WSOP 2009. Info, Chip Counts, & & stuff. Feed your wild side.

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Official Report 

Event #27

Pot-Limit Omaha High-Low Split

Buy-In:  $5,000

Number of Entries:  198

Total Net Prize Pool:  $930,600

Number of Places Paid:  14

First Place Prize:  $246,616

June 12-14, 2009

 

 

Tournament Highlights:

 

Event Headlines –

 

1.  Roland de Wolfe Wins His First WSOP Gold Bracelet

 

2.  De Wolfe Becomes the Second British WSOP Winner This Year, Following John-Paul Kelly’s Victory Last Week

 

3.  De Wolfe Wins Toughest Leg of Poker’s Triple Crown – After Previous EPT and WPT Victories

 

4.  Omaha High-Low Split Master Scott Clements Makes another Final Table, Finishes Third

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The Winner --

 

·        The 2009 World Series of Poker $5,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha High-Low Split champion is Roland de Wolfe, from London, England.

 

·        De Wolfe is a 29-year-old professional poker player.  Prior to turning pro, De Wolfe was a writer and journalist for “Inside Poker,” a magazine published in England (Note:  The magazine started out as “Inside Edge”).

 

·        With this victory, De Wolfe won what some refer to as the “Triple Crown of Poker.”  He holds titles from each of three largest poker tournament series – including the World Series of Poker, World Poker Tour (WPT), and European Poker Tour (EPT).  De Wolfe won a WPT championship held in Paris, in 2005.  He won an EPT championship held in Dublin, in 2006.  Now, De Wolfe has won the most coveted prize in poker, a WSOP gold bracelet, in 2009.  Note:  The only other player who has accomplished the so-called “Triple Crown of Poker” is Gavin Griffin.

 

·        Pot-Limit Omaha High-Low Split tournaments are relatively new.  De Wolfe stated that this was only the third such tournament he had played in his life.

 

·        At the final table, De Wolfe wore a colorful union jack flag across his shirt, proudly representing the United Kingdom.

 

·        De Wolfe collected $246,616 for first place.  He was also awarded his first WSOP gold bracelet.

 

·        De Wolfe’s best previous finish at the WSOP was a third-place showing in the 2006 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout event.

 

·        According to the official records, De Wolfe now has 1 win, 4 final table appearances, and 14 in-the-money finishes at the WSOP.

 

·        De Wolfe currently has $651,611 in WSOP winnings.

 

·        De Wolfe has won over $4 million in major poker tournaments worldwide – with the majority of earnings in Europe.
 

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Arguably the best set of "Winners Quotes" so far.


Winner Quotes (Roland de Wolfe) --

 

·        On making the transition to Pot-Limit Omaha High-Low Split:  “I played quite a lot of (Limit) Omaha High-Low.  And, I played a lot of Pot-Limit Omaha.  And, I just tried to mix the two strategies.”

 

·        On his final table opponents:  “There were some great players at the final table.  Scott Clements and Brett Ritchie – they play that game all the time.  So, I was looking at what they did during the tournament and tried to learn.  I watched what they did and then put a bit of my own insight into the game.”

 

·        On strategy:  “I know that when we were three-handed, I had less experience.  Normally when I play No-Limit Hold’em or Pot-Limit Omaha I am trying to look for situations where I can gamble because I will be the better player at the table.  But in this situation, I knew I was not the best player.  I was obviously the least experienced player of the final three.  I knew I had to use my spots to gamble and had to go with hands….I couldn’t just sit there and chip away.”

 

·        On becoming only the second player ever to win titles at the WSOP, WPT, and EPT:  “Damn Gavin Griffin!”  Note:  Griffin was the first to achieve this feat.

 

·        On winning the gold bracelet:  “Ever since I won the event in Dublin at the EPT, I have been wanting the bracelet, which is the missing link.  Three years I have been here at the finals, and today I finally got a few breaks.  I am vey much aware of the history behind this, and the best thing of all is to win all three (major poker titles).”

 

·        On the pressure of being a well-known and successful player as opposed to a player new to tournaments:  “As long as you can adjust to the way people view you, and the fact that you have a big target on your back, it gets easier.  Experience is massive.  Here, I did not have experience in the game.  But I had experience in closing it out (making final tables and playing short-handed).  Experience is massive.”

 

·        On what he learned from previous tournaments and some disappointing finishes:  “I remember when I finished fourth in the event Erick Lindgren won last year.  You could see the pressure was all on him, even though he was a brilliant player.  The pressure to get that first one (a gold bracelet) gets you nervous.  When we got here, heads-up I had a 4 to 1 chip lead.  I felt very nervous and I am not someone who gets nervous.  I won the WPT and EPT without being nervous.  But here, I didn’t have the experience in this game.  Thankfully, it went my way.”

 

·        On what helped him to overcome his lack of experience in this form of Omaha:  “I got lots of advice form some English players, who helped me.  But when it comes to experience in this game, I was clearly in the bottom half of the field.  But, I’m a card player.  I have good card sense.  I can play any game.”
 

·        On the implications of his victory on the British poker scene:  “Poker is alive and well in Britain….I hope my win and (John-Paul Kelly’s win) will push the game over the line and continue to help the game grow in Britain.”

 

·        On plans to play in more WSOP events this year:  “I’ll be back tomorrow.  I’m only six (wins) behind Phil Ivey now.”

 

 

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It seems I bokked Anthony Lellouche. His day will come, be sure of that.


The Final Table --

 

·        The final table contained only one former WSOP gold bracelet winner – Scott Clements (2 wins) and Alex Kravchenko (1 win).

 

·        Five different nations were represented at the final table including – England, France, Ireland, Russia, and the United States.

 

·        The runner up was Brett Richey, from New York, NY.  He is a 27-year-old poker pro.  This was his seventh time to cash at the WSOP.  Richey cashed in the WSOP Main Event twice, in 2006 and 2008.

 

·        The third-place finisher was Scott Clements, from Mt. Vernon, WA.  He is unquestionably one of the world’s top Omaha High-Low Split tournament players (many would say Clements is the best, were it not for Thang Luu’s stellar run in Omaha tournaments the last three years at the WSOP).  Clements has already won two gold bracelets in Omaha High-Low.  He was the runner up in the $10,000 buy-in Omaha High-Low World Championship, which concluded last week.  Now, his third-place finish in this tournament seals his reputation as the one the top players in this form of poker.

 

·        The fourth-place finisher was Robert Campbell, from Miami, FL.  Campbell has enjoyed success at various WSOP Circuit events, particularly at Harrah’s New Orleans last month where he finished 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in three events.

 

·        The fifth-place finisher was Alex Kravchenko, from Tver, Russia.  He won his gold bracelet in Omaha High-Low Split in 2007.  Kravchenko also made the Main Event final table that same year, finishing fourth.

 

·        The sixth-place finisher was Andrew (Andy) Black, from Dublin, Ireland.  He is perhaps best known for his fifth-place finish in the 2005 WSOP Main Event.  Despite 14 cashes, Black’s best finish in a WSOP event remains fifth place.

 

·        The seventh-place finisher was John Racener, from Tampa, FL.  He already has $1.2 million in tournament earnings at the age of 23.  Racener won last year’s WSOP Circuit championship event at Harrah’s Atlantic City.

 

·        The eighth-place finisher was Armando “Tiny” Ruiz, from Tamarac, FL.

 

·        The ninth-place finisher was Anthony Lellouche, from Paris, France. 

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Odds and Ends --

 

·        Omaha High-Low Split has predominantly been a limit game since it was first introduced into cardrooms in the early 1980s.  However, about five years ago some online poker sites began offering Pot-Limit Omaha High-Low Split, which fueled greater interest in the game.  Pot-Limit Omaha High-Slow Split made its debut at the WSOP in 2007. 

 

·        During the first two years, the Pot-Limit Omaha High-Slow Split tournament had a buy-in of $1,500.  The buy-in was raised to $5,000 for this year’s tournament.
 

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The Event --

 

·        The $5,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha High-Low Split event attracted 198 entries.  The total prize pool amounted to $930,600.  The top 14 finishers collected prize money.

 

·        The tournament was played over three consecutive days. 

 

·        The chip leader after Day One was J.D. Newitt, from Las Vegas, NV.  He did not cash.

 

·        The chip leader at the start of the final table was Scott Clements, from Mt. Vernon, WA.  He ended up finishing in third place.

 

·        When the final table began, Roland de Wolfe was ranked third out of nine players.

 

·        The final table lasted about six hours.

 

·        The biggest hand of the night took place when De Wolfe knocked out Scott Clements, by making the nut low and nut high on the river with a club flush. 

 

·        When heads-up play began, De Wolfe started with about a 4 to 1 chip advantage over Richey.

 

·        The final hand of the tournament came when De Wolfe was dealt A-Q-8-4.  Richey was dealt Q-J-10-9.  The flop came 10-8-4, giving Richey the better hand, while re-drawing to a wrap-around straight.  A blank deuce fell on the turn which helped neither player.  But an ace on the river gave De Wolfe two pair (aces and eights) which scooped the last pot of the tournament.

 

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WSOP Statistics –

 

·        Through the conclusion of Event #27, the 2009 WSOP has attracted 26,323 entries.  $51,439,483 in total prize money has been awarded to winners.

 

·        Through Event #27 – the nationalities of winners reads as follows:

 

United States – 20

United Kingdom – 2

Russian Federation – 1

Finland – 1

Australia – 1

Sweden – 1

Canada – 1

 

Note:  Last year 19 of the 59 gold bracelet events were won by non-Americans (32 percent).

 

·        Event #27 winner Roland de Wolfe is to be classified as a professional poker player.  Accordingly, the “Pro-Am” gold bracelet scoreboard (excluding Event #1 – Casino Employees) currently reads:

 

            Professionals --            18 wins(Thang Luu, Steven Sung, Jason Mercier, Phil Ivey-1, Rami Boukai, Anthony Harb, Ville Wahlbeck, Keven Stammen, Brock Parker-1, Jeffrey Lisandro, Daniel Alaei, Brock Parker-2, John-Paul Kelly, Jeff Carris, Nick Schulman, Phil Ivey-2, Pete Vilandos, Tomas Alenius, Roland de Wolfe)              Amateurs --      4 wins            (Freddie Ellis, Ken Aldridge, Travis Johnson, Zac Fellows)              Semi-Pros --     3 wins            (Vitaly Lunkin, Brian Lemke, Lisa Hamilton)  ·        Eight of the 27 winners this year (30 percent) were previous gold bracelet winners.  There have been two double winners in 2009 -- Brock Parker and Phil Ivey.

 

·        In the WSOP “Player of the Year” standings, Ville Wahlbeck (Helsinki, Finland) is the leader – cashing in four $10,000 buy-in world championship events.  Brock Parker ( Silver Spring , MD ) remains very much in contention for the top spot.  Phil Ivey, with two wins and three cashes, is now also in the race.  Peter Vilandos has also climbed into contention.  Still, with 30 events still undecided, the race remains wide open.
     

 

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2009 World Series of Poker         
Final Results         
Event #   26      
Buy In   $1,500       
Date   Limit Hold'em      
Game   12-Jun-09      
Number of Entries   643      
Net Prize Pool   $877,695       
First Place Prize   $197,509      
Players to Cash   63      
         
In the Money Finishers:         
         
Name   Prize   City   State/Country
Alenius, Tomas   $197,509   Stockholm    Sweden
Tam, Jason   $121,999   Markham   ON, Canada
Barbieri, Al    $80,072   Philadelphia   PA
Engelbert, Glenn    $55,575   Gloucester Township   NJ
Arvanetes, Demetrios    $40,681   Las Vegas   NV
Kulicki, Dominik   $31,324   Amsterdam   Netherlands
Porter, Rep    $25,312   Woodinville   WA
Phong Duong, Kim    $21,415   Port Perry   ON, Canada
Miller, Cole   $18,931   Auburn   CA
Brodie, Richard    $13,542   Kirkland   WA
Dickenson, Ken    $13,542   Cypress   TX
Li, Yan    $13,542   Las Vegas   NV
Kerstine, Andrew    $10,075   Orange   CA
Schiffman, Mike    $10,075   Henderson   NV
Varner, John    $10,075   Beauercreek   OH
Burner, Dale   $7,706   Los Angeles   CA
Corning, Douglas   $7,706   Portland   OR
Yu, Benjamin   $7,706   Henderson   NV
Argyros, Vasilios   $5,994   Melbourne   Australia
Seber, Billy   $5,994   Houston   TX
Lopez, Jacinto   $5,994   Grand Prairie   TX
Keikoan, Matthew   $5,994   San Rafael   CA
Horrocks, John   $5,994   Henderson   NV
Burkart, Alexander   $5,994   Heilbronn   Germany
Tom, Philip   $5,994   Las Vegas   NV
Boeken, Noah   $5,994   Amsterdam   NL
Rood, David   $5,994   Brantford    ON, Canada
Morgan, Douglas   $4,871   Martinez   CA
Levine, Joshua   $4,871   Portland   OR
Bonomo, Justin   $4,871   Las Vegas   NV
Darden, Paul   $4,871   Las Vegas   NV
Eichel, William   $4,871   Parker   SD
Buckley, James   $4,871   Los Angeles   CA
Tam, David   $4,871   San Diego   CA
Chen, William   $4,871   Lafayette Hill   PA
Yek, Kuong   $4,871   Woodbury   MN
Harris, Nicole   $4,046   Oceanside   CA
Cowley, Steven   $4,046   Midlothian   VA
Smith, Jason   $4,046   Chandler   AZ
Von Halle, Jan   $4,046   Hamburg   Germany
Bromberg, Corey   $4,046   Tarzana   CA
Cicconi, Guy   $4,046   Las Vegas   NV
Hart, Daniel   $4,046   Las Vegas   NV
Defusco, Mark   $4,046   Mesa   AZ
Manfrede, Karen   $4,046   St Louis   MO
Meek, James   $3,405   Mississauga   ON, Canada
Blanco, Cristiano   $3,405   Roma   Italy
Chi, Qi   $3,405   Las Vegas   NV
Ramdin, Annand "Victor"   $3,405   Bronx   NY
Reed, Michael   $3,405   Export   PA
Clemento, Jack   $3,405   Philadelphia   PA
Devonshire, Bryan   $3,405   Henderson   NV
Greenstein, Barry   $3,405   Rncho Pls Vrd   CA
Ebenhoeh, Timothy   $3,405   Chesaning   MI
Damany, Paul   $2,896   Beckenham   United Kingdom
Drucker, Linda   $2,896   Las Vegas   NV
Cordone, Joseph   $2,896   Las Vegas   NV
Ellis, Michael   $2,896   Culford Gardens   London
Harroch, Richard   $2,896   San Francisco   CA
Thomas, Larry   $2,896   San Leandro   CA
Price, Craig   $2,896   Phoenix   AZ
Dunning, Jerry   $2,896   Sarasota   FL
Shamseddin, Soheil   $2,896   Houston   TX

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Here's Tomas. Somehow a Swede winning a Limit Event seems all wrong.

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Official Report 

Event #26

Limit Hold’em

Buy-In:  $1,500

Number of Entries:  643

Total Net Prize Pool:  $877,695

Number of Places Paid:  63

First Place Prize:  $197,509

June 12-14, 2009

 

 

Tournament Highlights:

 

Event Headlines –

 

1.  Tomas Alenius Wins First WSOP Gold Bracelet

 

2.  Sweden Joins Gallery of Champion Nations with WSOP Victory

 

 

The Winner --

 

·        The 2009 World Series of Poker $1,500 buy-in Limit Hold’em champion is Tomas Alenius, from Stockholm, Sweden.

 

·        Alenius was born in Stockholm, as well.

 

·        Alenius is a 33-year-old professional poker player.  He worked as a blackjack dealer before pursing a poker career.

 

·        Alenius worked inside small casinos scattered throughout Stockholm while in his 20s.  He started playing poker online seven years ago and eventually made more money at his recreational activity.  He started dealing blackjack less and playing poker more, which led to full-time status as a poker player.

 

·        Alenius intended to play in several events at this year’s WSOP, concentrating mostly on the lower to middle buy-in tournaments.  After this win however, Alenius says he intends to play in more tournaments.

 

·        When home in Sweden, Alenius plays mostly online poker. 

 

·        Alenius becomes only the second Swedish WSOP gold bracelet winner in history.  However, he is arguably the first to win poker’s most coveted prize.  Two-time gold bracelet winner Chris Bjorin is Swedish.  However, Bjorin lives in London, England.

 

·        Alenius collected $197,509 for first place.  He was also awarded his first WSOP gold bracelet.

 

·        According to the official records, Alenius now has 1 win, 1 final table appearance, and 3 in-the-money finishes at the WSOP.

 

·        Alenius best previous WSOP finish was 21st place in a $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event in 2006.

 

·        Alenius currently has $210,638 in WSOP winnings.

 

·        Alenius’ first recorded major cash in a tournament was 2005.  He won nearly twice as much money in this tournament as his combined career winnings from all previous cashes.

 

 

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Winner Quotes (Tomas Alenius) --

 

·        On making a comeback during heads-up play after being down 3 to 1 in chips:  “It’s not that much to do, really.  Catch some hands and take over the game.  You need to hit flops.”

 

·        On winning a Limit Hold’em gold bracelet:  “It’s a lot of luck involved for sure, and I ran good.”

 

·        On his thoughts about opponent Al Barbieri, who was the chip leader during most of the finale:  “I think he played too loose when it went from six players down to four.  Then, he started to tighten up.  He lost some of his confidence, for sure….you need to be aggressive and pick up the pots when you have the chance.”

 

·        On winning his first WSOP gold bracelet:  “It’s awesome.  It’s what you dream about.”

 

·        On what explains so many Scandinavians (including Swedes) being excellent poker players:  “We probably are very well educated, about the game.  It’s the mentality.”

 

 

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The Final Table --

 

·        The final table contained only one former WSOP gold bracelet winner – Rep Porter ( 1 win)

 

·        Four different nations were represented at the final table – including Canada, Holland, Sweden, and the United States.

 

·        The runner up was Jason Tam, from Markham, Ontario (Canada).  He is an orthodontist, who plays poker recreationally.  He concentrates on short-handed games and heads-up play online.

 

·        The third-place finisher was Al Barbieri, a.k.a. “Sugar Bear,” from Philadelphia, PA.  Barbieri has come close to victory a few times at the WSOP, but so far as not achieved the top prize.  Barbieri participated in one of the longest final table matches in WSOP history, when he finished third to O’Niel Longson in the 2005 Razz event.

 

·        The fourth-place finisher was Glenn Engelbert, from Gloucester Township, NJ.  He is a recycling coordinator and part-time poker player who regularly plays in Atlantic City.  This was Englebert’s best showing ever at the WSOP.  He previously finished tenth in a Seven-Card Stud event in 2005.

 

·        The fifth-place finisher was Demetrios Arvanetes, from Las Vegas, NV.  He is a former Wall Street trader and golf instructor.  Arvanetes cashed in the 2007 WSOP Main Event.

 

·        The sixth-place finisher was Dominik Kulicki, from Amsterdam, Holland.  He holds a Masters Degree in business administration.  Kulicki made a final table at last year’s WSOP playing No-Limit Hold’em.  He also cashed in last year’s Main Event.

 

·        The seventh-place finisher was Rep Porter, from Woodinville, WA.  He won his gold bracelet in last year’s Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em championship.  Prior to playing poker for a living, Porter was an equity options trader.  

 

·        The eighth-place finisher was Kim-Phong Duong, from Port Perry, Ontario (Canada).

 

·        The ninth-place finisher was Cole Miller, from Auburn, CA.  

 

 

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In-the-Money Finishers --

 

·        Former WSOP gold bracelet finishers who cashed in this event included – Rep Porter (7th), Matt Keikoan (22nd), Phillip Tom (25th), Paul Darden (31st), Bill Chen (35th), and Barry Greenstein (53rd).

 

·        This was Barry Greenstein’s fourth time to cash at this year’s WSOP.  He now has 41 in-the-money finishes which ranks 16th on the all-time list.

 

·        The defending champion from 2008 was Jimmy Shultz, from Lewis Center, OH.  He entered this year’s event but did not cash.

 

 

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Odds and Ends --

 

·        During the 1990s, the Limit Hold’em championship routinely attracted the largest fields of any WSOP tournament.  For several years, this tournament had twice number of entrants as the Main Event.   It was traditionally the first open event offered during the first weekend of the WSOP.

 

·        Limit Hold’em first made its debut at the 1983 WSOP.  The first Limit Hold’em world champion was Tom McEvoy.  He went on to win the Main Event that same year.

 

·        The start of Limit Hold’em’s popularity can be traced back to California’s legalization of flop games (including Hold’em) in 1988.  Prior to the late 1980s, Limit Hold’em was spread in only a few small Las Vegas casinos and underground games, located mostly in the American South.

 

·        Limit Hold’em was king during most of the 1990s, except in the Northeast where Seven-Card Stud was the dominant form of poker.  In fact, finding a No-Limit Hold'em game was next to impossible.  In 2003, things began to change.  No-Limit Hold'em gradually became the most popular form of poker played not only in the United States, but abroad.  Today, Limit Hold'em tournaments have become less common.  Confirming fears that Limit Hold'em’s popularity remains stagnant, turnout for this year's $1,500 buy-in Limit Hold'em championship declined for the fourth consecutive year.  The 2006 tournament attracted 1,069 entries.  In 2007, the number declined to 910 players.  Last year, the final tally was 883.  This year, there were 643 entries.

 

·        The list of former Limit Hold’em champions is quite an illustrious group.  Former Limit Hold’em champions include – Tom McEvoy, Berry Johnston, Humberto Brenes, Johnny Chan, Mickey Appleman, David Chiu, Jay Heimowitz, and Farzad Bonyadi. 

 

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The Event --

 

·        The $1,500 buy-in Limit Hold’em event attracted 643 entries.  The total prize pool amounted to $877,695.  The top 63 finishers collected prize money.

 

·        The tournament was played over three consecutive days. 

 

·        The chip leader after Day One was Jon Van Halle, from Hamburg, Germany who did not cash.

 

·        The chip leader at the start of the final table was Al Barbieri, a.k.a. “Sugar Bear.”  He ended up finishing third.

 

·        When the final table began, eventual winner Tomas Alenius was ranked third out of nine players.

 

·        The final table lasted about five hours.

 

·        Al Barbieri held the chip lead most of the way.  But he played aggressively throughout the finale, and bled away chips late when he was up against better hands.  Once Barbieri lost the chip lead, he was never able to recover.

 

·        When heads-up play began, Jason Tam enjoyed a 3 to 1 chip advantage over Alenius.  But the Swede defeated the Canadian in the duel, which lasted about an hour.

 

·        The final hand of the tournament came when Alenius won the last pot with ace-high.  But the biggest pot of the night came earlier when Alenius bested Tam with a full-house busting a flush.  Alenius made eights-full-of-sevens.  Tam lost with the nut flush.  That hand essentially decided the outcome of the tournament.