Event 18 – Mike Matusow wins the Pro Favourite
Mike Matusow won the $5,000 No-Limit Deuce to Seven Draw Event. On a star-studded final table he secured another bracelet and $537,862 of the prize pool of $1,735,020 altogether.
Event 18: Pro Favourite
Event 18 is counted amongst the favourite tournaments of the stars: The buy-in of $5,000, the unlimited rebuys, as well as the game variant make it a fascinating event. Only 85 participants signed up for the three-day tourney, and almost all of them were known pros.
Intimidating Final Table Constellation
The line-up of the seven-handed final table was impressive: The winner Matsuow
was joined by Erick Lindgren (Rank 4), Barry Greenstein
(Rank 3), Jeffrey Lisandro (Rank 2), David Benyamine (Rank 7), Tony 'G'
Guoga (Rank 6) and Tom Schneider (Rank 5).
Prominent Rail Birds
Many prominent rail birds kept an eye on the tourney: Amongst them Phil Hellmuth, Greg Mueller, Perry Friedman,
Dario Minieri, Cyndy Violette, Jean-Robert Bellande, Shannon Elizabeth, Kenny
Tran and Johnny Chan.
Even the Lucky Hat didn't help
Lisandro fought valiantly during the 90-minute heads-up. After Matusow won several hands in a row, a friend of Lisandro brought Jeff a hat to the table – it was meant as a good luck charm. Lisandro put it on immediately and didn't take it off anymore during the course of the game. He lost the heads-up anyway.
"It’s gonna be a real good World Series"
Matusow won his third WSOP bracelet in this event. In the ensuing interview with WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack he was visibly touched. He thanked his fans and jested: "I don't know
much about this game, but I know No-Limit. If I continue to play like I played
this week, it's gonna be a real good World Series."
And what did the fans think? They welcomed this comment with a round of applause.
| WSOP 2008 Event 18 $1,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball w/ReBuys |
||
| Rank |
Name |
Prize money |
| 1 | Mike Matusow | $537,862 |
| 2 | Jeffrey Lisandro | $347,004 |
| 3 | Barry Greenstein | $225,552 |
| 4 | Erick Lindgren | $156,151 |
| 5 | Tom Schneider | $104,101 |
| 6 | Tony (Tony G) Guoga | $78,075 |
| 7 | David Benyamine | $58,990 |
