WSOP Event #4

World Series of Poker Event #4, Mixed Hold’em 2-4 June 2008

Entrants: 332
Buy in: $5,000
Prize pool: $1,565,400

Final results:

1. Erick Lindgren, $374,505

2. Justin Bonomo, $230,159

3. Andrew Robl, $144,337

4. Roland de Wolfe, $117,030

5. David “Chino” Rheem, $93,624

6. Howard Lederer, $74,119

7. David Williams, $58,515

8. Pat Pezzin, $46,812

9. Isaac Haxton, $35,109

The winner of the $5,000 buy-in Mixed Hold’em event is 31 year-old professional poker player Erick Lindgren, who collected $374,505 for his efforts.

Once again, this final table attracted a standing-room only crowd of spectators. David Rheem and Erick Lindgren brought the largest and most vocal cheering sections. Nevertheless, a few bona fide superstars ensured that the outcome of this finale would attract widespread interest.

Of the nine finalists, only two players were previous gold bracelet winners, Howard Lederer (with two previous wins) and David Williams (with one win).

The chip leader when final table play began was David Rheem. He started with about 26 percent of the total chips in play. Rheem ended up going out fifth.

The winner was Erick Lindgren. He is a 31-year-old professional poker player from Las Vegas, NV. Lindgren was born in Burley, CA, which is a small town in the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

Lindgren rarely had the chip lead at the final table until the final moments. He was in second or third place most of the way. But he ultimately prevailed over tough competition.

Lindgren was obviously very happy with his vcitory: “Limit Hold’em tournaments have been very good to me in the past. I wanted to use that as my strength. We had a lot of No-Limit (Hold’em) strength at this final table, but I wanted to use Limit to make my moves.”

“Until the final card turned, I was just panicked and worried that (Bonomo) might come back and I would blow another one. I was just so happy and so lucky that it finished early.”

“I woke up my father at 1:30 am to tell him I had won. He had not been up at 1:30 in the morning in a long time. It was a good call to make. It was really special. I can’t wait to send him the bracelet. The best of this year’s World Series is yet to some. The biggest events are still coming up, so stay tuned!”

Justin Bonomo, a.k.a. “ZeeJustin” ended up as the second-place. Although disappointed, Bonomo expressed his admiration for Lindgren and understood what the victory meant to his final adversary. In a touching moment that showed real class, Bonomo’s parents went over to Lindgren immediately after his victory and expressed their congratulations.

Other well-known poker celebrities who performed well and cashed in this event included Andy Bloch (who finished second in Event #1) taking 16th, Phil “Unabomber” Laak taking 24th, and Mori Eskandani, taking 32nd.