2008 WSOP Event 32 No-Limit Hold’em

Individual Event Reports

Event 32 No-Limit Hold’em Day 1

This is going to be another whopper event with 2,304 players each paying $1,500 to grab a seat at the tables. Size of the prize pool grew to $3,144,960 that will be split among the top 198 finishers in this event. With the fact that this event is only 3 days long, more than likely the money will be seen today.

The busts were fast with top level players flying towards the rail like frisbees. Juha Helppi was gone 25 min into the action when his paired 10's ran into another player who had paired A's. Joe Sebok with Kd Jd was overcome by a player who had pocket 10's which turned into a set by the river, resulting in Joe unhappily leaving the table. But Phil Hellmuth went into whiny mode, rose to a raging boil and lowered into a simmering pout on most of his hands during the day. He was even shouting out at the table when he had Ad Kd and everyone folded.

Some who had a better day than Phil that made the cut for Day 2 include Richard Toth with 68,800 chips, Fabrice Soulier 60,100, Glyn Banks 47,700, Morgan Machina 40,700, Champie Douglas 36,500 and Beth Shak 17,700. And yes, Phil Hellmuth with 31,600 will be there as well. There will be 166 that will move on to Day 2. Here are the top 9 names with chip counts for Day 1:

1. Andrew Garcia 169,200
2. Donald Carlton 148,100
3. Jonathan Jaffe 134,700
4. Anil Jivani 130,200
5. George Lind III 125,300
6. Michael Banducci 117,000
7. Adrian Dresel-Velasquez 116,000
8. Scott Sitron 114,000
9. Jose Luis Velador 110,500

Event 32 No-Limit Hold’em Day 2

Cash payouts for the final table:

1. $574,734
2. $366,387
3. $243,734
4. $204,422
5. $166,682
6. $132,088
7. $100,638
8. $77,051
9. $53,464

1. Luis Velador 1,898,000
2. Dany Georges 1,082,000
3. Utsab Saha 961,000
4. Jae Chung 716,000
5. Osmin Dardon 660,000
6. Shane Stacey 640,000
7. Anthony Signore 636,000
8. Dean Bui 211,000
9. Justin Hoffman 138,000

Event 32 No-Limit Hold’em Final Table

Notes from the WSOP on this event:

The winner was Luis Velador. He is a 44-year-old professional poker player. Velador has been playing professionally for 11 years. Velador collected $574,734 for first place. He also earned his first WSOP gold bracelet. Velador has only played in three WSOP events. He has cashed in all three. In fact, Velador played in the 2006 and 2007 Main Events, and cashed both times! Velador‘s performance was as dominant as has been seen by any player at this year’s WSOP, to date. From start to finish during the five-hour final table, Velador held at least a 2 to 1 chip advantage over his nearest adversary. Most of the time, he had every opponent at the table covered by a 5 or 6 to 1 margin.

Eleven-time WSOP gold bracelet winner and 1989 world poker champion Phil Hellmuth recorded his 65th career WSOP cash by finishing 71st in this event. Hellmuth continues to distance himself from the competition, as second-place Men “the Master” Nguyen is now eight cashes behind Hellmuth, with 57 to his credit. Through the conclusion of Event #32, only one player has cashed six times – Nikolay Evdakov, from Moscow, Russia. He is best positioned to challenge the record set for “Most WSOP Cashes in a Single Year,” shared by four players -- Michael Binger (2007), Chad Brown (2007), Phil Hellmuth, Jr. (2006), and Humberto Brenes (2006), with eight in-the-money strikes.

In the final hand, both players moved all-in preflop with Luis Velador having A 7 to Anthony Signore with A 6. The board showed A 10 7 3 6, giving Velador two pair (A's and 7's) plus a beatiful gold and diamond bracelet along with over half a million dollars. Now that is becoming a champion in style! Prior to becoming a poker pro eleven years ago, Velador was a tile setter. Velador is a prime example of how poker can be a life changing experience.

1. Luis Velador $574,734
2. Anthony Signore $366,387
3. Osmin Dardon $243,734
4. Jae Chung $204,422
5. Shane Stacey $166,682
6. Dean Bui $132,088
7. Dany Georges $100,638
8. Utsab Saha $77,051
9. Justin Hoffman $53,464