WSOP Round-up

First up is Event #27 the £1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournamant which attracted a mammoth field of 2,126 players, supplying total prize money of $2,901,990.

This one saw the first Scandinavian win of 2006, with Mats Rahmn taking down the first place prize of $655,141 and the coveted gold bracelet.

After 2,117 players had been eliminated over two long days, nine players took the final table on the Rio stage. The nine finalists comprised a very tough lineup, although none had previously won a WSOP gold bracelet.

Of the nine players, the table was split along continental lines: six Americans and three Europeans, and it was the three players from the old world that prevailed.

After the six Americans had all gone bust, that left an Irishman, a Hungarian, and a Swede to compete for what would be a first WSOP gold bracelet. Padriag Parkinson, who finished third in the WSOP main event back in 1999 (the year fellow Irishman Noel Furlong won it), had to settle for third place again this time around.

Parkinson took a horrible beat when his ace-four was cracked by Richard Toth’s ace-three. Both players flopped an ace, but a three fell on the river to make two-pair for Toth. Parkinson, who was cashing for the fourth time at this year’s World Series, collected $203,139 for third place.

When heads-up play began, Richard Toth enjoyed a 2 to 1 chip lead over Mats Rahmn. The two players battled back and forth for nearly an hour before Rahmn won the decisive final hand of the tournament.

The final hand came when Rahmn was dealt pocket kings versus Toth’s jack-eight. Toth called a pre-flop raise. After the flop came J-10-9, Rahmn bet out 150,000 and Toth moved all in for 500,000 more. Rahmn called and showed his overpair. Toth had top pair with an outside straight draw. However, two blanks hit the turn and the river, securing the victory for Rahmn.

Mats Rahmn had few words to express the jubilation of winning his first-ever WSOP gold bracelet and $655,141. “It feels amazing,” he said.

Event #27
$1,500 No-Limit Hold’em
Final table results:

1. Mats Rahmn, Stockholm, Sweden $655,141
2. Richard Toth, Budapest, Hungary $333,729
3. Padraig Parkinson, Dublin, Ireland $203,139
4. Chris Birchby, Hollywood, CA $145,100
5. James Sileo, Burbank, CA $116,080
6. Michael Binger, Atherton, CA $101,570
7. Jordan Morgan, Norman, OK $87,060
8. Ashwin Sarin, Redmond, WA $72,550
9. Billy Duarte, Berthoud, CO $58,040

Next result to bring you is for Event #28 the $5,000 Seven-Card Stud tourney in which 182 runners contributed to $855,400 in prize money.

This event featured a large buy-in and is the blue ribband event of Seven-Card Stud, so there were some heavy hitters sitting done to do battle.

But it was an unknown player, 31-year old accountant from suburban Washington-DC Benjamin Lin, who likes to play poker in his spare time that rose through the field to take the title.

He beat some big names as well – the other two players of the final three being the the very reconisbale Cyndy Violette and Sean ‘Sheik’ Sheikan. Not only that, Mike Caro featured, although he was eliminated early, in eighth place.

When play became three-handed, Cyndy Violette had to like the circumstances. Violette, who has been playing professionally for 15 years and who is one of the East Coast’s top Seven-Card Stud players, was competing for gold bracelet Number Two. Violette was the early aggressor but just as it appeared she might run over the table, her two opponents began playing back at her and started taking down big pots.

On her final hand, Violette was dealt several high cards and missed a flush draw, which knocked her out of the tournament. Violette’s (Q-9) A-10-7-K (X) with four hearts was cracked by Lin’s (K-K) 8-6-6-3 (X) which made two pair. Cyndy Violette received $102,648 for third place.

Sheikhan lost the final hand of the night when his (9-6) K-A-K-J (2) was snapped off by Lin when he caught an inside straight on seventh-street. Lin ended up with (9-9) 6-8-10-5 (7) – good for the ten-high straight. Sheikhan, who was born in Iran and now lives in Las Vegas, collected $171,080 for second place.

Benjamin Lin took his place the elite class of 396 players (out of over a 100 million worldwide) who have won a WSOP gold bracelet over the entire 37-year history of the world’s premier poker spectacle. Lin’s winnings amounted to $256,620.

Event #28
$5,00 Seven-Card Stud
Final table results:

1. Benjamin Lin, Rockville, MD $256,620
2. Sean Sheikhan, Las Vegas, NV $171,080
3. Cyndy Violette, Los Angeles, CA $102,648
4. Allen Kessler, Huntington Valley, PA $76,986
5. "Miami" John Cernuto, Miami, FL $55,601
6. Patrick Bueno, Paris, France $38,493
7. Lupe Munquia, Odessa, TX $29,939
8. Mike Caro, Shell Knob, MO $21,385
9. Russ Salzer, New York, NY $12,831