2008 Event 42 Seniors No-Limit Hold’em World Championship

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2008 WSOP Event 42 Seniors No-Limit Hold’em World Championship

Individual Event Reports

Event 42 Seniors No-Limit Hold’em World Championship Day 1

Statistics on event for Day 1:

  • Number of Entries 2,218
  • Net Prize Pool $2,018,380
  • Total Spots Paid Out 198
  • First Place Prize $368,832
The initial starting amount of chips was to be 2,000, but many women in the field told tournament officials that this was too small of an amount (especially for a $1,000 buy in), so the amount was raised up to 3,000 for each players. What the goal is would be to last through ten levels of play. Some of the names in the field are Humberto Brenes, Amarillo Slim Preston, Barry Shulman, Eskimo Clark, Men "The Master" Nguyen, Shirley Williams, Johnny Chan, Maureen Feduniak, Mike Caro and Thor Hansen. The oldest player in the field was 91 years young by the name of Harold Waite.

Bustouts took place so fast it was hard to tell who was going and who was coming. A few unfortunates who were sidelined include Blair Rodman, "Minneapolis" Jim Meehan, Billy Baxter, Shirley Williams, Doug "Rico" Carli and Jack Mc Clellan. By close to 1:00 am, it was time to bag the chips for the next go round to see who makes the final table. There were 220 left after Day 1. Here are the top 9 with chip counts:
  1. Duane Gerleman 139,800
  2. Steve Fager 101,700
  3. Dale Eberle 86,200
  4. Tom Franklin 84,100
  5. Men "The Master" Nguyen 81,500
  6. Dempster Ross 75,800
  7. Avery Cardoza 73,100
  8. Ralph Wetterhahn 70,800
  9. Gregory Alston 69,000

Event 42 Seniors No-Limit Hold’em World Championship Day 2

Money for top 9 finishers:

  1. $368,832
  2. $235,141
  3. $156,424
  4. $131,194
  5. $106,974
  6. $84,771
  7. $64,588
  8. $49,450
  9. $34,312
Day 2 got underway with only 22 more players to go until the money truck pulls up. Needless to say things slowed down a lot, to where tournament officials decided that hand to hand play was needed. But when the money was reached so many busts took place to where a 10 minute break was needed in the event in order for the cashiers to catch up! After the first hour of play, there were 126 left in the field, which reflects a noticable amount of shrinkage that took place once the cash positions were made.

About 9:00 pm action slowed down considerably, but by 3:30 am the next day we wondered how many wanted to just curl up on the table and sleep. Luckly, by that time the players for the final table were reached. Here are the Final Table players with chip counts:
  1. Dale Eberle 1,414,000
  2. Dan Lacourse 1,364,000
  3. Marc Fluss 873,000
  4. Jerry Yamachika 558,000
  5. Charles Wood 531,000
  6. Fred Berger 518,000
  7. Ed Clark 504,000
  8. Martyn Wilson 454,000
  9. Peter Silverstein 435,000

Event 42 Seniors No-Limit Hold’em World Championship Final Table

Notes from the WSOP on this event:

This was the largest seniors' event in poker history. The turnout shattered last year's record of 1,882. The 2008 figure represents an 18 percent increase over 2007. To be eligible for entry into the Seniors championship, the entrant must be age 50 or older – which means the player had to have been born prior to June 23, 1958.

The 2008 Seniors World Champion is Dan LaCourse. He is a 56-year-old retired police detective. LaCourse was thrilled to win his first WSOP gold bracelet. "It's an honor I wanted my entire life," he said. "I have always wanted this and to be standing here with a gold bracelet and this moment is very special to me." LaCourse won $368,832 for first place. This was the highest poker prize ever paid out to any winner of a senior event.

The Event #42 winner Dan LaCourse is to be classified as an amateur poker player since he retired recently. Accordingly, the "Pro-Am" gold bracelet scoreboard currently reads:

  • Professionals – 32 wins
  • Amateurs -- 8 wins
  • Semi-Pros -- 2 wins


This final table was short, beginning at 2:00 and ending just before 7:00 pm. On the last hand, both players saw a flop of K 9 9 and a turn card of a 2. At that point Lacourse raises 500,000 and Eberle goes all-in of which Lacourse calls. Lacourse turns over 9 7 and Eberle shows K 4. And when the final card of a 8 hit the felt, Lacourse knew he finally realized his lifelong dream of winning a tournament at the WSOP and has the gold and diamond bracelet to prove it.
  1. Dan Lacourse $368,832
  2. Dale Eberle $235,141
  3. Marc Fluss $156,424
  4. Jerry Yamachika $131,194
  5. Fred Berger $106,974
  6. Charles Wood $84,771
  7. Peter Silverstein $64,588
  8. Ed Clark $49,450
  9. Martyn Wilson $34,312

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