News / nono / 23 June 2008 / Leave a comment

19 facts about the WSOP Event 35, $1,500 Seven Card Stud, which first had Puggy Pearson as the winner in 1973, that you may not have known.

• The $1,500 buy-in Seven-Card Stud championship attracted 381 entries, creating a prize pool totaling $520,065. The top 40 finishers (final five tables) collected prize money.

• Seven-Card Stud first debuted at the WSOP back in 1973. Puggy Pearson was the very first champion.

• Six players in WSOP history own two gold bracelets in Seven-Card Stud. They are Johnny Moss, Bones Berland, Marty Sigel, Ted Forrest, Mel Judah, and Men "the Master" Nguyen.

• Artie Cobb is the only player in WSOP history who has won three gold bracelets in Seven-Card Stud. Cobb played in this year's event, but did not cash. Note: Cobb's fourth gold bracelet came in Seven-Card Stud High-Low Split - which more precisely gives him four wins in Stud.

• Other former Seven-Card Stud winners include two poker legends, Stu Ungar and Chip Reese.

• Last year's champion Michael Keiner, from Germany, played in this event. But he did not cash. This brings the current streak to 35 straight non-cashes for defending champions in their respective events.

• The second-place finisher was Al Barbieri, a.k.a. "Sugar Bear." Barbieri is a heavy sports gambler. His poker mentor is three-time WSOP gold bracelet winner John Bonetti.

• The final table lasted nearly nine hours. The heads-up match went for about three hours.

• At age 79, Jack D'Agostino became the oldest player to make it to a WSOP final table in an open event since Pete Kaufman (age 80) accomplished the feat in 2004. D'Agostino ended up as the fifth-place finisher.

• Former WSOP gold bracelet winner Andre Boyer finished in seventh place.

• Sabyl Cohen-Landrum finished in 12th place. She was the highest female finisher in the 2006 WSOP Main Event (56th).

• Former WSOP gold bracelet winner John "World" Hennigan finished in 35th place.

• The Milwaukee's Best Light "Player of the Year" standings currently shows a dead heat between two top poker pros -- Erick Lindgren and Barry Greenstein. However, upset-minded Jacobo Fernandez is expected to move into the points lead following his cash in another event on this day.

• Through Event #35, only one player has made three final table appearances - Jacobo Fernandez. Fifteen players have made two WSOP final table appearances, to date. This list includes - Chris Bjorin, Andy Bloch, David Benyamine, Alex Bolotin, Scott Clements, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Barry Greenstein, Fu Wong, Erick Lindgren, Minh Ly, Daniel Negreanu, David Singer, J.C. Tran, Theo Tran, and Tim West.

• Through the conclusion of Event #35 at this year's World Series of Poker, the gold bracelet count by nations and states reads as follows:
10 - Nevada
6 - California
4 - New York
2 - Canada
2 - Germany
2 - Italy
2 - Missouri
1 - Holland
1 - Maryland
1 - Michigan
1 - Pennsylvania
1 - Russia
1 - South Carolina
1 - Wisconsin

• The Event #35 winner Michael Rocco is to be classified as a professional, since he has been playing for a living since 1997. Accordingly, through the conclusion of Event #35, the "Pro-Am" gold bracelet scoreboard reads:
Professionals - 28 wins
Amateurs - 5 wins
Semi-Pros - 2 wins

• Leonardo Ebeling was the chip leader at the End of Day One for this event. However, he did not cash. Hence, through Event #35, the End of Day One chip leaders have gone on to cash 76 percent of the time -- 25 of 33 occasions (the chip leader was not applicable on two events). Nine of these same 33 chip leaders (27 percent) made it to the final table. Only one chip leader went on to win the event. That lone wire-to-wire winner was Vanessa Selbst in Event #19.

• Michael Rocco was the chip leader at the start of this final table. He ended up as the winner. Through Event #35, fourteen of 32 chip leaders at the start of the final table (43 percent) went on to win the event. Twenty of 32 chip leaders (63 percent) went on to finish in the top three spots. Two events did not have a chip leader (Heads-Up and Shootout tournaments).

• CORRECTION: The report for Event #33 contained an error. One former WSOP gold bracelet winner was omitted from the text. Please note that Michael Keiner (from Germany) won the 2007 Seven-Card Stud event. Accordingly, the previous text should read as follows:

Ruthenberg becomes the second German national to win at the WSOP this year. He also becomes only the sixth German ever to win a gold bracelet, following Matthias Rohnacher (1997), Eddy Scharf (2001 and 2003), Katja Thater (2007), Michael Keiner (2007), and Jen Voertmann (2008).