453

7. Ali Eslami, $41,441

8. Christoph Niesert, $32,432

9. Chung Law, $23,423

The winner of the $1,500 buy-in Limit Hold’em championship is Jimmy Shultz who is originally from Charleston, SC. He now lives in Columbus, OH.

Shultz is a 37-year-old mortgage broker who by his own admission is enduring some tough times. He collects $257,936 for first place. He also earned his first WSOP gold bracelet.

A decade ago, Limit Hold’em was king. Limit Hold’em was the dominant form of poker played in public cardrooms from the mid-1980s (when California law changed to allow flop games) until a few years ago. In fact, during much of the 1980s and 90s finding a No-Limit Hold’em game was next to impossible.

For many years at the World Series of Poker, Limit Hold’em events attracted more total entries than No-Limit Hold’em events.

The $1,500 buy-in Limit Hold’em championship attracted 883 entrants, creating a prize pool totaling $1,205,295. The top 81 finishers collected prize money.

The champion stated that he will donate 25 percent of his tournament win to a special fund set up for firefighters in the Charleston Fire Department. Throughout the tournament, Shultz wore a CFD hat and shirt in honor of a few friends who died tragically while on duty last year.

This was Schultz’s first time ever to play in a WSOP event., despite trying on a previous occasion in 2006. “This is my second visit to the World Series of Poker” he stated, “I came here two years ago. I wanted to play in the Six-Handed event (in 2006). I played some satellites but I could not get in, now, here I am today.”

“(The firemen) suffered a tragic accident back in June of 2007. This is near a year to the day of the tragedy. All of them perished. In their remembrance and to honor my community, I wear all of their t-shirts and hats all week.”

“It’s not about me. It’s all about them. I said that coming in. I prayed about it and I am just thrilled to death that I can do something for my community to make it a little bit better for those folks in Charleston County.”

Austrian poker player Gosler Markus has been playing at the WSOP for nearly a decade. He made his first final table since 2000, when he cashed third in the Pot-Limit Omaha championship. More recently, Markus finished in fifth place in the European Poker Tour’s Prague championship. He ended up in sixth place this time.

Marco Traniello continues to trail blaze his way towards the record books. The Italian-born poker pro and husband of Jennifer Harman now has more WSOP cashes than any other poker player since 2005 – with 16 (except for Humberto Brenes who shares the same number). He cashed in 53rd place in this event.

Three-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Dewey Tomko finished 68th. This marked his 42nd career WSOP cash. He now ranks 11th on the all-time list, one behind “Miami John” Cernuto.