2008 Event 39 No Limit Hold'em

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2008 WSOP Event 39 No Limit Hold'em

Individual Event Reports

Event 39 No Limit Hold'em Day 1

Statistics on event for Day 1:

  • Number of Entries 2,720
  • Net Prize Pool $3,712,800
  • Total Spots Paid Out 270
  • First Place Prize $631,656
This is another supersized field for poker players. And what is amazing is how the WSOP manages to whittle the field down in the first day to about 10% of the starting number. Cards were in the air at noon until 1:30 am the next morning after 90% of the field were sent to the rail. When action did start, players wasted no time shifting into gear and the body count climbed. Casualties included Greg Raymer, Antonio Esfandiari, Andy Bloch, Burt Boutin, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth Jr., Kathy Liebert, David Williams, Joe Hachem, Bill Chen, Erick Lindgren and Scott Clements. Young Phan went to the side lines after his A K suited was defeated by another player holding pocket A's. Jimmy Fricke joined him after his bluff with J 4 suited failed against someone who held pocket 6's as well as Alan Kessler when his A J suited ran into a pocket pair of Aces.

Outside of the top nine players listed below, other players who made the cut for Day 2 were Barry Greenstein 89,600, Thom Werthmann 73,100, Humberto Brenes 58,200, Kenna James 48,300, Hasan Habib 36,700, George Dunst 34,200, Joe Tehan 27,200 and David Plastik 25,500. A total of 218 will move on to Day 2. Here are the top nine players with chip counts:
  1. Michael Polcari 130,000
  2. Jason Yates 115,200
  3. Christian Holt 113,300
  4. Eric Beren 110,900
  5. Michael Zulker 107,000
  6. David Barter 102,300
  7. Michel Leibgorin 97,100
  8. Matthew Wood 93,700
  9. Gordon Hamilton 92,800

Event 39 No Limit Hold'em Day 2

Money payouts for the final nine:

  1. $631,656
  2. $389,844
  3. $278,460
  4. $233,906
  5. $191,209
  6. $150,368
  7. $113,240
  8. $85,394
  9. $58,290
The race for the gold bracelet continues with blinds at 800/1600 with a 200 ante. A lot of pressure was taken off the field when Day 1 ended because all had made the money, but the intensity continued. Humberto Brenes busted early when his all-in with A K met the pocket Q's of another player. The cards on the table were A 10 9 J 8 giving the other player a Queen high straight and Brenes along with the shark toy the boot. Kenna James also went out for fresh air after his all-in with A 6 was beaten by another player that managed to pair his 3 card. Barry Greenstein pushed the remainder of all his chips to the middle with A 4, only to lose to the flush hand of another player.

Other players who's dreams of the gold vanished as they left the competition include Hasan Habib in 126th $4,084, William Gazes in 95th $4,826, Joe Tehan in 88th $5,569 and Luke Vrabel in 83rd $5,569. Play will continue tomorrow at 2:00 pm.
  1. Thom Werthmann 1,600,000
  2. Thanh Dat Tran 1,255,000
  3. Curtis Early 1,225,000
  4. David Woo 1,090,000
  5. Matt Wood 675,000
  6. Habib Khanis 645,000
  7. Eric Beren 640,000
  8. Jim Paras 535,000
  9. Michael Glasser 495,000

Event 39 No Limit Hold'em Final Table

Additional notes on the event from the WSOP:

The tournament was played over three consecutive days. The final table was played on the ESPN main stage and was broadcast by Bluff Media on ESPN360. With results from this event added, a significant milestone was crossed as more than 12,000 different players have now cashed in the 39-year history of the World Series of Poker. Furthermore, a total of 117 players have won over a million dollars at the WSOP.

The 2008 $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em champion is David Woo, a.k.a. "The Magnificent." He is a 30-year-old poker pro. Woo has been playing poker full-time for about five years. Woo was given his nickname "The Magnificent" by none other than Josh Arieh, a two-time WSOP gold bracelet winner from Atlanta. Arieh plays regularly with Woo in home games and gave him his complimentary moniker. Woo won $631,656 for first place. This was also his first WSOP gold bracelet victory. This marked his fourth time to cash at the WSOP, all since 2005. The final table clocked in at about 6.5 hours.

Things changed significantly for David "The Magnificent" Woo when he was able to bust both Thom Werthmann and Curtis Early in the same hand after he flopped the nut straight. Woo held A K and the flop was Q J 10, after which he did not look back with over 5 million chips in his stack. The winning hand came for David when after a flop of 9 5 4, both players went all-in with David holding pocket 10's and Matt having 9 6. The turn card was a Queen and the river card a 4, which gave David the win, the bracelet and the title of champion.

  1. David Woo $631,550
  2. Matt Wood $389,844
  3. Eric Beren $278,460
  4. Habib Khanis $233,906
  5. Thom Werthmann $191,209
  6. Curtis Early $150,368
  7. Thanh Dat Tran $113,240
  8. Michael Glasser $85,394
  9. Jim Paras $58,290

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