WSOP Event #47

The winner of Event #47, the $2,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em championship was 53-year old longtime professional gambler Blair Rodman, from Las Vegas, NV, in what was his first WSOP triumph.

Rodman gambles professionally — mostly on golf, sports, and poker, and has been playing in the WSOP since 1982.

This will rank as one of his biggest pay days ever, as first place paided out $707,898.

Rodman earned a B.S. degree in business. Aside from gambling, Rodman co-authored the popular book, "Kill Phil" which explains counterstrategies designed to beat the best poker players in the world. He is also active on the Ultimate Blackjack Tour, a televised "21" tournament.

In an odd twist of fate, Rodman almost missed this event. He was knocked out of the Omaha High-Low tournament held on the previous date and departed the Rio passed midnight. Rodman almost skipped the next days’event because he was exhausted. However, he joined with 2,038 entries who participated in this tournament. "I got eliminated on late on the second day in Omaha," Rodman explained in a post-tournament interview. "I almost didn’t play (in this tournament). If I would not have been knocked out of that Omaha High-Low event, I would not have been here. So, I guess getting busted in that event was a good thing!"

The runner up was Amato Galasso from Ridgewood, NJ. Incredibly, this was Galasso’s first time to cash at a live tournament of any size. Galasso earned a whopping $448,808 in his first poker tournament payout.

Roland de Wolfe finished in sixth place. He won the "European Player of the Year" title in 2006, and is regarded as one of the best UK around.

The 9th-place finisher was Mark McKibben, from San Antonio, TX. This was McKibben’s first visit to Las Vegas. He decided to post the tournament’s $2,000 entry fee after collecting a jackpot on a slot machine. Las Vegas has been very good to McKibben this week as he collected $42,655 for his finish.

T.J. Cloutier finished in 17th place. This was his 54 th lifetime WSOP cash. He currently ranks third on the all-time list (behind Men "the Master" Nguyen and Phil Hellmuth, Jr.); and Oscar-nominated actress Jennifer Tilly finished in 30th place.

Up to the conclusion of 47 events at this year’s World Series, ten players have been added to the official "WSOP Millionaires’ Club." There are now 88 players who have each won in excess of $1M at the World Series (in lifetime earnings). The latest ten players to join this elite club include– Burt Boutin, Freddy Deeb, Bruno Fitoussi, Fred Goldberg, Thor Hansen, Jeffrey Lisandro, Hans "Tuna" Lund, Tony Ma, David Singer, and William Thorsen.

Final results:
1. Blair Rodman, Las Vegas, NV, $707,898
2. Amato Galasso, Ridgewood, NJ, $448,808
3. Klein Bach, Las Vegas, NV, $289,314
4. Anna Wroblewski, Las Vegas, NV, $192,876
5. Steven Crawford, Gaithersburg, MD, $135,384
6. Roland DeWolfe, London, UK, $98,293
7. Joe Pelton, Newport Beach, CA, $74,183
8. David Schnettler, St. Cloud, MN, $55,637
9. Mark McKibben, San Antonio, TX, $42,655