News / nono / 10 June 2008 / Leave a comment

16 facts about the WSOP Event 13, $2,500 No Limit Hold 'Em, which was the first event that talk show host Montel Williams has played in this year, that you may not have known.

• The $2,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em event attracted 1,395 entrants. The prize pool totaled $3,213,100. The top 99 places collected prize money.

• The turnout for this year's tournament increased by 7.5 percent over the previous year. In 2007, 1,290 players registered for this event.

• The tournament was played over three consecutive days. Day Two ran longer than usual, due to the large field. On Day Three, the final table was dealt out on the ESPN stage, also known as the "feature table."

• Proving that the World Series of Poker is truly international event, players from 12 different nations finished in-the-money in this tournament - including Denmark, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, England, China, France, Germany, Romania, Russia, Scotland, and the United States.

• This was one of the least-experienced final table lineups in WSOP history. In fact, none of the nine finalists had ever played at a WSOP final table before. Four of the nine had never previously cashed in a WSOP event of any kind. The highest prior finish belonged to Nicolas Levi, who took 26th place at last year's WSOP Europe championship.

• Nicolas Levi, from Paris, France, brought along the most interesting cheering section of supporters. He wore a checked fedora while sitting at the final table. A group of seven supporters wore identical hats in the gallery. "We Frenchmen are not very many people here, so we must all stick together," one of them said. Unfortunately, the Champs-Elysees fashion parade did not last long. Levi busted out in ninth place.

• So far at this year's WSOP, the average final table has run about seven hours in duration. However, this finale ended in slightly more than three hours. Only 73 hands were dealt.

• The final hand of the tournament pitted "Pumper" Bell's pocket aces against Steven Merrifield's pocket tens. The rockets held up.

• The second-place finisher was Steven Merrifield, from Fairmont, WV. He is a recent graduate of West Virginia University.

• Last year's champion, Francois Safieddine entered the tournament, but did not cash.

• The champion's curse continues. To date at this year's WSOP, no defending champion has cashed in their respective event.

• Notable in-the-money finishers included former WSOP gold bracelet winners Patri Friedman (24th), Chau Giang (43rd), Paul Kobel (62nd), and Lee Watkinson (91st).

• Three former world poker champions entered this event - including Jerry Yang (2007), Jamie Gold (2006), and Phil Hellmuth (1989). None cashed.

• Talk show host Montel Williams played in this tournament. He was one of the chip leaders after Day One in last year's Main Event. Williams says he intends to play in four or five events at this year's WSOP, including the Main Event.

• Former Oscar-nominated actress Jennifer Tilly played in this event.

• Through the first 13 events, professionals now lead amateurs in the gold bracelet count - 10 to 3.