2009 WSOP Events #29-#36 Wrap-Up Reports

by Bodog Poker | Jun 22 2009

Half of the WSOP events have been played out, and so far amateur players, for the most part, have been dominating the winner's circle. The exception has been arguably the best poker player in the world, Phil Ivey. He has had a big year in '09, and just finished winning his second bracelet of the year in the $2500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud HL/8 or Better Event #25. It was his seventh WSOP bracelet and second in less than two weeks. On June 2 he won the Deuce to Seven Lowball Event #2 for his sixth WSOP bracelet.

We're well into the 2009 WSOP schedule and so far 36 events have been completed and bracelets have been awarded. Last year Leo Wolpert got so close to a WSOP bracelet he could taste it, only to finish third and miss out. But this year he made up for the 2008 result by winning the $10K World Championship Heads Up NL Holdem Event #29. He outlasted a field of 256 players for a first-place prize of $625,682. In second place was John Duthie, who had to settle for $386,636.

The $2500 Pot Limit Omaha Event #30 was won by well-known poker pro J.C. Tran. Tran waited a long time to win his first bracelet last year, and now he follows that up with another this year. Beating the other 435 players put $235,685 in his pocket and made him a two-time WSOP bracelet winner. Getting out-classed in the heads-up match was Jeff Kimber, who took home $145,656 for second place.

The small buy-in $1500 HORSE Event #31 attracted a lot of amateur players and managed to compile a prize pool of over $1 million. 770 players bought into the event, and after the smoke cleared James Van Alstyne walked away with the bracelet and $247,033. Tad Jurgens put up a good fight but wasn't able to stop Alstyne from becoming the winner. Jurgens' piece of the pool was $152,654.

The 2K No Limit Holdem Event #32 had a healthy turnout of 1,534 players who created a good size pool of $2.79 million. Angel Guillen was the eventual winner, getting a whopping $530,548 for the win. Angel had a second-place finish in Event #13 a week and a half ago, and has now won over $840K this year. It was the second deep field Angel was able to get through this year, an astonishing feat on its own. Finnish player Mika Paasonen ended up second for a payday of $326,203.

The 10K Limit Holdem Championships were decided last week after 185 people put up the big buy-in to try their luck. The eventual winner was Greg Mueller, who was making his 18th cash at the WSOP tables. It was his first bracelet and he got a check for $460,841. He beat out Canadian poker pro Pat Pezzin, who got paid $285,195 for second place.

In the $1500 No Limit Holdem Event #34 2,095 players paid the buy-in and battled for a prize pool of $2.85 million. Eric Baldwin was the eventual winner, taking home $521,991 for his efforts. Danish player Jonas Klausen got second-place cash of $322,371, while James Taylor got third-place cash of $213,045. The turnouts for the smaller No Limit Holdem events continue to be the story of this year's WSOP.

Another $2K No Limit Holdem Event #36 was played out, and Jordan Smith was the winner, taking home $586,212. Ken Lennaard came up short of his first bracelet and received second-place money of $360,439. The third-place finisher had a nice payday too, at $237,537. In total 1,695 players turned out for the event and the money finishers shared a prize pool worth over $3 million.