WSOP Event #38

The winner of Event #38, the $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em championship was Hong Kong born Robert Cheung, a 46-year-old businessman from Vancouver, Canada.

Cheung has only been playing poker seriously for about two years, having learnt the game from his friends. This was his fourth time to cash at the WSOP, and third time this year. Cheung also took fourth place in the championship event last year at Harvey Lake Tahoe’s World Series of Poker Circuit.

Cheung arrived at the final table second in chips to Andrew Lee. The final table lasted about six hours, at the end of which Cheung claimed the $673,628.

Well known female pro Erica Schoenberg, from Las Vegas, finished in third place, which was the third best showing for a woman at this year’s WSOP.

Chris Bjorin was the only finalist who had previously won a WSOP gold bracelet. Swedish-born Bjorin (now living in London) won the Pot-Limit Omaha championship in 1997 and a No-Limit Hold’em event in 2000.

With his 6th-place finish in this event, Chris Bjorin is currently tied with Humberto Brenes for the most final tables at the 2007 WSOP. Both players have three appearances, to date.

With the conclusion of this event, Burt Boutin has won more prize money at this year’s World Series than any other player ($853,163). This was his third time to cash after a 21st-place showing.

Men "the Master" Nguyen finished in 41st place. This marked his 56 th lifetime cash at the WSOP.

2000 world poker champion Chris "Jesus" Ferguson finished 118th. This was his fourth time to cash at this World Series. He now has 49 lifetime cashes which ranks fifth all-time.

All five $1,500 buy-in Hold’em tournaments at the 2007 WSOP have attracted mammoth fields. There were 2,778 entries registered in this event, which comes after previous fields of 2,998, 2,803, 2,628, and 2,541.

Final results:
1. Robert “RCW” Cheung, Vancouver, BC, $673,628
2. Richard Murnick, Montclair, NJ, $417,117
3. Erica Schoenberg, Las Vegas, NV, $261,646
4. John Kranyak, New York, NY, $170,639
5. Andrew Lee, Ocean Township, NJ, $119,447
6. Chris Bjorin, London, UK, $87,215
7. Suey Wong, Madison, WI, $68,255
8. Ernie Crespo, Los Angeles, CA, $51,192
9. Nick Goodall, London, UK, $40,195