WSOP Event #5 recap
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Here's the recap of WSOP of event #5 - The $1000 NL Hold'em with Rebuys, won by Michael Banducci.- This year's $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em with Re-Buys championship attracted 766 entries. Another 2,258 re-buys created a prize pool totaling $2,894,094.
- A "Re-Buy" poker tournament means players are permitted to buy back into the tournament multiple times, provided they have equal or less chips than their starting stack. In this tournament, players started play with 2,000 in chips. Hence, any player with a chip count of 2,000 or less was allowed to re-buy. The re-buy period ends after the first two levels, or in this case the first two hours.
- Re-buy tournaments are particularly popular with players who have deeper pockets. Since they can simply re-buy if they go bust, play tends to be wild and aggressive during the initial two levels.
- The player with the most re-buys in this tournament was Suk Sung, who reloaded 23 times. This means Sung invested $23,000 for this event. Note: The record for most re-buys was set by Daniel Negreanu back in 2006 when he reloaded an astounding 46 times, plus two reported add-ons. Negreanu was downright stingy this year, by comparison. He re-bought a considerably more modest 12 times this year.
- This was the fourth WSOP event of the year to be televised by ESPN. The final table was played on the ESPN main stage, surrounded by the Milwaukee's Best Light All-In Lounge. Seating for all WSOP final tables remains free and open to the public.
- The winner is Michael Banducci, from Traverse City, MI. He is a 23-year-old professional poker player. Banducci was born in Toronto, Ontario (Canada).
- Banducci symbolizes the new breed of poker player who has learned the game by playing on his computer. He first saw poker on television about five years ago. He never dreamed he would win a gold bracelet. He stated that his early goal was simply to get to the WSOP and someday play in a tournament. Now, he has much more lofty ambitions – including winning another event.
- Banducci made one re-buy plus a double add-on. Hence, he invested $4,000 in this tournament and collected $636,736.
- The new champion attended Hope College in Michigan. He worked a variety of summer jobs. He started playing poker at a local casino and mostly played $4-8 limit until graduating to higher levels of play.
- Pro's versus Amateurs: Through Event #6 at this year's World Series, poker professionals have won 5 gold bracelets. Amateurs have won 1 gold bracelet.
- Banducci made some interesting observations in a post-tournament interview with the WSOP Public Relations Team:
"The amount of time it takes to become a good player is reduced by playing (on the computer). We play so many hands. We talk to our friends (about the hands). You learn so fast. I think younger players understand the fundamentals much better. Older players probably know about the real-life aspects of the game. But the future of poker (success) depends on understanding the fundamentals."
"I can't imagine ever stopping doing what I am doing. I really enjoy it. Only now, I view it more as a business. I put in a set number of hours per week. At one time I was really passionate about poker. But I think I have become more disciplined about what I do. " - There were 184 hands played at the final table. The final hand came when Jeff Williams was down by about a 3 to 1 margin and called Mike Banducci's all-in re-raise with A-5. Banducci held the dominant hand with A-J. The final board showed K-J-10-3, giving Banducci a pair of jacks and the title.
- The runner up was Jeff Williams. He is 22-years-old. If ever there was a player to watch in the future it is this wunderkind from Atlanta, GA. At the age of 19, Williams won the European Poker Tour championship, held in Monte Carlo.
- The presence of many Internet poker players at the final table attracted arguably the largest and most boisterous gallery of supporters. Each player seemed to have a specific cheering section of twentysomethings. This added to the drama and excitement of the finale.
- Michael Binger took seventh place. Binger is perhaps best remembered for his third place finish and $4 million cash in the 2006 Main Event. He also tied a WSOP record last year for the most cashes in a single year, with eight.
- Steve Gross took ended up as the eighth-place finisher. Just two weeks ago, Gross graduated from college.
- Several former WSOP gold bracelet winners cashed in this event, including Phi Nguyen (10th), Daniel Negreanu (22nd), Nenad Medic (24th), John Juanda (27th), Lee Watkinson (51st), Mark Vos (55th), and Billy Baxter (59th). Medic won his first gold bracelet just a few days ago in the Pot-Limit Hold'em World Championship.
- The 31st-place finisher, Alex Jacob, won the United States Poker Championship in 2006.
- The tournament was played over three days. The first day included ten levels and was played from 12 noon until 12:45 am. Day Two was played from 2 pm until 1 am. The final table of nine players was played on Day Three and started at 3:30 pm and ended at 2 am.
- Last year's champion in this event was Michael Graves, from Springfield, AR. He did not register to play in this event.
- This will be the last tournament taped for broadcast by ESPN until the $50,000 HORSE championship, which starts on June 25th. In the meantime, Bluff Media and ESPN 360 will be carrying live video of many final tables over the next three weeks, which can be seen on the Internet.
- The broadcast of this event will air on ESPN on August 12, 2008.
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