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2007 World Series of Poker
Events 41 to 45

Event #41 | #42 | #43 | #44 | #45

Event #41 June 25 Monday 12 Noon
World Championship Seniors No-Limit Hold’em 3 day event $1,000.00

There were 1882 entrants in the World Championship Seniors No-Limit Hold’em tournament. Cash will go to the top 153 players which will split a prize pool of $1,712,620. There were many top names at the table such as Tom McEvoy, John Gale, Padraig Parkinson, Linda Johnson, Men "The Master" Nguyen, Miami John Cernuto, Chau Giang, Susie Isaacs, Barbara Enright, Paul Magriel, Dan Alspach, Amarillo Slim, John Esposito, Alan Smurfit, and Jerry Buss. Some had their opportunity for a bracelet cut short like John Esposito, Hans "Tuna" Lund, Al Krux, Blair Rodman, Debbie Burkhead and Ray Rumler. At the end there were 121 remaining that will return tomorrow to see who will make the final table.

A little after 2 p.m. PDT the second round started for this tournament, and the bustouts were taking place so fast that the line started and didn't let up for over an hour. Only 62 were left after two hours of play, with 33 remaining after 4 hours. Amarillo Slim Preston lost out to another players pocket A's, despite having a 4 diamond flush draw with 2d 3d 4d on the board, and he left to a huge round of applause in 96th place. Tom McEvoy went out hard when his pocket K's were defeated with another players set of 10's. Brad Daugherty gets the "bad beat" of the day when his all-in with Kc Qc was met with Ken Uchina's pocket 7's which turned into a set on the flop, a full house on the turn and quads by the river. Talking about insult to injury! By 12:30 a.m. the nine for the final table were established and they will return by 2:00 p.m. to see who gets the big money and wears the bracelet to show to all the young girls!

Well, things got underway for the final table at 2:00 p.m. and this one was highly different from other tournaments that have taken place so far. Charles Anderson went in 9th place after his pocket Q's were defeated by the paired K's of Tony Korfman 15 min into play. Ray Abels was gone in 8th when his A Q could not improve over the pocket 7's of Ernest Bennett. Next to go was Jack "The Staten Island Snake" Deutch in a 7th place finish after his K 9 stayed behind the A 9 of Ed Smith all the way to the river. Leon Lewis captured 6th when his Kc Jc was beaten by the two pair (A's and 6's) of Ernest Bennett. By this time it is 6:10 p.m. and players began falling like lead balloons. In 5th place was Thomas Catanzaro who fell around 6:15, 4th went to Ed Smith at 6:30 and 3rd place went to Rod Clarida who's Q J was dominated by Ernest Bennett's K J by 6:40.

Now the heads up which should have begun by 6:44...didn't happen. Before play got started, both players went to the side and cut a deal. Bennett was declared the winner and went to get his bracelet with photographs, and Korfman went to pick up his check. What exactly went on we don't know, but just chalk it up to being another strange but true story at the WSOP.

Final table results:

1. Ernest Bennett -- $348,423
2. Anthony Korfman -- $217,503
3. Rod Clarida -- $142,147
4. Ed Smith -- -$95,907
5. Thomas Cantanzaro -- $65,080
6. Leon Lewis -- $47,953
7. Jack Deutsch -- $35,965
8. Ray Abels -- $26,546
9. Chuck Anderson -- $20,209

Event #42 June 25 Monday 5:00 PM
Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low/Split-8 or Better 2 day event $1,500.00

There were 687 players entering this event creating a prizepool of $937,755 with cash going to the top 63 finishers. Everyone received 3,000 in chips and will play at levels lasting 60 min each. And a lot of players did turnout for this one. In the field were seen Mike Sexton, John Racener, Aaron Kanter, George Danzer, Humberto Brenes, Michael Binger, Layne Flack, Lee Watkinson, Joe Hachem, Brandon Cantu, Rafe Furst, Jeff Madsen, Chad Brown, Rolf Slotboom and Marcel Luske. There was a lot of activity at the tables with many bustouts. Among those who did not make the cut are John "Sirscoopalot" Guth who just won a bracelet in Event #36, Davood Mehrmand, David Benyamine, Johnny Chan, Eric Froehlich, Perry Friedman, Jon Friedburg, Jean Gaspard, Kathy Liebert, Berry Johnston, James Van Alstyne, Mel Judah and Amy Calistri. Total number of players going to the next round: 98.

Day 2 had some interesting things take place. For one 2006 bracelet holder Jeff Madsen, seemed quite irritated in one hand so badly, that he got up quickly which knocked his chips over and left. He came back later and got busted out of the tourney, so he was probably still irritated. Others who followed Jeff out the door were Michael Bozeman, Brett Jungblut, Aaron Kanter, Marcel Luske, Alan Smurfit, Anthony Reategui, David "Devilfish" Ulliott, Chau Giang, Tony G and William Chen. Mike Sexton also went out on a bad beat when his cards were A to K for a four card straight draw, but his opponent made the nut flush and nut low straight. Second interesting thing was that this tournament will be stretched to a 3rd day by officials. So you will have to come back to see who the new champion is!

Final table action began at 3:00 p.m. PDT. George Danzer was the first to go in 9th place after losing his last 7,000 chips to Thomas Hant and his Ace high flush. Mark Wilds was gone in 8th when he was eliminated by the set of Jacks belonging to Dario Alioto for the high. Gene Timberlake used his set of 10's to bust Thomas Hant in 7th place. Dario Alioto left in 6th when the two Kings of David Bach proved themselves dominate. Chad Brown took 5th position losing to the Queen high flush of David Bach. Bach also dispatched Gene Timberlake in 4th by the use of a pair of Kings. James Tolley was busted in 3rd in a 3-way tussle involving Bach and Lukasz Dumanski. Bach won with a set of 5's.

Heads up was fast with just one hand played. Dumanski had 1,405,000 chips and Bach had 650,000. Dumanski raised enough to put Bach all-in preflop and Bach called. Dumanski's hand was Ad Ac 3s Qc and Bach showed Jh Js 3c 6d. What hit the felt was Qh 8c 4c 3d 7s, giving Dumanski the win with two Aces for the high and he also hit the low. So it ends with a new champion winning a beautiful gold and diamond bracelet, $227,454, and a nice Corum watch!

Final table results:

1. Lukasz Dumanski -- $227,454
2. David Bach -- $139,725
3. James Tolley -- $91,900
4. Gene Timberlake -- $60,485
5. Chad Brown -- $43,606
6. Dario Alioto -- $33,759
7. Thomas Hunt III -- $25,319
8. Mark Wilds -- $18,755
9. George Danzen -- $13,597

Event #43 June 26 Tuesday 12 Noon
Limit Hold’em 3 day event $2,000.00

There were 472 players that entered this event, helping to create a prize pool of $944,000 which will be shared between the top 45. Players are beginning to get physically tired from being in all these back to back events. Howard Lederer was supposed to show in this event at the start, but came in 40 min later. Couple that with more players slowly coming in after tournament starts and it is easily understood. One player in this tourney that you can't forget is Ellix "He called me Jack high!" Powers. He did get into an argument with another player, the dealer and the floorman, eventually walking out on his chips. It would be interesting to see what else he had to say, but he busted out of the tourney. Following him were Juha Helppi, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Men "The Master" Nguyen, Thomas Wahlroos, Sabyl Cohen, Lakers owner Jerry Buss and Kenna "Cowboy" James. By 2:00 a.m. there were 61 that will come back for Day 2.

No big surprises took place on Day 2, although excitment did creep up on the players as the blinds increased forcing some to play less than desireable hands to stay alive. Some who ended up eliminated were Terrence Chan, Rolf Slotboom, Yuval Bronshtein, Roxanne Rhodes, Yueqi Zhu, Benjamin Lin, Noah Boeken, Tom Koral, Joe Sebok and David Plastik. Those who made the final table will have their showdown June 28th at 2:00 p.m.

The last round of play began at 2 pm which would actually prove to be a short day for all who sat down. Gerald Kane laid claim to 9th place as he tossed in his last chip which he held up to show the crowd with an A Q, but could not stand to the pocket 4's of Tommy Rounds. Joe Mandia put what was left of a crippled chip stack to the middle with pocket 6's and lost them all to the Broadway straight of William Jensen leaving in 8th. Two hands later, Robert Pacleb was busted in 7th losing to the two pair (K's and Q's) of Hal Havlisch. Unfortunately, Hal was next to leave in 6th when Michael Graffeo produced a set of 10's by the turn of their battle. At 5:25 p.m. it was Tommy Rounds's turn for elimination in 5th after his A K was stopped by the two pair (J's and Q's) of Saif Ahmad. On a bad beat, Justin Pechie went all-in with pocket K's, but had them cracked by the Jack high straight of William Jensen to finish in 4th place. Michael Graffeo left the tourney for fresh air in 3rd after losing to the paired 4's of William Jensen.

These players were ready for the heads up with William Jensen having 1,005,000 chips and Saif Ahmad having 875,000. Ahmad started on a winning rampage taking all the big hands and breaking down Jensen's stack badly. On the last hand, both players saw a flop of Jd Kh 2s after which Jensen went all-in and was called by Ahmad. Jensen had Kd Jc and Ahmad showed Qh 4h. Turn card was a 10s and the river card was an As, giving Ahmad the Ace high straight and the title of champion with a gold and diamond bracelet to go with it. This was all accomplished by 5:30 p.m. the same day.

Final table results:

1. Saif Ahmad -- $217,329
2. William Jensen -- $133,151
3. Michael Graffeo -- $88,481
4. Justin (looshle) Pechie -- $59,274
5. Tommy Rounds -- $43,811
6. Hal Havlisch -- $34,362
7. Robert Pacleb -- $25,771
8. Joe Mandia -- $18,899
9. Gerald Kane -- $13,745

Event #44 June 27 Wednesday 12 Noon
Omaha Hi-Low Split 2 day event $2,000.00

534 players sat together at the tables for this tournament. Money will go to the 54 top spots on the tournament list and we know at this point that first place will pay $240,057 to the winner. Prize pool reached $971,880. Many who sat down had to get up and leave before the day was done as they were eliminated. Names such as John "sirscoopsalot" Guth, Erik Seidel, Victor Ramdin, Chau Giang, Lee Watkinson, T.J. Cloutier, Humberto Brenes, Cyndy Violette, Linda Johnson, Andy Bloch, Annie Duke, Bill Gazes, Scotty Nguyen, Scott Clements, Phil Hellmuth Jr, Mickey Mills and Rob Hollink. Day 1 ended with 79 returning for another round which included players like Robert Williamson III with 40,000 chips, John Juanda 31,000, Tony Cousineau 20,000, Todd Brunson 18,000, Minneapolis Jim Meehan 14,000, Steve Billirakis 9,500 and William Chen 6,500. Action will start at 2:00 p.m. on June 28th.

Day 2 began as scheduled, which was kind of rare given the necessary shuffling with other events taking place at the same time. Marcel Luske had to make a big stand during play as he protested the dealer taking player's bets and putting them into the pot, instead of in front of the bettor. Well the floor came over and said Marcel was correct and play continued. At another table a player in a hand with Tony Cousineau who had pocket 9's and saw a flop of 9 5 5 actually folded his hand when another 5 hit the river! Cousineau showed the remaining 5 to the player. (That guy should add "Swami" to his list of nicknames.) Busting out on this day were William Chen, Minneapolis Jim Meehan, Robert Williamson III, Steve Billirakis, Marc Durand, Young Phan, Todd Brunson, Kathy Liebert, Doug "Rico" Carli, Blair Rodman, Tony Cousineau and John Juanda who just missed out making the final table going out in 10th place.

The last round for Event #44 started at 2:40 p.m. and the first one out was Mitch Maples in 9th place courtesy of the Broadway straight (A thru 10) of Thang Luu. Stuart Paterson was the victim of another Broadway straight this time from Marcel Luske, resulting in an 8th place finish for Stuart. A half hour later, Ming Lee had to settle for 7th spot in the tournament after getting the short end of the deck in a 4-way hand involving Marcel Luske, Martin Corpuz and Marvin Ryan who won the pot with a 9 high straight. Jess Robinson left in 6th after seeing the set of 5's of Martin Corpuz. At this point Frankie Odell began telling everyone at the table that this was his bracelet more than once. Odell continued to add to his chips after Marvin Ryan succumbed in 5th in another 4-way between all remaining players. Then Marcel Luske was eliminated in 4th when his two pair (10's and 3's) were bested by the bigger two pair (A's and 6's) of Thang Luu. After that Odell crippled Corpuz and Luu in two back to back hands, leaving Corpuz with 80,000 chips and Luu with 120,000. Odell has over 1.75 million now. In the next hand, Odell busted Corpuz with a Queen high straight in 3rd.

Luu only had 60,000 chips left for the heads up between him and Odell, so he went all-in with 4s 5c 10d Js and Odell called with 2h 3d 9c Qd. The board showed Qc 9s 6d Jh Ad, giving Odell two pair (Q's and 9's) along with the championship bracelet that he prophesied he would win.

Final table results:

1. Frankie Odell -- $240,057
2. Thang Luu -- $147,726
3. Martin Corpuz Jr. -- $97,188
4. Marcel Luske -- $64,630
5. Marvin Ryan -- $47,136
6. Jess Robinson -- $36,931
7. Ming Lee -- $27,699
8. Stuart Paterson -- $20,409
9. Mitch Maples -- $14,578

Event #45 June 28 Thursday 12 Noon
No-Limit Hold'em/Six Handed 3 day event $5,000.00

728 showed up to play for a slice of a big $3,421,600 prize pool. Cash goes to the top 78 finishers. And again the top pros were seen at the tables such as Joe Hachem bringing his brother Tony with him, David "Devilfish" Ulliott, Dutch Boyd, Kevin O'Donnell, Huck Seed, Ted Lawson, Erik Seidel, Jennifer Harman, Phil Laak, Daniel Negreanu, Jennifer Tilly and Humberto Brenes to name just a few. So many big names kept coming in, that some were on their way back out at the same time. Among the busted for this days play were Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, John D'Agostino, Daniel Negreanu, Tobey Maguire, Greg Mueller, Gavin Smith, Mike Wattel and Scotty Nguyen after his pocket A's which turned into a set of Aces on the flop were cracked by the Ace high spade flush of another player. The other player called Scotty's pre flop all-in with Js 5s. Fabrice Soulier also was busted on a bad break in a hand with Jamie Gold. Fabrice had J 8 and Jamie had pocket Q's. Board showed J 5 J which was good until 10 Q showed giving Jamie a bigger set and sending Fabrice to the rail. Day 1 ended at 2:45 a.m. with 77 left to move on to the next round.

At 2:05 p.m. the second day began with a Phil Hellmuth at the table on time ready to play! He was one of the 77 survivors of Day 1 looking for that gold and diamond bracelet. Because the bubble was broken yesterday, bustouts were expected and happening every 2 to 4 minutes for the next hour and a half. Some of the eliminations that took place today were Tobey Maguire, Jeff Madsen, Tony Hachem, Allen Cunningham, Men "The Master" Nguyen, Roland de Wolfe, Jamie Gold, Morgan Machina, Roland DeWolfe, Sam Grizzle, Joe Beevers, Mark Vos and Phil Hellmuth Jr. who was looking for bracelet number 12. Phil's bad side began to show as he went from saying, '...I am the greatest Hold'em player in the world' to "F****** donkey!" as he continued to lose chips before his bust in 31st place. By 2:10 a.m. the six for the final table were named and will return at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow for a last run at the bracelet and title of champion.

Final table payouts:

1. $904,672
2. $504,686
3. $345,582
4. $232,669
5. $169,269
6. $110,860

1. Erik Friberg -- 2,795,000
2. Alex Bolotin -- 2,010,000
3. Dutch Boyd -- 705,000
4. Greg Pohler -- 655,000
5. Gioi Luong -- 570,000
6. Bill Edler -- 535,000