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Event #11 No-Limit Hold’em

Day 1
Buy-in: $2,000
Players: 1,646
Prize pool: $2,995,720 going out to the top 171

At 12 noon Event #11 No-Limit Hold’em was underway! And of course the top players came in the droves with pros like the comical Humberto Brenes (haven't seen the shark yet), Tiffany Michelle, Ylon Schwartz,Amanda Baker, Joe Sebok, Jim Meehan, John Duthie, Neil Channing, Chris Moorman from the UK, Beth Shak, J.C. Tran, Liv Boeree, Theo Tran, T.J. Cloutier, Kathy Liebert, Sorel Mizzi from Canada, Alan Smurfit, Allen Cunningham, Chris Ferguson, Peter Eastgate and 'late as you want to be' Phil Hellmuth. Here is the payout schedule for the final table:
  1. $569,254
  2. $350,019
  3. $230,670
  4. $161,678
  5. $116,833
  6. $92,867
  7. $76,390
  8. $65,905
  9. $59,315
One of the early busts was Humberto Brenes who moved in with pocket J's with a board of 9 9 8 9, only to be called by someone holding pocket A's. Tiffany Michele also met with misfortune and was quickly on the rail too. They were joined by Beth Shak, Shane Schleger, Matt Stout, J.C. Tran, J.J. Liu and Tony Dunst who had his all-in move with pocket J's crushed by a player holding pocket Q's. After dinner break, players started dropping like flies. By the time the players had to wrap things up, there were 243 left in the field for Day 2.
  1. Patrick Stemper -- 165,000
  2. Scott Hall -- 144,000
  3. Alex Millar -- 135,400
  4. Zachary Weiler -- 133,100
  5. Adam Adler -- 131,100
  6. Jeremy Coon -- 129,800
  7. Tyler Smith -- 126,300
  8. Thanh Chau -- 121,300
  9. Bobby Bresner -- 117,000

Day 2

Dealers were told to "Shuffle Up and Deal!" at 2:00 PM and things got moving. Early bustouts include Roy Thung, Taylor Douglas, Adam Katz and Jan Skampa. As the field got closer to the bubble with 172 players left on hand to hand play, everyone slowed down to where players who finished their hands were wandering around. But when the bubble did break, it was raw meat time! And also Phil Hellmuth made his 70th WSOP cash which is a new WSOP record.

Lawrence Lin moved all-in with pocket A's only to have them cracked by another player who had pocket J's and received another Jack card on the turn, resulting in spectator status for Mr. Lin. Others who followed were T.J. Cloutier, Perry Friedman who lost to Peter Rho after Peter made quad 9's, Tyler Smith, Jason Grey, Tom McEvoy and Tommy Chen.

Now the big bust of the day happened when Phil Hellmuth, who was absolutely smoking until 2:45 AM, got served. Hellmuth pushed all-in with pocket 6's and was called by Jim Geary holding J 10. The table showed 3 Q 7, turn card of K and river was...you guessed it...Ace. Phil left in a very, very loud fashion. (Now we all know Phil should have received a better hand, after all he is the best Hold'Em player in the world. Just ask him!) At the end of Day 2, there were 25 players left in the field. They will come together and continue play until there is a champion. Here are the top 9 with chip counts:

  1. Mike Carlson -- 858,000
  2. Chris Taylor -- 842,000
  3. Adam Adler -- 724,000
  4. Scott Hall -- 719,000
  5. Peter Rho -- 601,000
  6. Brent Sheirbon -- 574,000
  7. Jeff Finucane -- 524,000
  8. Jim Geary -- 511,000
  9. Steven Fager -- 447,000

Day 3 Final Table

Here are the WSOP's notes on this event:

The 2009 World Series of Poker $2,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em championship is Anthony Harb. Harb is a 28-year-old professional poker player. Harb collected $569,254 for first place. He was also awarded his first WSOP gold bracelet. This marked his third time to cash in a WSOP event. "The gold bracelet means a lot," Harb said in an interview, conducted moments after his victory. "It means I am here to stay. I made it through this very tough field, against all these pros. I can say that I hung with the best of the best."

Harb had a good-luck charm while at the table. He used a small back turtle as his card protector during the entire tournament. "I have never used a card protector before and (a friend) gave me this turtle. I really like the concept of the turtle. He is chubby and slow. But when he strikes, he bites hard. He does not win a lot of races, but when he comes out of his shell, he’s dangerous." Harb said he has a name for his turtle – "This is Pedro. Don’t mess with Pedro," he said.

The runner up was Peter Rho, a Korean-born poker pro. Rho is a graduate of Duke University. He also finished second in the 2009 Aussie Millions Championship. Second place in this event paid $350,019.

When final table play began, the chip leader was Michael Dyer. He took a few early hits and exited quickly. The remaining players traded the chip lead a number of times before Anthony Harb emerged as the winner. The final hand of the night came when Harb was dealt Q-10 against Peter Rho's 9-8. After the final board showed K-9-8-J-4 Rho moved all-in with two pair. Harb insta-called with the nut-straight and scooped the last pot of the tournament.

Harb revealed that he had very little sleep during this tournament. "The most sleep I had any one night was six hours," he said. "I’m exhausted."


Anthony Harb

  1. Anthony Harb -- $569,254
  2. Peter Rho -- $350,019
  3. Jim Geary -- $230,670
  4. Adam Adler -- $161,678
  5. Jonathan McGowan -- $116,833
  6. Adrian Dresel-Velasquez -- $92,867
  7. Scott Hall -- $76,390
  8. Michael Dyer -- $65,905
  9. Brent Sheirbon -- $59,315