2008 WSOP Event 33
World Championship
Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better

Individual Event Reports

Event 33
World Championship
Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Day 1

Well if you were wondering where the big names were in Event 32, they were here in Event 33. With a $5,000 entry fee for the 261 that entered, you know they had to be serious about wanting this bracelet. The prize pool reached $1,226,700 and there will be only 24 that will see any portion of that pool in their pockets.

Players in this field included Mike Wattel, Thor Hansen, Michael Mizrachi, Jeff Lisandro, Daniel Negreanu, Max Pescatori, Robert Mizrachi, Annie Duke, Hasan Habib, John D'Agostino, John Juanda, Thayer Rasmussen, Mike Matusow, Abraham Mosseri, ESPN announcer Norman Chad, Josh Arieh, Mel Judah, Marcel Luske and Chau Giang. It was all done in 13 1/2 hours from the 12 noon start time for Day 1. There will be 120 players that will move on to Day 2. Here are the top 9 players with their chip counts:

1. Matt Grapenthien 51,900
2. Victor Shalom 51,100
3. Robert Mizrachi 49,600
4. Sean Sheikhan 46,900
5. Vegard Nygaard 46,100
6. Frank Thompson 44,700
7. Bob Lauria 42,600
8. Tad Jurgens 41,100
9. Thang Duc Nguyen 41,000

Event 33
World Championship
Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Day 2

Payouts for the final table:

1. $328,762
2. $202,405
3. $125,736
4. $95,069
5. $73,602
6. $58,268
7. $46,001
8. $36,801

1. Sebastian Ruthenberg 663,000
2. Chris Ferguson 434,000
3. Alessio Isaia 398,000
4. Marcel Luske 308,000
5. Bob Beveridge 280,000
6. Annie Duke 277,000
7. Steve Sung 207,000
8. Bob Lauria 44,000

Event 33
World Championship
Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Final Table

Notes from the WSOP on Event #33:

This was the first million-dollar prize pool ever for a Seven-Card Stud High-Low Split tournament. Accordingly, it now stands as the richest Seven-Card Stud High-Low Split tournament in poker history. Seven-Card Stud High-Low Split was the first "split" game ever to be played at the WSOP, when it was first introduced 32 years ago. In 1976, Doc Green became the first Seven-Card Stud High-Low Split World Champion. Interestingly, he won $12,750 for first place that year, which is about what the 15th- and 16th-place finishers earned in this year's event.

Last year's champion, Eli Elezra played in this event. But he did not cash. This brings the current streak to 33 straight non-cashes for defending champions in their respective events.

The 2008 Seven-Card Stud High-Low Split World Champion is Sebastian Ruthenberg. He is a 24-year-old poker pro, who has been playing full-time for about two years. Ruthenberg collected $328,762 for first place. He also earned his first WSOP gold bracelet. This was his second year to play at the WSOP. Following his upset victory over one of poker's living legends, Ruthenberg complimented his rival by saying, "(Chris Ferguson) is the better player. He really is a better player than me�.I have only been playing this game for six months and he has played so much more than me."

The final table lasted slightly more than nine hours. The heads-up match went about four hours. The second-place finisher was Chris "Jesus" Ferguson. With this finish, Ferguson cashed for the 54th time in his career at the World Series. He now ranks third on the all-time WSOP list, behind only two players � Phil Hellmuth (65) and Men "the Master" Nguyen (57).

Action began at 5:00 pm with Bob Beveridge finishing in 8th place after losing to the high and the low made by Marcel Luske. Steve Sung took home the cash for 7th after his paired 7's lost to the high and low made by Annie Duke. Then Alessio Isaia laid claim to 6th place winnings after Sebastian Ruthenberg paired his Ace card helping to win the high and low with 7 5. In a battle of titans, Annie Duke and Chris Ferguson pushed their chips to the middle and Chris used his pocket K's to capture the high and Annie with pocket 10's did not make the low, so Annie Duke left the table in 5th. Marcel Luske also had to take a spot on the sidelines in 4th as Bob Lauria won the showdown between him and Luske. But Bob had his time in the limelight cut short as the set of 8's he made were overcome by the full house of Chris Ferguson, sending Bob off to begin building another opportunity for a gold WSOP bracelet.

The heads up began with Chris Ferguson with 825,000 chips and Sebastian Ruthenberg with 1,925,000 chips. Chris slowly started chipping away at Ruthenberg's stack, dropping him down to 400,000 at one point. But then lady luck said she had seen enough and Ruthenberg caught lightning. He doubled his stack in 20 min and before you know it, he had 1.85 million to Chris who had 700K. On the last hand, Chris went all-in on fifth street and was called by Ruthenberg. When the cards were turned over and action hit seventh street, Chris mucked his final card and that is when Ruthenberg knew he had won a WSOP bracelet.

1. Sebastian Ruthenberg $328,762
2. Chris Ferguson $202,405
3. Bob Lauria $125,736
4. Marcel Luske $95,069
5. Annie Duke $73,602
6. Alessio Isaia $58,268
7. Steve Sung $46,001
8. Bob Beveridge $36,801