Events 36 & 38 decided

Published on 23 Jun 08 10:24 by Drakhor

Also on the weekend, the motto in the Rio was "Shuffle up and Deal" again. Jesper Hougaard prevailed in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em tournament (Event 36). The $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em tournament (Event 38) went to Davidi Kitai. Lee Watkinson finished fifth.

Event 36 - $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em

2,447 players gathered in the Amazon Room of the Rio Hotel and Suite for the 36th event of the WSOP 2008. They generated a prize pool of $3,340,155, of which the winner received $610,276. 198 places were paid.

In an almost 2 and a half hour heads-up, the Dane Jesper Hougaard prevailed over Cody Slaubaugh. Hougaard started into the finale of the last two with an almost 7:1 lead. Slaubaugh wasn't impressed by this in the least though and fought himself back into the game. Already in the first hand of the heads-up he was able to double up and then really put the pedal to the metal. Cody was able to continually build up his stack, but in the end it wasn't enough. Jesper Hougaard didn't give up and took over the lead again.

In the decisive hand Hougaard held , Slaubaugh had . Both went all-in pre-flop. The flop came with , giving Hougaard an almost 98% lead. Turn and River didn't change anything and Jesper Hougaard won his first bracelet.

WSOP 2008 Event 36 $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em
Rank	Name	Prize money
1	Jesper Hougaard	$610,304
2	Cody Slaubaugh	$389,128
3	Aaron Kanter	$258,862
4	Danny Wong	$217,110
5	Doug Middleton	$177,028
6	Justin Wald	$140,286
7	Rick Solis	$106,884
8	Owen Crowe	$81,833
9	John Shipley	$56,782

Event 38 - $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em

605 participants joined the 38th event of the Series, the $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em Event. They generated a prize pool of $1,101,100, of which the winner received $244,583. 63 places were paid.

The German Jan Von Halle went to the final table as chip leader, but it wasn't enough for the win. On rank 4 the citizen of Hamburg had to bow out. Yet again both Jan and the later winner Kitai were involved in a pot. On the board of both went all-in. Jan held , Kitai had . The river card was the . Kitai covered Jan, who dropped out with rank 4 and $77,077.

Only one hand later, Chris Bell eliminated Keith Greer on rank 3. Bell held , Greer flipped over . The board changed nothing anymore and both players Davidi Kitai and Chris Bell were in the heads-up.

And it should take over five hours and 187 hands. At the start of the heads-up, Chris Bell had 1,425,000 chips, Davidi Kitai hoarded 997,000 chips in front of him. Already the first hand was a split pot and it was symptomatic for the progress of the finale. Neither player managed to pull clear. After 79 heads-up hands, both stacks were practically even. Kitai held 1,220,000 chips, Bell had 1,225,000.

After 140 heads-up hands, the first preliminary decision fell. Kitai was able to secure a big pot with pocket queens and Bell was crippled. Nonetheless, it took another 47 hands for the final decision, when Kitai prevailed with against Bell's . The board helped neither of them and the Belgian Kitai won his first bracelet with high card ace and queen kicker.

WSOP 2008 Event 38 $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em
Rank	Name	Prize money
1	Davidi Kitai	$244,546
2	Chris Bell	$155,806
3	Keith Greer	$94,695
4	Jan Von Halle	$77,077
5	Lee Watkinson	$63,313
6	Robert Cheung	$50,100
7	Ayaz Mahmood	$39,089
8	Ben Roberts	$30,831
9	Michael Greco	$22,573