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2007 World Series of Poker
Events 36 to 40

Event #36 | #37 | #38 | #39 | #40

Event #36 June 21 Thursday 5:00 PM
World Championship Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better 3 day event $5,000.00

There were 280 that entered this event, just a little above the 265 players in 2006, and within that field are a lot of talented pros. Seen at the tables were Greg "Fossilman" Raymer, Can Kim Hua, Annie Duke, Eric Seidel, Freddy Deeb, Randy "Dreamcrusher" Jensen, Mike Matusow, Phil Ivey, Men "The Master" Nguyen, Michael Mizrachi, Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu and of course Robert Williamson III. All players will have $10,000 in chips to start and each level will last 1 hour. Money schedule payouts will go to 27th place and the prize pool reached $1,316,000. It was a long day for all involved streching from 5:15 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. and the 147 who will return for day 2 should provide for another great day of poker. Of those who will be playing on Day 2 include David Benyamine with 34,000 chips, Patrick Antonius 33,900, Mel Judah 30,400, Chris Reslock 30,300, Barry Greenstein 29,600, Lee Watkinson 27,500 and Robert Williamson III 21,000.

Day 2 was a long one, lasting 13 hours to finish landing the names of the nine for the final table. Moving on to the final table, play got underway at 4:10 p.m. PDT. First elimination came for Jim Grove finishing 9th. Jim was fortunate enough to land a Ace to 5 straight on the turn and went all-in, unfortunately David Flores found the 10d needed for a flush winning the hand. Bart Hanson went out in 8th place losing to the paired 7's of Randy Jensen. Jensen was also responsible for sidelining Michael Pollowitz in 7th with two pair (A's and 4's). A few minutes later Jensen had two back to back hands, (one having a flop of 6 6 6), in which he lost a lot of chips. Jensen busted in 6th, losing to the King high straight of John Guth. Greg Jameson goes out in 5th place after being stopped by the two pair (A's and Q's) of Robert Stevanovski. Stevanovski then sent Max Reynard out for a 4th place paycheck after making a wheel and a six high straight. Taking another step closer to the bracelet, Stevanovski busted David Flores in 3rd with a monster two pair (A's and K's).

Chip counts at the heads up are John "Sir Scoopalot" Guth with 1,880,000 and Robert Stevanovski having 920,000. Play went for 3 1/2 hours before the winning hand came up. Stevanovski had been beaten down pretty bad to around 300,000 chips when both players went all-in. Once the dust cleared, John Guth had made a full house (9's/8's) to claim the bracelet and title of champion. Jumping up and down with some screaming added, John eventually put the gold and diamond bracelet on his wrist. Needless to say, John was happy!

Final table results:

1. John Guth -- $363,216
2. Robert Stevanovski -- $218,456
3. David Flores -- $148,708
4. Massimo Reynaud -- $101,332
5. Greg Jamison -- $75,012
6. Randy "Dreamcrusher" Jensen -- $59,220
7. Michael Pollowitz -- $44,744
8. Bart Hanson -- $32,900
9. Jim Grove -- $23,688

Event #37 June 22 Friday 12 Noon
Pot Limit Hold'em 3 day event $2,000.00

There were 599 players who entered this tournament, helping to create a $1,090,180 prize pool. Money goes to the top 54. Seen at the tables were 2005 Main Event winner Joseph Hachem and his brother Tony Hachem, Can Kim Hua, Thomas Wahlroos, Jennifer Tilly, Phil Laak, Mimi Tran, Allen Cunningham, Melissa Hayden, Steve Paul-Ambrose, David Plastik, Ted Lawson, T.J. Cloutier, Howard Lederer, Rafe Furst, Antonio Esfandiari, John Gale and Burt Boutin. Lots of hot play took place, even some really bad beats. For instance, in a hand with Michael Mizrachi and Joe Pelton, Pelton has pocket 10's while Mizrachi has pocket A's and both go all-in preflop. Pelton gets another 10 to send Mizrachi to the rail. In another hand Erica Schoenberg had pocket A's verses Joe Hachem's K J. By the time the river comes Joe gets what he needs for a flush and sends Erica out of the tournament. By 2:15 a.m. on June 23rd there were 45 left that will come back for another round.

On Day 2, even though there were 45 players a lot of activity took place. T.J. Cloutier missed the final table busting in 11th after his last chips with two pair (A's and 8's) were taken by Yuval Bronshtein with a set of 10's. Yuval Bronshtein had 129,500 on Day 1 but increased them to over 500,000 to become chip leader at the final table, busting a lot of players in the process. Greg Hopkins with 72,000 ramped up his total to 455,000 and Jason Newburger ran his 78,500 to well over a quarter of a million. Ray Coburn took out players like Travis Rice to get his chance at the bracelet. So tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. they will all begin battle to see who will be known as champion.

About 3:15 p.m. the nine for the final table began to play to see who will take the gold and diamond bracelet home. Bryan O'Connell was the first to go in 9th when his A J met the pocket 10's of Greg Hopkins. Ray Coburn was gone in 8th when his pocket 4's could not hold up to the paired Kings of Gioi Luong. In an ultra bad-beat Gioi Luong was busted in 7th after his two pair (A's and K's) fell to the full house (8's/K's) of Yuval Bronshtein. Then Bronshtein used his paired 4's to outdo the Q 9 of Robert Collison, sending Collison out for fresh air with a 6th place finish. David Zarrin had his A x hand crushed by the Broadway straight (Ace thru 10) of Pete Lawson to finish in 5th. Pete Lawson had his stack crippled by Jason Newburger in one hand, and then was finished by Newburger in the next hand to accept a 4th place finish. Table bully Yuval Bronshtein received a comeuppance when his all-in with pocket 6's were snuffed by the paired A's of Greg Hopkins, sending Bronshtein away in 3rd.

When the heads up began, (Greg Hopkins has 1,660,000 chips and Jason Newburger 740,000), no one wanted to take any risks with lots of limp-ins, checks and hardly any betting. But the final hand did take place when Newburger went in with Kc Qs and was called by Hopkins with pocket J's. What hit the felt was 10d 9d 2h 10c 4c, giving Greg Hopkins the win and his first WSOP championship bracelet.

Final table results:

1. Greg Hopkins -- $269,274
2. Jason Newburger -- $165,707
3. Yuval Bronshtein -- $109,018
4. Pete Lawson -- $72,497
5. David Zarrin -- $52,874
6. Robert Collison -- $41,427
7. Gioi Luong -- $31,070
8. Ray Coburn -- $22,894
9. Bryan O'Connell -- $16,353

Event #38 June 23 Saturday 12 Noon
No-Limit Hold�em 3 day event $1,500.00

With another bracelet at the end of a WSOP rainbow playing No Limit Hold'Em, 2778 players came to the tables for a piece of a $3,791,970 prize pool and that money will go to 270 players. Even with the high end H.O.R.S.E. tournament beginning tomorrow, there were a lot of pros in the field for this tournament. After 14 hours of play the tournament ended for Day 1. There were 180 survivors who will return to the tables on June 24th. And a number of big names will be playing on Day 2 such as Chris Bjorin with 101,400 chips, Men "The Master" Nguyen 91,500, Kathy Liebert 82,100, Robert Cheung 89,500, Anna Wroblewski 69,900, Eric "Rizen" Lynch 60,000, Sorel Mizzi 59,200, Burt Boutin 56,900, Ed Moncada 55,000, Morgan Machina 50,200 and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson 39,600. These will play to the 9 for the final table starting at 2:00 p.m.

At 2:00 p.m. Day 2 got underway with eliminations continuing to the final nine, 45 went out in the first hour. Chris Ferguson was highly active as he not only played in this tourney, but the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event at the same time. But things got easier for Chris when he busted out in 118th position. But he simply ran over to the H.O.R.S.E. event before picking up his money for this event!. Part of the group who had their bracelet dreams put to rest today were Marcello DelGrosso, Ryan Daut, Ron Faltinsky, Ed Moncada, Robert Hwang, Anna Wroblewski, Kathy Liebert, Men "The Master" Nguyen, Eric "Rizen" Lynch, Marcel Luske and Burt Boutin. Final table play will begin at 3:00 p.m. on June 25th.

Play began at 3:20 p.m. to see who would be the one with a gold and diamond bracelet on their arm. Nick Goodall's dream was stopped in 9th place after his pocket 8's were pushed under by the full house (2's/6's) of Erica Schoenberg. She also busted Ernie Crespo who's pocket 5's were overrun by another full house (6's/10's), leaving him in an 8th place finish. Suey Wong left in 7th losing to the King kicker of Richard Murnick. Murnick also won a hand with Chris Bjorin leaving Chris in a 6th place finish. At this point Erica has a monster stack of 2,910,000 chips, placing her has chip leader. When the blinds were raised to $60,000/$120,000, with a $15,000 ante, Andrew Lee lost his 735,000 chips in an all-in move to Robert Cheung who won the hand with two pair (K's and 9's). Cheung then took pocket K's to eliminate John Kranyak in 4th. Cheung also used two pair (8's and 7's) to end Erica Schoenburg's shot at the title of champion with a 3rd place ending. (Erica you did well, we hope to see you with a bracelet soon!)

On the next hand it was all over. Blinds were at $80,000/$160,000 with a $20,000 ante. With Robert Cheung's 7,125,000 chips verses Richard Murnick's 1,180,000, Murnick (8d 7s) called Cheung's raise (Ac Kd) with an all in of which Cheung took on. The board showed Jh 5c 4c Ac 4s giving the win and the title of champion with a bracelet you can't buy anywhere to Robert Cheung!

Final table results:

1. Robert Cheung -- $673,628
2. Richard Murnick -- $417,117
3. Erica Schoenberg -- $261,646
4. John Kranyak -- $170,639
5. Andrew Lee -- $119,447
6. Chris Bjorin -- $87,215
7. Suey Wong -- $68,255
8. Ernie Crespo -- $51,192
9. Nick Goodall -- $40,195

Event #39 June 24 Sunday 12 Noon
World Championship H.O.R.S.E. 5 day event $50,000.00

Full coverage on this 5 day event can be found at our World Championship H.O.R.S.E. report.

Event #40 June 24 Sunday 5:00 PM
Mixed Hold'em (Limit/No-Limit) 3 Day event $1,500.00

If they were not in the H.O.R.S.E. event, they were here in Event #40. In fact 620 entered this event with a number of players who busted out of the H.O.R.S.E. tournament also at these tables. With this tourney, the games No Limit/Limit will switch every 30 minutes with each player starting with $3,000 in chips. Money will go to the top 63 and they will share a prize pool of $846,300. Jeffrey Lisandro who was the first bustout in Event #39, ended the day with 50,500 chips and will come back to play the next day. Others to do the same are Fabrice Soulier 34,600, Phil Gordon 14,900, Feming Chan 12,200, John Cernuto 9,600, Todd "Dan Druff" Witteles 6,400 and Shannon Shorr 5,900. At the end of the day, there were 125 that will return tomorrow to compete for the final table.

(We did not get details for Day 2, but we know the obvious that the 125 did play down to the final table. Sorry about that!)

When the final table was underway at 3:08 p.m., the game was No Limit Hold'Em, and the blinds were at $6,000/$12,000. Within 5 minutes short stacked Karlo Lopez went all-in with Ah Qh and was called by Christoph Niesert with pocket J's. Niesert received a third Jack sending Lopez to the rail in 9th. Reza Zand claimed the winnings for 8th place after losing to the Ace high hand of Kevin Marcotte. Next elimination happened when Niesert busted Michael Craig in 7th with a Queen kicker. Joe Brandenburg walked away in 6th once he met the two pair (4's and 5's) of Fred Goldberg. And Kevin Marcotte's hand of A Q was overcome by the paired K's of Rene Mouritsen to end up in a 5th place finish. Scott Bohlman finished 4th by losing to the Ace kicker of Rene Mouritsen, picking up over 50K for his efforts. Next on the Mouritsen bustout list is Christoph Niesert who had his pocket 9's beaten back by the two pair (A's and 7's) of Mouritsen.

For the heads up chip counts are, Rene Mouritsen -- 940,000 Fred Goldberg -- 925,000 and the game is Limit Hold'Em with blinds of $20,000/$40,000 and limits of $40,000/$80,000. Goldberg won numerous hands one after the other, whittling down Mouritsen's stack mostly through blinds and antes. The game later switches over to No Limit and when Mouritsen reached 445,000, the final hand took place. After a flop of Jh 8h 4h both players went all in, Goldberg with 10h 7h for a 10 high flush and Mouritsen having 5h 2h for a five high flush and a potential runner-runner straight flush draw. Turn card was 5d and river was a Ks giving the bracelet and the title of champion to Fred Goldberg.

Final table results:

1. Fred Goldberg -- $205,271
2. Rene Mouritsen -- $126,099
3. Christoph Niesert -- $82,937
4. Scott Bohlman -- $54,586
5. Kevin Marcotte -- $39,353
6. Joe Brandenburg -- $30,467
7. Michael Craig -- $22,850
8. Reza Zand -- $16,926
9. Karlo (The Wizard) Lopez -- $12,271