WSOP Event #5

World Series of Poker Event #5, No Limit Hold’em with Re-buys 3-5 June 2008

Entrants: 766
Buy in: $1,000
Prize pool: $2,894,094

Final results:

1. Michael Banducci, $636,736

2. Jeff Williams, $406,330

3. Peter Gould, $245,997

4. Lyric Duveyoung, $201,139

5. Alan Jaffray, $164,963

6. Jonathan Aguiar, $130,234

7. Michael Binger, $101,293

8. Steve Gross, $79,587

9. Jamie Rosen, $57,881

This year’s $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em with Re-Buys championship attracted 766 entries. Another 2,258 re-buys created a prize pool totaling $2,894,094.

The winner is Michael Banducci, from Traverse City, MI. He is a 23-year-old professional poker player. Banducci was born in Toronto, Ontario (Canada).

Banducci symbolizes the new breed of poker player who has learned the game by playing on his computer. He first saw poker on television about five years ago. He never dreamed he would win a gold bracelet. He stated that his early goal was simply to get to the WSOP and someday play in a tournament. Now, he has much more lofty ambitions – including winning another event.

Banducci was keen to stress that learning online has been a great help to his game: “The amount of time it takes to become a good player is reduced by playing (on the computer). We play so many hands. We talk to our friends (about the hands). You learn so fast. I think younger players understand the fundamentals much better. Older players probably know about the real-life aspects of the game. But the future of poker depends on understanding the fundamentals.”

“I can’t imagine ever stopping doing what I am doing. I really enjoy it. Only now, I view it more as a business. I put in a set number of hours per week. At one time I was really passionate about poker. But I think I have become more disciplined about what I do.”

Banducci made one re-buy plus a double add-on. Hence, he invested $4,000 in this tournament and collected $636,736.
The player with the most re-buys in this tournament was Suk Sung, who reloaded 23 times. This means Sung invested $23,000 for this event.

The record for most re-buys was set by Daniel Negreanu back in 2006 when he reloaded an astounding 46 times, plus two reported add-ons. Negreanu was downright stingy this year, by comparison. He re-bought a considerably more modest 12 times this year.

The runner up was Jeff Williams. He is 22-years-old. If ever there was a player to watch in the future it is this wunderkind from Atlanta, GA. At the age of 19, Williams won the European Poker Tour championship, held in Monte Carlo.