Poker Tournament Results

40th World Series of Poker 2009

Event #54 - WSOP No Limit Hold'em

June 29, 2009 at 12:00 PM
Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino
Tournament Schedule

Buy-In	$1,500
Prize Pool	$3,846,570
Entries	2818
Report Available Live Coverage

Tony Veckey

Place	Name	Prize
1	Tony Veckey (Lake In the Hills, IL, USA)	$673,276
2	Jason Wheeler (Chula Vista, CA, USA)	$418,122
3	Joseph Chaplin (Orangeburg, NY, USA)	$276,029
4	Sergey Konkin	$195,213
5	Andrew Malott (Mesa, AZ, USA)	$147,131
6	Christopher Bonita (Winthrop, MA, USA)	$117,358
7	Christopher DeMaci (Stanton, CA, USA)	$98,933
8	David Jaoui (Paris, France)	$87,855
9	Miha Remic AKA "navigator" (ljubljana, Slovenia)	$81,970
10	Michael Ratcliff (Martinsville, IN, USA)	$57,506
11	Arkadiy Tsinis (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$57,506
12	Brian Green (Chico, TX, USA)	$57,506
13	Felix Lambertz	$40,350
14	Thai Tran (Houston, TX, USA)	$40,350
15	Vivek Rajkumar AKA "Black Magic" (Seattle, WA, USA)	$40,350
16	John Spagnuolo (Howard Beach, NY, USA)	$28,310
17	Todd Lundwall (Scottsdale, AZ, USA)	$28,310
18	Kevin Rosini (Willow Grove, PA, USA)	$28,310
19	Jon Christensen (Oslo, Norway)	$19,848
20	Steven Rubinfeld (Danfield, CA, USA)	$19,848
21	Matthew Stern (Rock Island, IL, USA)	$19,848
22	Wayne Chow (London, ON, Canada)	$19,848
23	Paolo Nunes (Portugal)	$19,848
24	Philippe Narboni (Veigy, France)	$19,848
25	Eric Hayes AKA "eazy" (Moorestown, NJ, USA)	$19,848
26	Stephen Outram (Phoenix, AZ, USA)	$19,848
27	Michael Maher (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$19,848
28	Brandon Wong (Fresno, CA, USA)	$15,578
29	Kiran Desai (San Jose, CA, USA)	$15,578
30	Joshua Norris (Toronto, ON, Canada)	$15,578
31	Kim Svarstad	$15,578
32	Kenny Nguyen (Lynwood, IL, USA)	$15,578
33	John Farrell (Manorville, NY, USA)	$15,578
34	Dallin Pender (Gilbert, AZ, USA)	$15,578
35	Omar Mcfarlane (Ft Lauderdale, FL, USA)	$15,578
36	Zsombor Gall (Hungary)	$15,578
37	Florian Ristl (Leonding, Austria)	$11,616
38	Gary Burks (Glade Water, TX, USA)	$11,616
39	Henry Merchan (Barquisimeto, Venezuela)	$11,616
40	Mike Sica AKA "Little Man" (North Brunswick, NJ, USA)	$11,616
41	Danny Brown (Doncaster, UK)	$11,616
42	Mario Rodriquez (Miami, FL, USA)	$11,616
43	David Woo (Atlanta, GA, USA)	$11,616
44	Randall Pfeifer (Hamburg, NY, USA)	$11,616
45	Eric Knodler	$11,616
46	Craig Gray AKA "MrCasino" (Portland, OR, USA)	$9,116
47	Jamie Kerstetter (Monroe Township, NJ, USA)	$9,116
48	Scott Black (Longview, WA, USA)	$9,116
49	Don Boivin AKA "slicknastyAK" (Annapolis, MD, USA)	$9,116
50	Chris Heintschel (Escondido, CA, USA)	$9,116
51	Tuong Le (San Jose, CA, USA)	$9,116
52	Raymond Rahme (Johannesburg, South Africa)	$9,116
53	Jorge Arias (Caracas, Venezuela)	$9,116
54	Raymond W Hicks (Salem, NH, USA)	$9,116
55	Jason Collins (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$7,462
56	Bruce Perry (Dickson, TN, USA)	$7,462
57	Vanna Tea (Lakewood, CA, USA)	$7,462
58	Jason Hodges (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$7,462
59	Edmund Seliga (La Grange, IL, USA)	$7,462
60	Toni Ojala (Turku, Finland)	$7,462
61	Adrian Vizmanos (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$7,462
62	Mike Allis (Post Falls, ID, USA)	$7,462
63	Bhupinder Singh (Sacramento, CA, USA)	$7,462
64	Jason Thomas (Harrisburg, PA, USA)	$6,269
65	Richard En AKA "Consciousness" (Langley, BC, Canada)	$6,269
66	Jason Reed (Anchorage, AK, USA)	$6,269
67	Chad Tinney (Prince George, BC, Canada)	$6,269
68	John Leggett (Frisco, TX, USA)	$6,269
69	Jonathan McGowan (San Diego, CA, USA)	$6,269
70	Vince Lacariere (Fremont, CA, USA)	$6,269
71	Joseph Kouaho (Plano, TX, USA)	$6,269
72	Mark Zeh (Cleveland, OH, USA)	$6,269
73	Martial Blangenwitsch (Pfastatt, France)	$5,385
74	Jeff Chotikul (Centreville, VA, USA)	$5,385
75	Craig Corcoran (St Catharines, ON, Canada)	$5,385
76	Chad Martin (Newmarket, ON, Canada)	$5,385
77	Ben Palmer AKA "Withered" (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$5,385
78	Daniel Cote (St-Eustache, QC, Canada)	$5,385
79	Joshua Mammon (Richmond, BC, Canada)	$5,385
80	Alexandre Gomes (Curitiba, Brazil)	$5,385
81	Gregory Chambon (Saint Etienne, France)	$5,385
82	Bernard van Dijk (Vroomshoop, Netherlands)	$4,654
83	Joseph Morneau (Candia, NH, USA)	$4,654
84	Istvan Ratkai (Budapest, Hungary)	$4,654
85	Christopher Meinertsen (Copenhagen, Denmark)	$4,654
86	Biagio Morciano (Tricase, Italy)	$4,654
87	Klaus Schwarz (Kierspe, Germany)	$4,654
88	Francisco Musalem (Miami, FL, USA)	$4,654
89	Van Nguyen AKA "mrs master" (Bell Gardens, CA, USA)	$4,654
90	George Yutuc (Manhattan Beach, CA, USA)	$4,654
91	Alex Keating (Saratoga, CA, USA)	$4,077
92	Andrew Teng AKA "Golfpro699" (London, UK)	$4,077
93	Jesus Salerno	$4,077
94	Tycho van den Bergh	$4,077
95	Jeppe Mikkelsen (Aarhus, Denmark)	$4,077
96	Pat Madden (Lexington, KY, USA)	$4,077
97	Peter Kjaer (Broenshoed, Denmark)	$4,077
98	Nadav Benjosef AKA "Benyo" (Kfar Saba, Israel)	$4,077
99	Dau Ly AKA "Tommy Ly" (Duluth, GA, USA)	$4,077
100	Jerry Flannigan (Concord, NC, USA)	$3,615
101	Michael Foley (Wilmington, NC, USA)	$3,615
102	Sergey Kishnev (Dusseldorf, Germany)	$3,615
103	James Keys (Burt St Edmunds, UK)	$3,615
104	David Chang (Cerritos, CA, USA)	$3,615
105	Aaron Kweskin (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$3,615
106	Trent Wyatt	$3,615
107	Dimitri Amiryan (Volgograd, Russia)	$3,615
108	Steven Serle (Highland Beach, FL, USA)	$3,615
109	Johnny D'Silva (Aibling, Germany)	$3,615
110	Jim Pechac (Phoenix, AZ, USA)	$3,615
111	Richard Lee (San Antonio, TX, USA)	$3,615
112	Haysam Chiniara AKA "The Punisher" (Montreal, QC, Canada)	$3,615
113	Peter Raimondi (Grimsby, ON, Canada)	$3,615
114	Alex Bolotin AKA "Diesel" (Brooklyn, NY, USA)	$3,615
115	Pasi Motsakov	$3,615
116	Nathan Root (Charlotte, MI, USA)	$3,615
117	Kevin Kelsey AKA "Red Dawg" (Broken Arrow, OK, USA)	$3,615
118	Philip Starner (Belleview, FL, USA)	$3,615
119	Michael Ium (Toronto, ON, Canada)	$3,615
120	Michael Durand (Rexford, NY, USA)	$3,615
121	Darren Griffiths (Waterdown, ON, Canada)	$3,615
122	Bryan Bechard (Niagra Falls, NY, USA)	$3,615
123	Robert Finlay (Thornton Cleveleys, UK)	$3,615
124	Nersan Naidoo	$3,615
125	Geno Foschi (Henderson, NV, USA)	$3,615
126	Christopher Campbell (Longview, WA, USA)	$3,615
127	Jose Deandrade (E Providence, RI, USA)	$3,615
128	Rose Cooney (Collierville, TN, USA)	$3,615
129	Juan Carlos Mortensen AKA "El Matador" (Henderson, NV, USA)	$3,615
130	Craig Hartman (Syracuse, IN, USA)	$3,615
131	Paul Garbedian (Paris, ON, Canada)	$3,615
132	Peter Yu (Buena Park, CA, USA)	$3,615
133	Roberto Machado (Maia, Portugal)	$3,615
134	Kaj Emanuel (Amsterdam, Netherlands)	$3,615
135	John Lawson (Toronto, ON, Canada)	$3,615
136	Gabriels Lepore	$3,308
137	Charalampos Tsaoussis AKA "KingGr" (Glyfada, Greece)	$3,308
138	Kevin Eyring (Windham, NH, USA)	$3,308
140	Thomas Maguire (Florham Park, NJ, USA)	$3,308
141	Richard Sorenson (Olympia, WA, USA)	$3,308
142	Ut Nguyen (Bell Gardens, CA, USA)	$3,308
143	Jinyun Lin (San Jose, CA, USA)	$3,308
144	Suzanne Lussier (Chateauguay, QC, Canada)	$3,308
145	Steen Vester (Frederiksberg, Denmark)	$3,308
146	Robert Hohenwalter (Oshikosh, WI, USA)	$3,308
147	David Bownds (Amarillo, TX, USA)	$3,308
148	Qui Ho (North Charleston, SC, USA)	$3,308
149	Dan Larsen (Viborg, Denmark)	$3,308
150	Dane Steele (Helotes, TX, USA)	$3,308
151	Jack Converse (Yorba Linda, CA, USA)	$3,308
152	Paul Koeppl (Wauconda, IL, USA)	$3,308
153	Thad Mitchell (San Antonio, TX, USA)	$3,308
154	Lauren Kling (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$3,308
155	Victoriya Taranova (Tver, Russia)	$3,308
156	Ulian Embert	$3,308
157	Eric Larcheveque (Neuilly Sur Seine, France)	$3,308
158	John Houtsma (Roswell, GA, USA)	$3,308
159	Lawrence Shawe (West Palm Beach, FL, USA)	$3,308
160	Florian Blumel (Dueren, Germany)	$3,308
161	Jerry Skelton (Miami Beach, FL, USA)	$3,308
162	Henrik Tollefsen (Trondheim, Norway)	$3,308
163	Kenny Chuor (Midway City, CA, USA)	$3,308
164	Vincent Chung (Monterey Park, CA, USA)	$3,308
165	Ernesto Basa (Hayward, CA, USA)	$3,308
166	Greg Alston (Miami Beach, FL, USA)	$3,308
167	Mick Kokkeler (Junction City, OR, USA)	$3,308
168	Dangkhoa Nguyen (Waldorf, MD, USA)	$3,308
169	Anthony Harb (Westland, MI, USA)	$3,308
170	Frank Muller (Aachen, Germany)	$3,308
171	Amit Makhija AKA "amak316" (Brookfield, WI, USA)	$3,308
172	Nicolas Vogel (Goeppingen, Germany)	$3,077
173	Thomas Fuller (Boulder, CO, USA)	$3,077
174	Michael Batell (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$3,077
175	Craig Ripley (Innisfil, ON, Canada)	$3,077
176	Mathias Kuerschner (Duesseldorf, Germany)	$3,077
177	Ryan Eckhart (Woodbury, MN, USA)	$3,077
178	Travis Allen (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$3,077
179	Michael Lehmann (ON, Canada)	$3,077
180	Kenneth Terrell (Lawrenceville, GA, USA)	$3,077
181	Steven Zarifis (Coupeville, WA, USA)	$3,077
182	Kim Wooka (Osaka, Japan)	$3,077
183	Andrew Shepherd (Manchester, UK)	$3,077
184	Brett Nalder (Ogden, UT, USA)	$3,077
185	Roy Shimada (Honolulu, HI, USA)	$3,077
186	Wendeen Eolis (New York, NY, USA)	$3,077
187	Sanford Lee (Richmond, BC, Canada)	$3,077
188	Ronaldo Uliana (Sao Paolo, Brazil)	$3,077
189	Jonathan Dull (Fresno, CA, USA)	$3,077
190	Glenn Cooper (Santa Monica, CA, USA)	$3,077
191	Keoki Ho (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$3,077
192	Michael Yang (Bowling Green, KY, USA)	$3,077
193	Jason Pohl (Austin, TX, USA)	$3,077
194	Victor McDevitt (Hebron, KY, USA)	$3,077
195	Steve Simer (Pardeeville, WI, USA)	$3,077
196	Veronica Dabul (Buenos Aires, Argentina)	$3,077
197	Alex Mass (Dortmund, Germany)	$3,077
198	Morten Lovdal (Skien, Norway)	$3,077
199	Kyle Zartman (Sherwood, OR, USA)	$3,077
200	Julien Andre (Vitry/Orne, France)	$3,077
201	Ed Stafsholt (Grants Pass, OR, USA)	$3,077
202	Evgeny Serebryakov AKA "Teach Me Pls" (Moscow, Russia)	$3,077
203	Matt Polishuk (London, ON, Canada)	$3,077
204	Paulo Branco (Lisbon, Portugal)	$3,077
205	In Kwon (Toronto, ON, Canada)	$3,077
206	Rip Fritzer (El Cajon, CA, USA)	$3,077
207	Eric Adornetto (Hamburg, Germany)	$3,077
208	Jennifer Richie (Anchorage, AK, USA)	$2,923
209	Xavier Jacquet-Duval (Paris, France)	$2,923
210	Franck Calonnec (France)	$2,923
211	Jody Howe (Delta, BC, Canada)	$2,923
212	Eric De Grande	$2,923
213	Tom Blackwell (Hatfield, PA, USA)	$2,923
214	Daniel Falkenstein (Huntington Beach, CA, USA)	$2,923
215	Zhiliang Chen (Shanghai, China)	$2,923
216	Petr Jelinek (Prague, Czech Republic)	$2,923
217	Antonio Maestro (Spain)	$2,923
218	Enrico Lazzari AKA "LazzaroErici" (Mercatino Conca, Italy)	$2,923
219	Andres Rey (Sacramento, CA, USA)	$2,923
220	Diana Grimme (Niedersachsen, Germany)	$2,923
221	Bryan Paris (Huntington Beach, CA, USA)	$2,923
222	Eugene Tito AKA "The Machine" (Glendale, CA, USA)	$2,923
223	Richard Wyrick (Lake Mary, FL, USA)	$2,923
224	Lee Biddulph (UK)	$2,923
225	Todd Arnold (Pompano Beach, FL, USA)	$2,923
226	Julien Legros (Poitiers, France)	$2,923
227	Timothy McKernan (St. Louis, MO, USA)	$2,923
228	Oliver Decamps (St Orens De Gameville, France)	$2,923
229	Matthew Mille (St Cloud, MN, USA)	$2,923
230	Men "The Master" Nguyen (Bell Gardens, CA, USA)	$2,923
231	Dean Hamrick (Plymouth, MI, USA)	$2,923
232	Lance Yuen (Atlanta, GA, USA)	$2,923
233	Aaron Crislip (Waipahu, HI, USA)	$2,923
234	Tom Daly (Stone Ridge, NY, USA)	$2,923
235	Andras Kovacs (Falkenberg, Sweden)	$2,923
236	James Husain (North Vancouver, BC, Canada)	$2,923
237	Tom Percy (Spring Grove, IL, USA)	$2,923
238	Ingo Becker (Bad Homburg, Germany)	$2,923
239	Hevad "Rainbow" Khan (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$2,923
240	Antonio Karman (Budapest, Hungary)	$2,923
241	Jeffrey Casas (Kenilworth, IL, USA)	$2,923
242	Gavin Tamashiro (Waipahu, HI, USA)	$2,923
243	Jeffrey Joseph (East Amherst, NY, USA)	$2,923
244	Howard Smith (Bedford, UK)	$2,923
245	David Warady (Santa Ana, CA, USA)	$2,923
246	Gerald Eberle (Bregent, Austria)	$2,923
247	Jan Romate	$2,923
248	Michael Noor (Ajax, ON, Canada)	$2,923
249	John Reinhold (Playa Del Rey, CA, USA)	$2,923
250	Chris Wunderlich (Hegley, AZ, USA)	$2,923
251	Julien Lanne (Bourges, France)	$2,923
252	Robert Edenshaw (Hydaburg, AK, USA)	$2,923
253	Garrett Harper (Loudon, TN, USA)	$2,769
254	Russell Krueger (Scottsdale, AZ, USA)	$2,769
255	Robert Thrane (St. Paul, MN, USA)	$2,769
256	Alexey Tkachencko (Moscow, Russia)	$2,769
257	Costantino Rao (Brampton, ON, Canada)	$2,769
258	Scott Epstein (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$2,769
259	Todd Richardson (Harpswell, ME, USA)	$2,769
260	Jules Dreamell (Swartsjo, Sweden)	$2,769
261	Anthony Varriano (Waterloo, ON, Canada)	$2,769
262	Jos Urhausen (Wickrange, Luxembourg)	$2,769
263	Waylon Frey (New Braunfels, TX, USA)	$2,769
264	Rizziero Osso (Harrington Park, NJ, USA)	$2,769
265	Geoffrey Brooks (Bletchley, UK)	$2,769
266	Michael Jones (Dallas, TX, USA)	$2,769
267	Lambert De Vries (Groningen, Netherlands)	$2,769
268	Claude Narcisse	$2,769
269	Phillip Brautigam (Stahnsdorf, Germany)	$2,769
270	James Matteucci (Roswell, NM, USA)	$2,769
271	Benoit Rossignon (Rheims, France)	$2,769
272	Tom Scudieri (Chandler, AZ, USA)	$2,769
273	Gustavo Nazario (Somerset, KY, USA)	$2,769
274	Scott Dorsch (Independence, MO, USA)	$2,769
275	John Hom (San Rafael, CA, USA)	$2,769
276	Tom Inuie (Beaverton, OR, USA)	$2,769
277	Alexander Borteh (Lewis Center, OH, USA)	$2,769
278	Chris Dolan AKA "NBC-Media" (Grand Prairie, AB, Canada)	$2,769
279	Frank Sinopoli (Hollywood, FL, USA)	$2,769
280	Christian Bowerman (Stockton, CA, USA)	$2,769
281	Heriot Mungo IV (Midlothian, VA, USA)	$2,769
282	Jeff Gore (Chico, CA, USA)	$2,769
283	Daniel Minor AKA "The Miracle" (Elizabethtown, PA, USA)	$2,769
284	Mark Compton (Longview, TX, USA)	$2,769
285	Theo Tran (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$2,769
286	Brent Joost (Defiance, OH, USA)	$2,769
287	Patrick Shane Devan (Tampa, FL, USA)	$2,769
288	Craig Hower (Union, WA, USA)	$2,769
289	Mark Gearhart (Tampa, FL, USA)	$2,769
290	Kenneth Skidmore (Oakdale, PA, USA)	$2,769
291	Denise Molloy (La Jolla, CA, USA)	$2,769
292	Fred Jensen (Copenhagen, Denmark)	$2,769
293	Allyn Shulman (Laguna Niguel, CA, USA)	$2,769
294	Alan Steer (Sussex, UK)	$2,769
295	Terry Brackenbury (Carthage, IL, USA)	$2,769
296	Taylor Shpur (Witherbee, NY, USA)	$2,769
297	Christophe Alchenberger AKA "Big Tuna" (Newtown square, PA, USA)	$2,769

Tournament Report

Tournament Highlights:

Event Headlines -

1. Tony Veckey Wins First WSOP Gold Bracelet

2. First WSOP Entry Ever Nets Veckey $673,276 and Gold Bracelet

3. Another WSOP Event Sells-Out - Tenth Full-Capacity Tournament This Year is the Most Ever

The Champion --

• The 2009 World Series of Poker $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold';em champion is Tony Veckey, from Lake In the Hills, IL.

• Veckey is a 30-year-old software engineer. He works for Motorola. He has worked there ever since graduating from college.

• Veckey is a graduate of Devry University.

• Veckey has been playing poker recreationally, but seriously, for about two years.

• This was the first WSOP tournament Veckey had ever entered. He intended to play in the previous No-Limit Hold';em tournament (Event #51). But it was sold out. He decided to play in this event instead.

• Veckey collected $673,276 for first place. He was also awarded his first WSOP gold bracelet.

• According to official records, Veckey now has 1 win, 1 final table appearance, and 1 in-the-money finishes at the WSOP. His career WSOP earnings now total $673,276.

• Veckey stated he does not intend to play in this year';s WSOP Main Event. He plans to return to work and may play in next year';s Main Event.

• Veckey';s most memorable hand at the final table was actually one he folded. Veckey folded after being dealt pocket kings pre-flop, when he was convinced his opponent, who made an all-in re-raise, held pocket aces. Veckey tabled his kings face up, much ot the astonishment of the other players and the crowd. Although the other player';s cards were not shown, the rare fold (pocket kings is almost never folded pre-flop) was discussed throughout play at the final table. Veckey certainly enjoyed getting the last laugh as he ended up as the winner.

Winner Quotes (Tony Veckey) --

• On making the rare fold of kings pre-flop: "He (the opponent) was playing very tight. He re-raised my re-raise. So, I thought he had aces and just folded. That is the first time I have ever folded kings pre-flop."

• On what motivated him to come to the WSOP: "I like seeing the pictures of all the money. I said - ‘Oh, I have to go and enter that!"

• On his goals coming into this tournament: "I said to myself - I want to cash. That';s it. Just make it past the first day. I am going to make it to Day Two, so I can cash. But then I saw I had a chance to win the gold bracelet."

• On his future plans: "I am going to go back to work. That is what I am going to do. But if I win the Main Event next year, that will be a tougher decision."

The Final Table --

• The final table included no former WSOP gold bracelet winners. This was the 16th final table at this year';s WSOP which guaranteed a first-time winner.

• This was arguably the least experienced lineup of any final table held at this year';s WSOP. The combined previous WSOP prize money winnings of the top nine finishers combined coming into the final table was $59,113 - which is about the sum received by the 10th-place finisher alone in this tournament. Just by making the final table, every player was guaranteed to earn their biggest career payout, to date.

• The final table included players from four different nations - including France, Russia, Slovenia, and the United States.

• The final table was played nine-handed. Five of the nine players had never cashed previously in a WSOP event before.

• The runner up was Jason Wheeler, from San Diego, CA. He is a poker pro. Wheeler cashed for the fourth time at this year';s WSOP. Second place paid $418,122.

• The third-place finisher was Joseph Chaplin, from New York, NY. He made a stunning comeback in this tournament, being down to only 315 chips at one point on Day One (starting stack was 4,500). Chaplin has enjoyed some success in big online tournaments. Note: Joseph Chaplin is actually related to movie legend Charlie Chaplin.

• The fourth-place finisher was Sergey Konkin, from Moscow, Russia. This was his first WSOP entry.

• The fifth-place finisher was Andrew Malott, from Chandler, AZ. This was his first time to cash in a WSOP event.

• The sixth-place finisher was Christopher Bonita, from Winthrop, MA. He has previous cashes on the WSOP Circuit, Heartland Poker Tour, and in various online tournaments.

• The seventh-place finisher was Christopher Demaci, from Stanton, CA. He cashed in this year';s Latin American Poker Tour championship in Argentina. Demaci has also cashed in other WSOP events, as well as some online tournaments.

• The eighth-place finisher was David Jaoui, from Paris, France. He is a former actor, turned poker pro.

• The ninth-place finisher was Miha Remic, from Ljubljana, Slovenia.

In-the-Money Finishers --

• Former WSOP gold bracelet finishers who cashed in this event included - Alexandre Gomes, Alex Borteh, David Woo, John Hom, Michael "Little Man" Sica, Men "the Master" Nguyen, and Anthony Harb.

• Men "the Master" Nguyen';s 230th-place showing in this event gives him 65 cashes at the WSOP. This currently ranks second on the all-time list.

• The defending champion in the event from 2008 was Dan Daneshgar, from Westlake Village, CA. He entered this year';s tournament, but did not cash.

Odds and Ends --

• This event was a complete sell out. This was the tenth tournament to reach maximum capacity at this year';s WSOP. This is the most gold bracelet events ever to sell out within a single year. A complete "sell out" means every seat at every available table is sold and additional players are/were turned away at registration. A complete sell out occurs are various numbers, based on the total tables and seats available for tournament use. Events which have sold out this year include: 4, 7, 22, 24, 28, 29, 39, 43, 51, and 54.

• This was the second-largest tournament (in attendance) of the 2009 WSOP. Only the $1,000 buy-in "Stimulus Special" with 6,012 entries was larger.

• This was the seventh and final $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em tournament on the 2009 WSOP schedule. This game and buy-in level has consistently proven to be the most popular draw on the schedule in recent years, aside from the Main Event.

• An alternative lower buy-in No-Limit Hold'em tournament (less than $10,000) has been included as part of the WSOP schedule every year since 1973. Over the years, these buy-in amounts have ranged from $1,000 up to $5,000. However, more $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em tournaments have now taken place at the WSOP over the past 39-years than any other event.

• The seven $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold';em events held this year attracted 2,791 -- 2,506 -- 2,638 - 2,506 -- 2,095 - 2,781, and 2,818 players respectively.

• The official WSOP gold bracelet ceremony takes place on the day following the winner';s victory. The ceremony takes place on at center stage of the main tournament room and begins during the break of the noon tournament. The ceremony usually starts around 2:20 pm. The national anthem of the winner';s nation is played. The entire presentation is open to public and media. Video and photography is permitted by both media and the public.

• Tony Veckey';s gold bracelet ceremony will take place on July 3rd, which is Day 1-A of the WSOP Main Event.

The Event --

• The $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold';em championship attracted 2,818 entries. The total prize pool amounted to $3,846,570. The top 297 finishers collected prize money.

• The tournament was played over three consecutive days.

• The tournament officially began on Monday, June 29th, at 12 noon. The tournament officially ended on Wednesday, July 1st, at 11:55 pm.

WSOP Statistics -

• Through the conclusion of Event #54, the 2009 WSOP has attracted 53,202 entries. $107,840,305 in total prize money has been awarded to winners.

• Multiple Gold Bracelet Winners at the 2009 WSOP:

Jeffrey Lisandro -- 1st, 1st, 1st
Brock Parker -- 1st, 1st
Phil Ivey -- 1st, 1st
Greg Mueller - 1st, 1st

• Gold Bracelet Plus 2nd-Place Finishers at the 2009 WSOP:

Ville Wahlbeck -- 1st, 2nd (+ 3rd and +6th)
James Van Alstyne -- 1st, 2nd (+ 6th)
Pete "The Greek" Vilandos -- 1st, 2nd
Angel Guillen -- 1st, 2nd
Vitaly Lunkin -- 1st, 2nd (+4th)
Brandon Cantu - 1st, 2nd
Marc Naalden - 1st, 2nd

• Multiple Top-Three Finishers at the 2009 WSOP:

Ville Wahlbeck -- 1st, 2nd, 3rd
Steve Sung -- 1st, 3rd
Scott Clements -- 2nd, 3rd
Eric Baldwin - 1st, 3rd

• WINNERS - BY NATION: Through Event #54 - the nationalities of WSOP gold bracelet winners reads as follows:

United States - 35
United Kingdom - 3
Canada - 3
Australia - 2
Germany - 2
Russian Federation - 1
Finland - 1
Sweden - 1
Mexico - 1
Italy - 1
Holland - 1
Hungary - 1
Iran - 1

Note: Last year 19 of the 59 gold bracelet events were won by non-Americans (32 percent). In, 2007, the number was 15 of 55 (29 percent). In 2006, the number was 5 of 45 (11 percent).

• WINNERS - BY CITY: Through Event #54 - the following cities have produced multiple WSOP gold bracelet winners (Note: Metropolitan area suburbs are included in major city counts):

Las Vegas, Nevada - 10
Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada) - 4
Salerno, Italy - 3
Los Angeles, California - 3
Washington, DC (Maryland and Virginia Suburbs) - 3
London, England - 2
New York, NY - 2

• Event #54 winner Tony Veckey is to be classified as an amateur player. Accordingly, the "Pro-Am" gold bracelet scoreboard currently reads (not counting Casino Employees Event):

Professionals -- 38 wins:

(Thang Luu, Steven Sung, Jason Mercier, Phil Ivey-1, Rami Boukai, Anthony Harb, Ville Wahlbeck, Keven Stammen, Brock Parker-1, Jeffrey Lisandro- 1, Daniel Alaei, Brock Parker-2, John-Paul Kelly, Jeff Carris, Nick Schulman, Phil Ivey-2, Pete Vilandos, Tomas Alenius, Roland de Wolfe, J.C. Tran, James Van Alstyne, Angel, Guillen, Greg Mueller-1, Eric Baldwin, Jordan Smith, Jeffrey Lisandro-2, Richard Austin, Marc Naalden, Matt Graham, Peter Traply, Jerrod Ankenman, Jeffrey Lisandro-3, John Kabbaj, Jeff Ahmadi, Brandon Cantu, Greg Mueller-2, Carston Joh, David Bach)

Amateurs -- 9 wins:

(Freddie Ellis, Ken Aldridge, Travis Johnson, Zac Fellows, Michael Eise, Michael T. Davis, Jorg Peisert, David J. Halpert, Tony Veckey)

Semi-Pros -- 7 wins:

(Vitaly Lunkin, Brian Lemke, Lisa Hamilton, Leo Wolpert, Ray Foley, Derek Raymond, Jeff Ahmadi)

• Fourteen of the 54 winners this year (25 percent) were previous gold bracelet winners. There have been three double winners in 2009 -- Brock Parker, Phil Ivey, and Greg "FBT" Mueller. There has been one triple winner in 2009 -- Jeffrey Lisandro.

• Through the conclusion of Event 54, the WSOP "Player of the Year" standings reads as follows (with point totals):

355 - Jeffrey Lisandro
320 - Ville Wahlbeck
242 - Phil Ivey
240 - Greg Mueller
240 - Vitaly Lunkin
227 - Brock Parker
220 - James Van Alstyne
195 - Roland de Wolfe
195 - Daniel Negreanu
185 - Vitaly Lunkin
185 - Marc Naalden

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Sat, Nov 07, 2009 - 01:34am CST