WSOP Events 31-35 Recap

Event: 31 Buy in: $5,000 Game: Heads up NL Hold'em

With the event's largest turnout ever, it was 21-year-old student Daniel Schreiber who outlasted a field of 392 players to win $425,594. The dangerous Toto Leonidas finished in 8th while 2007 NBC National Heads Up Champion Paul Wasicka finished in 9th. Though the heads up events always draw a great deal of hype, setting them up can be a difficult task. Since you need exactly 256 players (or 512 if there were more entrants) to create a bracket, it is almost a guarantee that some players will be left stranded. This tournament was set up so that over 100 players received a first round bye to account for the problem. It may not be completely fair, but setting up such an event will always be tricky. In order to do well in the event, one has to play a lot of good poker, regardless of whether they get a first round bye or not.

Event: 32 Buy in: $2,000 Game: 7-card Stud

Professional Jeffrey Lisandro finally got his first bracelet. and a prize of $118,426. Lisandro had won a WSOP circuit event, but had never taken home the coveted gold and diamond studded bracelet. Atlantic City's own Nick Frangos finished 2nd, while Daniel Negreanu made his 2nd final table of the WSOP finishing in 5th place.

Event: 33 Buy in: $1,500 Game: PL Omaha w/ Re-buys + Add-ons

Anyone who has sat at a poker table as a short stack has likely heard some giddy big stack remind them that "all you need is a chip and a chair", or perhaps "a dollar and a dream". Alan Smurfit proved that desperate short stacks can go from rags to riches. Having ten times fewer chips than the chip leader and two times as few as the closest short stack with 9 players remaining, Smurfit put together an incredible run that culminated with a river card that gave him a higher full house than his opponent Qushqar Morad, a gold bracelet, and $464,867. Notably, Chau Giang (5th) and Brandon Adams (6th) both made the final table. Second place finisher Qushqar Morad deserves applause as he came up just short in an epic heads up battle that lasted for over five hours.

Event: 34 Buy in: $3,000 Game: Limit Hold'em

Alexander Borteh takes home $225,483 along with his first WSOP victory. Borteh beat Brandon Wong in a heads up match that left little room for error given the price of blinds. David "The Dragon" Pham finished 4th out of the 296 player field.

Event: 35 Buy in: $1,500 Game: NL Hold'em

Ryan Young lasted through another enormous NL Hold'em field to win $615,955 for his victory. Though Dustin Dirksen (the 2nd place finisher) might not be a household name, he has made quite a name for himself online and has played in some of the highest limit cash games. Young also had to outlast professional Nam Le who finished in 3rd.

-Benjamin Ryan