News / nono / 26 June 2008 / Leave a comment

24 facts about the WSOP Event 42, $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold'em World Championship, with a heads up battle between an ex-fireman and ex-policeman, that you may not have known.

• The $1,000 buy-in Seniors World Championship (Event #42) attracted 2,218 entries, creating a prize pool totaling $2,018,380. The top 198 finishers collected prize money.

• This was the largest seniors' event in poker history. The turnout shattered last year's record of 1,882. The 2008 figure represents an 18 percent increase over 2007.

• To be eligible for entry into the Seniors championship, the entrant must be age 50 or older - which means the player had to have been born prior to June 23, 1958.

• The Seniors World Championship was first played in 1993. It was spread at various locations in California and Nevada during the first eight years. Then, in 2001 the seniors event was added to the WSOP schedule. Jay Heimowitz won the first official seniors gold bracelet.

• The tournament was played over three consecutive days. The final table was played on the ESPN main stage and was broadcast live. Play-by-play announcer Howard David was joined by color commentators "Oklahoma Johnny" Hale and Max Shapiro on the broadcast.

• Ernest Bennett, who won this event in 2007, entered this tournament but did not cash. This brings the current streak to 42 straight non-cashes for defending champions in their respective events.

• Former WSOP gold bracelet winner Fred Berger (2003 Pot-Limit Hold'em champion) finished in fifth place.

• The sixth-place finisher was Charles Wood, a disabled Vietnam veteran. This was his highest cash ever at the WSOP.

• "Mad Marty" Wilson took ninth place in what was his first-ever WSOP final table appearance. Wilson is a master of trivia and has won many contests in England.

• For the second consecutive year, poker legend and 1972 world champion "Amarillo Slim" Preston cashed in this event. He finished 91st. When Preston busted out late on Day Two, the entire room stopped play, and burst into a spontaneous ovation which collectively paid tribute to the master showman and poker promoter.

• Other former WSOP gold bracelet winners who cashed in this event included Tom McEvoy (28th), Men "the Master" Nguyen (45th), "Captain" Tom Franklin (64th), John Esposito (107th), and Tony Ma (186th).

• With his cash in this event, Tom McEvoy has now finished in-the-money 39 times in his WSOP career. He is currently tied for 17th place on the all-time list.

• With his cash in this event, Men "the Master" Nguyen has now finished in-the-money 58 times in his WSOP career. He ranks second on the all-time list, behind only Phil Hellmuth.

• Through Event #42, only two players have made three final table appearances - Jacobo Fernandez and David Benyamine.

• Nikolay Evdakov, from Moscow, Russia is the only player at this year's WSOP who has cashed seven times - just one off the all-time record mark. Evdakov is positioned to break the record set for "Most WSOP Cashes in a Single Year," shared by five players -- Michael Binger (2007), Chad Brown (2007), Phil Hellmuth (2006), Richard Tatalovich (2006), and Humberto Brenes (2006), with eight.

• Winner Dan LaCourse is officially listed as being from Toledo, Ohio. Through the conclusion of Event #42 at this year's World Series of Poker, the gold bracelet count by nations and states reads as follows:
10 - Nevada
7 - California
4 - New York
2 - Canada
2 - Germany
2 - Italy
2 - Missouri
1 - Belgium
1 - Denmark
1 - Florida
1 - France
1 - Georgia
1 - Holland
1 - Maryland
1 - Michigan
1 - Ohio
1 - Pennsylvania
1 - Russia
1 - South Carolina
1 - Wisconsin

• Nine different nations have produced a gold bracelet winner at this year's WSOP. This list now includes Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Russia, and the United States.

• The Event #42 winner Dan LaCourse is to be classified as an amateur poker player since he retired recently. Accordingly, the "Pro-Am" gold bracelet scoreboard currently reads:
Professionals - 32 wins
Amateurs - 8 wins
Semi-Pros - 2 wins

• Duane Gerleman was the chip leader at the End of Day One in this event. He finished as the 23rd place finisher. Through Event #42, the End of Day One chip leaders have gone on to cash 77 percent of the time -- 31 of 40 occasions (the chip leader was not applicable on two events). Twelve of these same 40 chip leaders (30 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.

• Dale Eberle was the chip leader at the start of this final table. He ended up as the second-place finisher. Through Event #42, seventeen of 40 chip leaders at the start of the final table (43 percent) went on to win the event. Twenty-four of 40 chip leaders (60 percent) went on to finish in the top three spots. Two events did not have a chip leader (Heads-Up and Shootout tournaments).

• It should be noted that the Milwaukee's Best Light "Player of the Year" rankings will now include points accrued from the $50,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. championship.

CORRECTIONS / ADDITIONS:

EVENT #41 - Please note that in the discussion of multi-event winners within a single year at the WSOP, Jeff Madsen's name was mistakenly omitted from the list dating back to 2000. Madsen won two events in 2006.

EVENT #41 - A small technicality: In yesterday's report of 2-7 lowball, the A-5 hand was referred to as a straight. This is not true for 2-7 lowball, since an ace always plays as a high card.