TOURNAMENT HEADLINES
One WSOP
Event Entered = One Gold Bracelet
David
Singontiko Wins Gold Bracelet in WSOP Debut
College
Student Wins $1,500 Buy-In Pot-Limit Omaha High-Low Split Title
New Champion Rakes-In
$268,235 Pot
Full House at
the 2011 WSOP -- Tournament Attendance on a Record Pace
2011 WSOP
Total Prize Money Crosses $100 Million Mark – With Main Event Still to Come
51 Gold
Bracelets Won – Seven More Events Still to
Go
OVERVIEW
With just
seven WSOP gold bracelet events left before the start of the WSOP Main Event on
July 7, poker players everywhere are hard at work trying to capture their WSOP
jewelry before the game's richest poker tournament concludes.
The latest
player to become a WSOP champion is David Singontiko who captured the $1,500
buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha High-Low Split Eight-or-Better championship.
Singontiko
bested a starting field of 946 hopefuls who descended on the Rio All-Suite
Hotel and Casino two days ago to attempt their quest at fame and fortune.
Singontiko is
a 21-year-old college student studying Business Administration from Chatsworth,
CA. Incredibly, this was the first WSOP
Event that the young amateur had ever played in.
With his
victory, Singontiko captures his first WSOP gold bracelet along with the
$268,235 first place prize.
The total
prize pool for this event amounted to $1,277,100.
The runner-up
was Michael Yee who walked away with a nice consolation prize amounting to
$165,346.
For a comprehensive recap of Event
#51, please visit the WSOP.com tournament portal page HERE.
EVENT #51 CHAMPION – DAVID SINGONTIKO
The 2011
World Series of Poker $1,500 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha High-Low Split champion is David
Singontiko, from Chatsworth, CA.
Singontiko
was born in Woodland Hills, CA.
Singontiko
turned 21 in April, two months prior to the start of the WSOP.
Singontiko is
a college student. He earned a B.A. in
business administration.
This was the
first WSOP event Singontiko has ever played.
For this
victory, Singontiko collected $268,235 for first place.
According to
official records, Singontiko now has 1 win, 1 final table appearance and 1
in-the-money finish at the WSOP.
Singontiko currently
has $268,235 in career WSOP winnings.
Singontiko is
to be classified as an amateur poker player (in WSOP records and stats), since
he is a college student.
WINNER INTERVIEW
Is this really your first event?
“Yes. This is my first World Series of Poker event.”
What was the biggest tournament you
have played in before today?
“Oh, maybe
like a $500 Commerce Event.”
Why did you choose this tournament to
be your first?
“I played a
lot of PLO-8 online. It’s just a fun
game. Hold’em, I’m okay at, but PLO-8 is
just a lot of fun. And… Oh my God, I’ve
just had an amazing time. I had good
luck, good friends, and this is just incredible.”
You have an interesting story about
your dad, and working all summer for him.
Could you tell us that story?
“Yeah, I
worked for my dad and his friend at a mortgage company. My dad owns a mortgage business and I was
able to get the week off to play this one tournament. And I was able to luck-box myself to the
final table and the bracelet.”
So, you worked all summer for him to
stake you?
“Yeah,
actually that is basically what happened.
He told me to work all summer and I’ll put up 100 percent of the buy-in
and we’ll go 50-50 on it. So, I’m so
happy I can give my Dad half the money. It’s
just incredible.”
So, did your mom come out specifically
for today?
“She
did. Actually she… before the buy-in she
gave me a cashier’s check and said, ‘Oh I’ll come on the third day, I’ll plan
it. I’ll buy my ticket now.’ I said, ‘Mom, I don’t even know if I’ll make
it to the third day, much less the second day.’
And she’s like, ‘Don’t worry, you’re gonna’ make it, you’re gonna’ make
it.’ I’m like, ‘Mom, just hold off. Wait till I get to the next day. I made the second day, and she’s like, ‘I told
you you’re gonna’ make the second day.
I’m already making plans.’ I’m
like, ‘Mom, just wait. There is 12 hours
of play still, I don’t even know if I’m going to make the third day.’ I made the third day, she drove four straight
hours to get here and, oh my God, she’s one of my biggest supporters.”
You had quite the rail here tonight.
Oh yeah,
absolutely. They were definitely getting
into the heads of the other players.
Even the dealer and the tournament director were getting a little
peeved. But getting into the heads of
the other players made it easier for me, so I owe them a lot.”
So what does this change for you
moving forward?
I don’t think
too much. I’m probably going to still
work for my dad and his friend at the mortgage business.
THE FINAL TABLE
The official
final table was comprised of the top nine finishers.
The final
table contained no former gold bracelet winners, which guaranteed a first-time
champion.
Four different
nations were represented at the final table – Brazil (1 player), Canada (1
player), Russia (1 player) and the United States (6 players).
The runner up
was Michael Yee, from Ottawa, Ontario (Canada).
He received a consolation prize totaling $165,346 in prize money.
Final table
play began Saturday at 3 p.m. Played
concluded about 7 hours later (playing time wise) at 10 p.m.
The final
table was played on the secondary stage.
Action was
streamed live over WSOP.com. Viewers can
tune in and watch most of this year’s final tables. Although hole cards are not shown, viewers
can follow an overhead camera as well as a pan-shot of the table. The floor announcer provides an official
account of the action.
OTHER IN-THE-MONEY FINISHERS
The top 90
finishers collected prize money.
Among the former
gold bracelet winners that cashed in this event were – Barry Shulman (19th),
Brent Carter (26th), Kathy Liebert (46th), Erik Seidel
(58th) and Alexandre Gomes (87th).
Tournament results
are to be included in all official WSOP records. Results are also to be included in the 2011
WSOP “Player of the Year” race.
“WSOP Player
of the Year” standings can be found at WSOP.com HERE.
ODDS AND ENDS
This tournament
attracted 946 entries.
The average
age of entrants was 34.2 years. The
average age of those who cashed was 31.5 years.
There were 21
females who played in this tournament, representing 2.2 percent of the field.
This is the 943rd
gold bracelet awarded in World Series of Poker history. This figure includes every official WSOP
event ever played, including tournaments during the early years when there were
no actual gold bracelets awarded. It
also includes the 16 gold bracelets awarded to date at WSOP Europe (2007-2010). Moreover for the first time ever, one gold
bracelet was awarded for this year’s winner of the WSOP Circuit National
Championship.
The official
WSOP gold bracelet ceremony takes place on the day following the winner’s
victory (or some hours later when the tournament ends very late). The ceremony takes place inside The Pavilion,
which is the expansive main tournament room hosting all noon starts this
year. The ceremony begins at the
conclusion of the first break of the noon tournament. The ceremony usually starts around 2:20 p.m. The national anthem of the winner’s nation is
played. The entire presentation is open
to the public and media. Video and
photography is permitted by both the public and members of the media.
Singontiko’s gold
bracelet ceremony is set to take place on Sunday, July 3rd. The national anthem of the USA will be played
in honor of his victory.
2011 WSOP STATISTICS
Through the conclusion
of Event #51 the 2011 WSOP has attracted 58,727 combined total entries. $108,707,060 in prize money has been awarded
to winners.
With the
conclusion of this weekend’s tournament, the total prize pool for all events
just crossed the $100 million mark.
Through the
conclusion of this tournament, the breakdown of nationality of gold bracelet
winners has been:
United States
(31)
Canada (5)
Ukraine (4)
France (4)
Great Britain
(3)
Russia (2)
Brazil (1)
Pakistan (1)
Through the
conclusion of this tournament, the national origin (birthplace) of winners has
been:
United States
(27)
Canada (5)
Ukraine (4)
France (4)
Great Britain
(3)
Russia (2)
Israel (1)
Honduras (1)
Indonesia (1)
Germany (1)
Brazil (1)
Pakistan (1)
Through the
conclusion of this tournament, the home-states of (American) winners have been:
California (6)
New York (5)
Nevada (5)
Texas (3)
Illinois (2)
Florida (2)
Connecticut
(2)
New Jersey
(1)
Tennessee (1)
Indiana (1)
Maryland (1)
Virginia (1)
Michigan (1)
North Dakota
(1)
Washington
(1)
Ohio (1)
Through the
conclusion of this tournament, the breakdown of professional poker players to
semi-pros and amateurs who won gold bracelets has been:
Professional Players
(39): Jake
Cody, Cheech Barbaro, Eugene Katchalov, Allen Bari, Harrison Wilder, Matt
Perrins, Sean Getzwiller, Viacheslav Zhukov, David Diaz, Andrew Badecker, Tyler
Bonkowski, Brian Rast, John Juanda, Aaron Steury, Darren Woods, Jason
Somerville, Bertrand Grospellier, John Monnette, Elie Payan, Mark Radoja, Chris Viox, Dan Idema, Andy Frankenberger, Chris Lee, Sam Stein, Mark Schmid, Jason
Mercier, Mikhail Lakhitov, Fabrice Soulier, Mitch Schock, Matt Jarvis, Justin
Pechie, Ben Lamb, Rep Porter, Andre Akkari, Joe Ebanks, Lenny Martin,
Athanasios Polychronopoulos, Antonin Teisseire
Semi-Pros (5): Sean R. Drake, Amir Lehavot, Oleksii
Kovalchuk, Eric Rosawig, Arkadiy Tsinis
Amateurs (7): Geffrey Klein, Foster Hays, James Hess, Kirk
Caldwell, Ken Griffin, Owais Ahmed, David Singontiko
Since
tracking first started in 2005, this year’s WSOP has the greatest disparity of
professionals winning over semi-pros and amateurs than any year recorded, so
far – with 44 out of 51 events being won by pros or semi-pros.
Through the
conclusion of this tournament, the victories of 11 of the 51 winners (22
percent) marked the first time the new champion had ever cashed at the WSOP.
Every WSOP
held over the past 11 years has included at least one multiple gold bracelet
champion (meaning two or more wins within the same year). The last year the WSOP was comprised
exclusively of single-event winners was back in 1999. The record for most multiple gold bracelet
winners within a single year was in 2009, when five players managed to win two
or more titles. So far this year, no
player has yet won two gold bracelets.
The streak of
consecutive male WSOP gold bracelet winners has now reached 208 consecutive
events. Aside from the annual Ladies Poker
Championship, the last female player to win a WSOP tournament open to both
sexes was Vanessa Selbst, in 2008. The
longest “cold” streak for female players occurred between years 1982 and 1996,
when 221 consecutive open events passed without a female champion.
The highest
finish by any female (open events) at this year’s WSOP was by two players. Maria Ho finished second ($5,000 buy-in
No-Limit Hold’em). Kim Nguyen also
finished as the runner up ($1,500 buy-in Six-Handed Limit Hold’em).
The highest
finish by any defending champion at this year’s WSOP was by David Baker, who
after winning the previous $10,000 buy-in No-Limit Deuce-to-Seven Draw Lowball
World Championship finished in sixth place in defense of his title.
Reigning
world poker champions rarely perform well the following year after their
victory. Chris “Jesus” Ferguson was the
last world champion to win a gold bracelet the next year, which happened in
2001. Perhaps it’s due to the increasing
size of the fields. But there’s also
great pressure on the champions to do well.
What follows is a list of the only world champions in history to win a gold
bracelet after winning the championship during the previous year:
Johnny Moss
(1975)
Doyle Brunson
(1977)
Bobby Baldwin
(1979)
Stu Ungar
(1981)
Johnny Chan
(1988)
Hamid
Dastmalchi (1993)
Chris “Jesus”
Ferguson (2001)
By contrast,
players who make it to the final table of the Main Event Championship (November
Nine) one year tend to do quite well in subsequent WSOP years. Consider that last year, three former Main
Event finalists won gold bracelets – Eric Buchman, Tex Barch, and Scott
Montgomery. This year, Matt Jarvis won
his first gold bracelet one year after making it to the November Nine in 2010.
New
tournament records set at the 2011 WSOP (to date):
Biggest
Heads-Up tournament prize pool in history ($3,040,000) – Event #2
Largest
live Omaha High-Low Split Tournament in history (925 entries) – Event #3
Largest
live Six-Handed tournament in poker history (1,920 entries) – Event #10
Biggest
Deuce-to-Seven tournament prize pool in history ($1,184,400) – Event #16
Largest
live $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament in history with single day start
(3157 entries) – Event #18
Largest
live $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament in history with single day start
(3175 entries) – Event #20
Largest
consecutive-days starting field sizes in poker history (combined 6,332 entries)
– Event #18 and Event #20
Largest
live Pot-Limit Omaha tournament in poker history (1,071 entries) – Event #22
Largest
Mixed-Game (Eight-Game Mix) in poker history (489 entries) – Event #23
Largest
Seniors tournament in poker history (3,752 entries) – Event #30
Biggest
Seniors No-Limit Hold’em championship prize pool in history ($3,376,800) –
Event #30
Largest
single-day live tournament start in poker history (3,752 entries) – Event #30
Largest consecutive-days starting field
sizes in poker history (combined 6,580 entries) – Event #30/Event #32 (broke
Event #18/Event #20 record from earlier in 2011 WSOP)
Largest four-consecutive days field sizes in poker history
(2,500+3,752+2,828+3,144 =12,224 entries) -- Events 28, 30, 32, 34, June 16-19,
2011
Largest Mixed Pot-Limit tournament in history (606 entries) –
Event #39
Biggest Pot-Limit Omaha prize pool in live poker history
($3,393,400) – Event #42
New player
records set at the 2011 WSOP (to date):
The
35-year span between Artie Cobb’s first cash in this event (1976) and most
recent cash in the same event (2011) represents the longest time span in WSOP
history. He accomplished this in
Seven-Card Stud High-Low Split (Event #25).
Phil
Hellmuth Jr. added to his record as the individual all-time leader in cashes
(83) and final table appearances (42).
Howard
“Tahoe” Andrew added to his record as the player with the longest consecutive
streak of WSOP appearances (entering at least one event), currently at 38 years
and counting (1974 to present).