Event #25
No-Limit Hold’em
Buy-In: $2,000
Number of Entries: 1,619
Total Prize Money: $2,946,580
Date of Tournament: June 15-17, 2007
WSOP GOLD BRACELET WINNER EVENT # 25 – BEN PONZIO
The winner of the $2,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em championship was Ben Ponzio, from Elmwood Park, IL. He is 32-years-old and married. He has one daughter. Ponzio’s full name is Alessandro Ben Ponzio. He took his first and middle name from his grandfather and great grandfather.Ponzio works as the advertising sales manager for Chicago’s WBBM-FM which is a hits and hip hop station. He was scheduled to work the morning after the tournament, but his WSOP victory will cause him to miss a day at the office. “I didn’t want to take an extra vacation day until I knew I would get this far,” Ponzio explained later.“Sure, I’m going back to work,” Ponzio said in a post-tournament interview. “Six-hundred thousand (dollars) is a lot of money. But it’s not enough to live on the rest of my life.”Ponzio developed and was credited with a math theorem in high school. It is a formula designed to measure the size of circles. Ponzio is a graduate of the University of Illinois. He earned his degree in speech and communications. In addition to playing poker, Ponzio enjoys fantasy sports.This is the third time Ponzio has attended the WSOP. He cashed one time previously – with a 122nd place finish two years ago. His combined tournament winnings coming into this event totaled just $9,000. First place in this tournament paid $599,109.
