WSOP Event #52

World Series of Poker Event #52, No-Limit Hold’em, 30 June – 2 July 2008

Entrants: 2,693
Buy in: $1,500
Prize pool: $3,675,945

Final results:

1. David Daneshgar, $625,443

2. Scott Sitron, $385,974

3. Dan Heimiller, $275,695

4. Farzad Rouhani, $231,584

5. Corwin Cole, $189,311

6. Matt Matros, $148,875

7. Andrey Zaichenko, $112,116

8. Jeff Courtney, $84,546

9. Voitto Rintala, $57,712

The $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em championship (Event #52) attracted 2,693 entries, creating a prize pool totaling $3,675,945. The top 270 finishers collected prize money.

This was the final of seven $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em tournaments on this year’s schedule. More than 18,000 players played in these events alone.

The latest $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em champion is David Daneshgar, from Westlake Village, CA. He is a venture capitalist and investor.

This was Daneshgar’s eighth time to cash at the WSOP, all since 2005. It was also his first WSOP gold bracelet victory. Daneshgar collected $625,443 in prize money.

Daneshgar has a stellar record of tournament accomplishments for a part-time player. He has 51 cashes in live tournaments and has won over $2 million, all earned since August 2004.

Former WSOP gold bracelet winners who cashed in this tournament included Dan Heimiller (3rd), Farzad “Freddy” Rouhani (4th), An Tran (56th), John Esposito (81st), and Michael Chu (196th).

Keith Carberry was the chip leader at the End of Day One in this event. He finished in 222nd place. Through Event #52, the End of Day One chip leaders have gone on to cash 79 percent of the time — 39 of 50 occasions (the chip leader was not applicable on two events). Only thirteen of these same 50 chip leaders (26 percent) made it to the final table. Only one chip leader went on to win the event. That lone wire-to-wire winner was Vanessa Selbst in Event #19.

Corwin Cole was the chip leader at the start of this final table. He ended up as fifth-place finisher. Through Event #52, eighteen of 50 chip leaders at the start of the final table (35 percent) went on to win the event. Twenty-nine of 50 chip leaders (58 percent) went on to finish in the top three spots. Two events did not have a chip leader (Heads-Up and Shootout tournaments).

Eleven different nations have produced a gold bracelet winner at this year’s WSOP. This list now includes Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Russia, and the United States.

Erick Lindgren now leads the “Player of the Year” race (through the end of Event #50). Barry Greenstein, Jacobo Fernandez, David Benyamine, and John Phan are close behind.

Scotty Nguyen is now the leader on the 2008 prize money list, having won the most money at the WSOP, to date. His accrued winnings total $2,039,628.

Through the conclusion of Event #52, the total amount of prize money awarded at this year’s WSOP totals $114,791,278. This is more than last year’s prize pool at this same time last year.

All WSOP images are supplied by “IMPDI for the 2008 WSOP”