Event #21
No-Limit Hold’em Shootout
Buy-In: $1,500
Number of Entries: 900
Total Prize Money: $1,228,500
Date of Tournament: June 12-14, 2007
WSOP GOLD BRACELET WINNER
EVENT # 21 – DON BARUCH
The winner of the $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Shootout at the 2007 World Series of Poker presented by Milwaukee’s Best Light was Don Baruch. He is 42-years-old and lives in Tampa, Florida. Baruch is the owner of an investment and management services company.Baruch is married and has two girls. He holds an M.B.A. from Emory University. Baruch learned to play poker from his father. He has been playing since childhood, but started to take the game more seriously about three years ago. His regular poker game is held at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tampa, Florida.The tournament attracted a record 900 entries, a 50 percent increase over last year’s figure of 600. It is the largest Shootout tournament in history. On Day One, the tournament started about 30 minutes late because of a crush of last-minute entrants. This created the Shootout’s first million-dollar prize pool ever. The Shootout format requires that a champion win what amounts to just three consecutive single-table (9-handed) satellites. The initial 900 players played down to 90 winners. Then, those 90 winners played down to nine players – with a winner coming from each table. Then, the winner had to top the final table full of nine players. This was Baruch’s first time to cash in any major tournament anywhere. Incredibly, it came on poker’s grandest stage. First place paid $264,107.
